Class experiences outdoor camp

By Kathy Thomson

The fifth grade class from Nancy Smith Elementary School attended Camp Grady Spruce, an outdoor educational camp on Possum Kingdom Lake, last week.

Accompanying the 38 local students were NSES principal John Gallagher, and four teachers including Leslie Neve, Candy Balliew, Teri Antilley, and Richard Murrow. 

The group left the local campus on Monday, Nov. 18 and returned from camp on the afternoon of Wednesday, Nov. 20.

“Everyone had a great time!” Balliew said. “Many of the students this year had never been to camp, so they enjoyed being away from home with their friends in a camp setting.”

Outdoor camp has become a tradition for the local fifth graders, and this is the fourth year for the group to attend YMCA Camp Grady Spruce, located on the shoreline of Possum Kingdom Lake.

The TEKS based outdoor education camp allows the students the opportunity to learn while exploring the outdoors.

Activities included hikes up Johnson’s Peak and traveling to Devil’s Island where students learned about local folklore, sedimentary rock, landforms, and water reservoirs. 

“Star Lab was a class where students learned the legends behind the constellations,” said Balliew. “Dodgeball, gaga ball, creating skits, archery, and fire building were also fun activities for the kids.”

New this year was an after-dark sensory lab.

“Students enjoyed the sensory lab, where they walked through a trail at night while they were blindfolded,” said Balliew. “The students had to depend on one another and their senses to make it through the trail. We swapped this activity with our usual hayride and I think the kids got a lot more out of it.”