E-Portfolio - Camp Writing

Motivation:

Camp Experiences

Learning Objectives:

Level 3

• Show a developing understanding of how to shape texts for different purposes and audiences.
• Select, form, and communicate ideas on a range of topics.
• Use language features appropriately, showing a developing understanding of their effects.
• Organise texts, using a range of appropriate structures.

Level 4

• Show an increasing understanding of how to shape texts for different purposes and audiences.
• Select, develop, and communicate ideas on a range of topics.
• Use a range of language features appropriately, showing an increasing understanding of their effects.
• Organise texts. Using a range of appropriate structures.

Learning goals:

• To hook the reader in with an interesting beginning
• A variety of sentence starters
• A variety of sentence lengths
• Edit and rework
• Effective peer checking and feedback

Today at camp will be really fun, I can tell. Today we have the giant swing and the water slide and the water slide sounds nice. As we stroll to the cheap water slide, I went up the hill step by step, positioning my feet carefully in fear of stepping on a sharp stone.

After about five minutes of agonizing pain in my feet from the sharp, crunchy rocks. When I got to the top and there was a spot just for me on the slide, I all of a sudden realised what I got myself into. I hit the slide at such a force, I swear I had hypothermia for a minute. It was so cold that my head hurt for a long time. After I dried myself off, I was able to get nice and toasty warm, which felt relaxing.

We also went on the giant swing that day too. To me, the giant swing looked very unsafe because it was supported by two pine trees on each side and attached by two bungees. I decided that I was never going on this thing! The person who went first had to put on a harness, a helmet and then had to climb a ladder to get to the giant swing. Once they were hooked in, the ladder was taken away and they then dangled in the air about two metres from the ground. I helped out by pulling a rope which would pull the giant swing back. The rope was then attached to a pole. The instructor told us to count down from three to one. They released the swing and the person went flying.

About ten minutes later it came to my turn. I shivering with fear, but I was talked into how safe it was so I just did it. I got strapped into my harness, climbed the ladder, hooked into the swing and all of a sudden I was dangling above the ground. The harness was squeezing my neck like I was being strangled, but I could still breathe. I heard faint sounds of people talking and then I was released and rocketed into the air. It was amazing! That I was actually doing it. The wind rushed through my hair and I felt alive.

After the giant swing we had lunch. It was the most awful lunch of my life. We had hamburgers, which sounded good, but the patty looked overcooked and the lettuce was crumbly. When I bit into it the lettuce went everywhere and the patty tasted really burnt. I loved the cheese though. After lunch we hung around the buildings and talked about how good the camp was, except the food. I’ll have nightmares about the cottage pie for the rest of my life because it took me awhile for me to realise what it was and the mince tasted very plain.

When we got back to school I was hot, sweaty, tired and hungry. I got all my gear. Thank goodness I didn’t have to trudge home. My wonderful Uncle came to my rescue and drove me home. I can’t wait for our camp next year.