Buddies Intensive Camper Program
For adolescents with special needs, ages 12-15
$680/week
Important Notice! In an effort to keep the integrity and effectiveness of our special programs such as Special Needs Campers (40), Buddies Intensive (8), Junior Camp Counselors (12), and Yak Apprentice (12) there will be a cap for participants each week, noted in parentheses. Once the cap is reached, a wait list will be generated. Please don’t wait to register because these programs fill up fast!
Registration Opens April 17th at Noon
Buddies Intensive Camper Program
For adolescents with special needs, ages 12-15
$680/week
Important Notice! In an effort to keep the integrity and effectiveness of our special programs such as Special Needs Campers (40), Buddies Intensive (8), Junior Camp Counselors (12), and Yak Apprentice (12) there will be a cap for participants each week, noted in parentheses. Once the cap is reached, a wait list will be generated. Please don’t wait to register because these programs fill up fast!
Registration Opens April 17th at Noon
WEEK 1: Super Yak's Got Talent
Kicking Week 1 off with a BANG
Everyone is so excited to be back for a fun-filled summer. On the first day back at camp, we welcomed both old and new JCC campers, as well as old and new staff. This week, within our theme, we are celebrating all of our amazing and talented JCCs as we explore what makes us all unique and special!
This week the JCC attendee’s are getting to know one another through various conversations and art projects. We started by celebrating the uniqueness of each person and then finding commonalities and differences between us; ensuring the campers become comfortable in who they are and what they wish to represent. We discussed (and acted) out real-life scenarios and discussed what the best choice would be and why. The acting was a way of incorporating kinesthetic learning and whole body listening. We practiced giving compliments to others in the classroom; another invaluable life skill about how important it is to celebrate the good we see in others. JCC campers and staff can't wait for a great week 1!
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Discovery Class!
After lunch yoga
A post-lunch stretch is a healthy choice for our bodies. Here are some of our JCC campers practicing downward dog.
JCCs Got Talent!
Our JCC campers had a great start to camp this first week. We can't wait for week 2 where we'll be getting our science on! Not only that, but next week JCCs will start writing their own posts. Sit tight and get ready to see some spectacular writing from our spectacular JCCs.
Hula Hoop Challenge in Games! Team work is key.
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WEEK 2: Super Yaks on the Science Track
Safety goggles on for week 2
First day!
First day!
It's Day 1 of Week 2. Our theme for the week is Super Yaks on the Science Track and JCCs couldn't be more excited! In Cooking, we made fruit bugs. Our campers made an assortment of bugs. Zander made a caterpillar out of celery. Stella made a ladybug out of strawberries. It tasted amazing. In Games, the JCCs played volleyball. Together, we connected ten passes of the beach ball without touching the ground. We also practiced passing the beach ball with another peer.
Day 2!
It's day 2! Today in Cooking, we made Dirt Cups which was chocolate pudding made to resemble dirt. We crumpled cookies, made chocolate pudding mix, and got to stick a gummy worm in our dirt. In Games, we played board games and met new people while playing them! Some of the games we played were Trouble, Sorry!, and Jenga. After we had lunch, we went on a nature walk and researched plants and animals as if we were real-life scientists. We made observations about how trees and plants look and drew them in our coloring books! We were really tired after the nature walk so we came back for snack time. It was nice to share what we saw on the nature walk with other campers. After snack, some of us signed up to do the talent show at the end of the day. It was exciting to see people sing and dance and show off their talents.
We love cooking!
Day 3!
Hitting the court during Recess
Today is Day 3 of Science Week! My name is Emily and today I become a helper for a young 10-year-old girl named Helen. Helen is the only girl in her Buddies Class, which is kind of surprising because I thought there were an equal amount of boys and girls in Buddies Class. Helen lives with her mom, Lisa, her dad, Matt, and her big brother Gavin. Helen loves Taylor Swift music, especially her "Shake It Off" song. Helen has special ways of saying different things. To say “Yes,” she rocks her head around in circles, or nods her head at you. To say “I’m listening,” she looks right at you and makes direct eye contact with you. To say “No,” she turns her head away from you. Helen can’t exactly talk and is still finding her way in the world and finding her place, and needs some extra help to find her way in the world, which is why I’ve been asked to help her. I'm so excited that as a Junior Camp Counselor at Camp Yakety Yak I have the opportunity to do this.
Signing off, Emily
Ian here,
After the morning assembly, the JCCs (junior camp counselors), my group, for our morning session, went to Discovery class where we started working on projects for the upcoming egg drop. My group, which consisted of Emily, Lily and me, all tried different ways to reduce the impact of an egg: a parachute, padding, and a box with my intent of combining them to create the best design yet for protecting the egg from impact. Next, we moved on to Games. There, we played line tag, "two is a company three is a crowd" and tried balancing pool noodles on the palms of our hands. After breaking a sweat by participating in the three fun games mentioned earlier, I was ready for recess and lunch. After eating lunch, I happily participated in the tech option for recess. With touch-screen pads, a handful of younger campers and I battled with Spheros for half of the time. For the last twenty minutes, I set up courses for the other campers to knock over with their Spheros. After lunch, the other JCCs and I participated in a science trivia. Team Ankle, my team, and Team Parakeet Ninjas, enthusiastically competed for the next thirty minutes. As the team leader, bearing the responsibility of the success of my team, I answered the questions when I knew the answers with one-hundred percent surety and other times, my peers led us to success. We answered twenty-one science questions. What a day!
Spheros!
Day 4!
Today is day 4 of science week at CYY. I hung out with friends at camp today. I had fun in Discovery class because we did the egg drop and my egg did not crack because I made it safe with bubble wrap and tape and a really big sponge. Next, I had recess and we played board games. I played Disney scrabble. It was fun because I got to play my favorite Disney characters. I also talked about Pokémon with my friends a lot at lunch. I really liked it. My favorite Pokémon is Pikachu. After lunch, I chose Playmakers for recess. In Playmakers, I played with Strawberry Shortcake and played dolls. After we were planning our group talent show. I am singing Your Welcome from the Disney movie Moana. I can't wait. After planning our team talent, we had snack time! I had a bit of my lunch for snack. After we had assembly and I saw my friend doing karate. It was so cool! Today was so fun.
-Tessa
Last Day!
Bye JCCs,
see you next week!
WEEK 3: The Amazing Yak Race
Super Yaks hit the road!
First Day!
Have you ever ridden on a plane, been on a cruise, or traveled to faraway lands? Well this week at Campy Yakety Yak, JCC campers will have the opportunity to do just that. With an international theme this week we are exploring all sorts of foreign cultures and learning so many new things.
To tell us even more about day one, here is our good friend Zander from the JCCs!
Today in Cooking we made salsa and learned about the language and culture of Mexico. In Games, we had different stations such as basketball dribbling, balance boards, scarf toss, and bean bag hula hoop things. After that, we washed our hands and had lunch. After lunch we had recess and a 5 minute focus time, then we went to the JCC room. When we got to the JCC room, we went over classroom values and pronouns. What a great way to start off week three.
Every day at camp, campers fill out My Day at Camp forms detailing how their day went and how they felt.
Day 2!
Hey guys,
This is Jacob and Lilly from the JCCS bringing you the news of today. Today in Cooking we made PIZZA and it was really good. One of the recess activities today was tech. They had sphero balls that you can control with an iPad. At the playground, there were many adventures to Madagascar, Buenaventura’s Aires, and many more places. In Playmakers, we played board games and had a lot of fun. In arts and crafts we made Maracas from Mexico. In focus, we enjoyed ourselves by doing breathing exercises.
Thanks for reading everyone!
Look at all of the cool stuff we collected on our nature walk today!
Campers practiced public speaking by sharing what they found on their walk to the class
As usual, we ended the day with My Day at Camp forms and afternoon assembly where we got to watch out friends perform their amazing talents
Hi!
I’m Emily from the JCCs. Today I played a new game with my friends Hadley, Ethan, and Willow called the Avocado Smash Card Game. Then the JCCs and I went to Discovery Class and made passports. For my passport, I chose India, Kenya, and China. Next, we went to Games, and my favorite activity was the hula hooping. After that, we went to lunch, and then we went to recess. At recess, I went to the playground, where I did a swing and sing. A swing and sing is when you go to a swing or climb up a ladder and sing songs you enjoy while you swing. Then, we tried to figure out our group talent in the JCC Talent Show. We all voted on a dance-off. We split up into 2 groups and my group chose Dynamite. Finally, we ended the day with snack and assembly, and my friend Lily balanced a balloon on her finger for the end of the day talent show. We danced to the Holiday song by Madonna. Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate it.
~Emily
Day 3!
Day 4!
Hi, this is Maylia!
Today in our first class we took a picture with the green screen in places like France, China, and Egypt. We also got to finish our passports that we started yesterday. We then went to Games class where we played board games like Connect Four and Battleship. After that, we had lunch then recess. I played basketball with Lane, Jacob, and a Yellow Team member named Walter. After recess we had focus time and then went to the JCC room and practiced our team talent. We’re doing a dance battle and my team is dancing to the song Another One Bites the Dust. Afterwards, we went on a nature walk and then headed inside for snack. After that, we had a community meeting and some people performed talents. Then at three, we head home! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.
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What a talented camper!
Last Day!
Hey, everyone, this is Sam!
This morning my group and I practiced for the talent show. We are dancing to the song Another One Bites the Dust. After that, I went to the playground and played Jurassic Park with my friends Lilly, Jacob, and Lane. Then we went to lunch and then recess. At recess, I made a dream catcher and then turned it into a bird feeder. After recess, we went up to the JCC room and got our awards! Then we practiced our talent in front of our parents and had a little party. Finally, we went to snack and then had a big party with the whole camp where we performed our talent in front of parents and all the other campers. This was a great end to week 3 of camp.
Thanks for reading!
JCCs posing with their passports, ready for their next big adventure
First Day!
I wonder what we will invent this week? This week, Junior Camp Counselors will turn into world-renowned inventors who will explore, build, learn and grow as they develop crazy new creations! Sometimes the best inventions happen through trial and error. We’re excited to work through our problems as a team and find solutions by try, try, trying again. This week we're putting our tech skills and inventor minds to work through hands-on projects, cooking experiments, and indoor and outdoor games, all while developing fantastic friendship skills with fellow inventors. We're exploring technology and developing ideas in the Super Yak inventor’s workshop. We can't wait to get our creative minds working and collaborating together!
Super Yaks get smart
WEEK 4: Super Yak and the Tech Trekkers
Here is our first post of week 4 written by our JCC campers!
Today was a great start to camp! We started the day in Cooking class where we made Robot trail mix. Everyone did a great job helping one another create our mix. Our trail mix had hard candy eyes, pretzels, Cheerios, m&ms and Chex Mix. In Games today, we worked together to play over, under. We also took turns playing Horseshoes with Hula Hoops. In JCC class, we learned other campers names by passing a giant beach ball with questions on it. The funniest question was “what color is your toothbrush?” Overall, the JCCs are off to a great start!
-Lilly & Kevin
Day 2!
Today was a great second day! We got to make a robot out of Rice Krispies and candies in Cooking class. In our next class, we got to play board games. I played Battleship with a friend I made on the first day of camp. Then we ate lunch with the other JCC members. After the JCCs had recess and I got to continue a basketball game from Monday. Then we went to the JCC room so that we could make robots out of boxes and other random items. The best part of camp was when a new camper, Blake, came because he is super funny. Overall, I am glad we get to be on the JCC team so that we can be role models for campers now, and camp counselors in the future.
- David D
Rice Krispie Robots finished off with Robot Bingo!
Day 3!
Today was a splendid third day of camp!!! We went to Discovery to make a moving picture. It’s animation by using drawings that we spin to make it look like they are moving. Next, we went to Games and played many different games with beanbags. I had a fun time. After, we had lunch and recess. I had fun playing with the scooters during recess. Later, we did focus time and went upstairs to the JCC room to continue building our robots from the day before. I can’t wait to figure out what our team talent will be after snack!
-Brian. T
Working alongside our Yak Apprentice Friends
Day 4!
Let's see what our Junior Camp Counselors have to say about camp today...
I had a fun time at camp today! In Discovery, we finished our animation drawings, zoetropes. And in Games Class, we played board games! My favorite part of the day was building my rainbow robot. Today I also made a neon glow JCC poster for the talent show tomorrow! I also played on the swing at the playground at recess. I'm having lots of fun during our technology week! For the talent show, we are using Sphero balls and holding up neon posters, while also having some people do an awesome robot dance. We are all very excited and can't wait to present our talent to the whole camp tomorrow!
-Sammy S.
JCCs got their team posters ready for the talent show tomorrow!
Thanks for a FANTASTIC week 4 JCCs. We'll see you next week!
First Day!
Calling all Time Travelers! It's week 5 which means the time has come to explore our past, present and future selves with Super Yak and the Time Travelers!
When we stop to reflect on what makes us special, we must look back at where we came from, who we are now, and where we see ourselves going in the future. This week, we'll be exploring time and making predictions about the future while we delve into activities from across the ages! We will explore reflections and predictions through activities such as cooking, hands-on activities, games and friendship curriculum unique to Camp Yakety Yak. It’s time to get traveling!
Day 1 of Discovery for Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Silver, and JCCs teams was spent choosing a time period to dive into and creating a small video sketch on the green screen. Campers chose from a few given time periods and wrote a sketch meant to teach their viewers one thing about that time period. We filmed the videos using the green screen and explored how our available technology makes traveling back (or forward) in time possible. AMAZING!
Super Yaks enter a new dimension
WEEK 5: Super Yak and the Time Travelers
All campers get to go to Cooking Class 2 days a week. Today the JCC, Orange, Yellow, and Silver teams got to come to cooking class. Today we made Dinosaur pancakes with strawberries, blueberries, and bananas. Yum! This is the perfect recipe to go with the theme of Time Traveling. The campers had fun making the Dinosaur pancakes and talking about when they would like to travel to.
And now to hear from one of our JCC members. Here's Blake's take on today...
I had a very fun day at camp. Today we started cooking class! We made pancake dinosaurs with whipped cream and strawberries, Then at Games, we worked on teamwork skills, it was very fun. In the JCC room, we went outside and did some fun water balloon games! Today was a very fun Monday!
Day 2!
Today we get to hear from our friend, Stella!
Today we made milkshakes in Cooking and my friends liked them very much. We also made funny stories with MadLibs. During Games, we played board games. At recess, I played football and some other campers did video reality. When we were playing water games outside, the funniest thing happened. Sam got his shoe stuck in the tree really really high up! We used basketballs to bring the shoe down and we all worked together. It was a lot of fun.
-Stella
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Day 3!
Now that it's Wednesday, JCCs went to Discovery class instead of cooking. They worked on skits and used the green screen! In their classroom they also started brainstorming about their team talent. I wonder what they have prepared! I guess we'll find out Friday!
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What a fantastic end to
another great season of
camp. Summer 2019 has
been one of our best yet. We were so happy you could join us this summer in making friends and memories at CYY. Thanks for being a part of our outstanding camp community. We hope to see you next year!
