Teacher Tips ~ Evening

The evening program provides wonderful experiences for your students. Since Hidden Villa staff and docents guide the entire program, you will enjoy joining in fully as a participant. Getting students to bed after the night program can be difficult. Although they come back from their night hike feeling sleepy and tired, the excitement of spending the night with their friends often gives students a second wind. Plan ahead for this transition time.

7:00 = Campfire

• Be sure that all of your students have finished dinner, used the bathroom and retrieved their warm clothing before 7 PM, so that your evening program can get started on time.
• Students will gather on the hostel steps in front of the moveable campfire. (If it is raining, consult with the Hidden Villa teaching staff to find out where the program will take place.)
• Sit back and enjoy! Well, mostly. Try to sit next to students who are distractible, to help them focus on the program. However, the campfire is also a good time to slip away for just a few minutes to arrange your own things in the cabin you are sleeping in if you have not had the opportunity to do so yet.

8:00 = Night Hike

• After the campfire, students will go on a night hike in small groups. Pre-assign these groups strategically.
• Go along! The night hike has consistently been my students' favorite activity at Hidden Villa. It is a perspective-altering experience that dramatically increases many students' self-confidence. It is truly wonderful to be able to witness and take part in this transformation.
• Some students will be scared at first. (In my class, even those students who were sniffling, with tears creeping from their eyes, ended up having a powerful experience. Although I have never permitted a student to stay behind, I have certainly worked with the caring Hidden Villa staff to provide these students with what they need to feel safe.) Here are a couple of suggestions: a group may not need to walk as far, or students can be reassigned so that best friends can support each other. If a child seems really scared, go along with his or her group and offer whatever comfort the student needs.
• Invite parent volunteers to go along. As in the day program, Hidden Villa encourages parents to join a different group than their child and then share stories about their different experiences at the end.
• (Some parents may want to accompany their fearful child, but I have seen other parents have take a more supportive stance - giving the child a hug, expressing confidence that he or she can overcome this challenge and letting the child go with the class.)

9:00 = Regrouping

• Make sure that you get back a bit before 9 PM. If the night hike group that you are with seems to running late, you may want to walk ahead.
• To avoid the stampede to the cabins later (which will energize all of your students), send students to put on the pajamas as soon as they return from the night hike. Send groups to their cabins one at a time, with a parent chaperon, to put on their PJs and bring their toothbrushes back to the hostel living room. Emphasize that they must be back within five minutes and that they need to use quiet voices.
• Some students may feel shy aobut wearing their pajamas in front of the entire class. To make students feel more comfortable, slip away for a minute to put on your own PJs. (I put them in my pack during the night hike so that I'm ready!) Feeling confident and cozy in your own PJs sets a wonderful tone for your class's bedtime story.
• During this transition time, stay in the living room. As students return from their night hike and are waiting for their turn to go to the cabins to put on their pajamas, guide a sharing circle about the night hike. This is a meaningful way to keep students occupied while you are waiting for the whole class to reassemble.

9:10 = Bedtime Stories

• Many groups should be back from the cabins with their pijamas on by this time. Have several storybooks ready. This is a really special time for sharing, as everyone is tired-out and sleepy. Students who have not esperienced being read aloud to at bedtime really enjoy the warmth and comfort it offers.
• Invite students to get comfortable - in the chairs, on the sofa, lying on the rug or sitting on throw-pillows - where they can see and hear you.
• I recommend choosing peaceful stories that relate to your students' experiences in nature at Hidden Villa. A few of our class favorites are: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, The Ibis and the Egret by Roy Own and I'm In Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor (If you read this story, encourage your students to think of all the wonderful experiences at Hidden Villa and invite them to share what they would say was a "celebration" from the day. Tell them that these special "celebrations" are good things to think about if they have trouble falling asleep.) Fun, warm stories about bedtime are also good ones to get students feeling comfortable with spending the night in the hostel.
• After the first story, start sending cabin groups to bed one at a time. Give each group about 5 minutes to brush their teeth and return to their cabins before you send the next group. This avoids congregations of kids in the bathrooms, which can get students excited all over again.)
• Review with your students the following instructions:
  • Use low voices in the bathroom and cabins.
  • Brush your teeth quickly.
  • In the cabins you may read or write quietly in your bed until lights-out. (No big conversations, pillow-fights or dancing around the cabins!)
• Continue reading until just your own cabin group is left. Take them to the bathroom to brush teeth and get settled in the cabin.

9:45 = Lights-Out!

• Go to each cabin and listen at the door. If their lights are already out and there is no noise, great! Go to the next cabin. Otherwise, open the door, wish your students sweet dreams and firmly explain that it is lights-out and silent sleeping time.
• During the night, if students need to get up to use the bathroom they absolutely must wake up the adult in the cabin. Make sure parent volunteers know this and are prepared for this disruption.