Friday, August 16, 2019

Entrepreneurship Camp

Today was the last day of the Entrepreneurship Camp. It concludes the wonderful week we have all had together and the massive amount of success we have had with our lemonade stand. We did our big lemonade sale today, selling yellow and "IBM blue" lemonade, and completely sold out! Everyone was amazing at selling and marketing our lemonade, and contributed so much to us making a total of $778.20, more than half of which will go to help Cancer Research (total of $396). The rest was all profit (thanks to the generous donation from Mary from the IBM Cafe, which lowered the cost of making the lemonade) so the kids made $382.20 of profit. This profit was the split evenly between all 13 campers + 2 Volunteers and everyone got to take home $25. Thank you everyone for an amazing and successful week.

Parent Information

1. Please take a moment to leave a review for us on Google. Here is the link: https://g.page/explorerhop/review  
2. Scroll down for amazing pictures of today ⏬

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Around the World Camp

 Today was the last day of a wonderful and exciting week. It was great to meet all these fantastic kids and getting to know them over this past week.

1. We played a game about the countries in North and South America.
2. Then we made Tye-Dye T-Shirts.
3. After a break we listened to a story about Ecuador.
4. After that we learned some New York slang. 
5. Then we created arts and craft flowers.
6. And finally to wrap our last day up we ended with the graduation ceremony.

Parent Information

1. The kids made Tye-Dye shirts today, they need to be dried.
2. Please take a moment to leave a review for us on Google. Here is the link: https://g.page/explorerhop/review  
3. 

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Entrepreneurship Camp

Today was a very fun and interesting day. We got to meet the IBM Robot Pepper, and perfected our marketing campaign.

1. We first worked on our marketing campaign. We created lots of beautiful posters and improved our sales pitches that we were going to use at our  lemonade stand tomorrow.
2. We then worked on some posters to send out through slack, since the best way to market, is to market online. Please share our slack updates with your team!
3. Perhaps the highlight of the day was meeting the IBM Pepper robot, which the kids were so delighted to meet. We got to see the robot speak and dance, and everyone took pictures with the robot. It was really cool to see such an advanced robot with such lifelike movements, and even had fingerprints!
4. And our Tie-Dye shirts are made!  It was a great first experience for so many of the campers to tie-dye their shirts and they are all pretty satisfied by them. 

Parent Information

1. Please share information about our lemonade stand with your team and the other slack channels you are on.
2. Lunch times tomorrow:
1. 12:00-12:30: Stephan, Nicholas, Alysha, Peony, Sabrina
2. 12:30-1:00: Evee, Alex, Alex, Emie, Diya
3. 1:00-1:30: Alyssa, Lauren, Armaan, Kevin, Ivan
3. IF YOU HAVE TAKEN YOUR TYE-DYE T-SHIRT HOME WITH YOU, PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR T-SHIRT TOMORROW.
4. Pre-order your Lemonade now!!  Explorerhop.com  Please share the link with all your colleagues, bosses, friends and even total strangers in the building. 
5. TOMORROW is graduation day at 3:45pm
6. Scroll down for amazing pictures of today ⏬

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Around the World Camp

 We started the day with a game about naming the countries in Europe.

1. Then we listened to a story about Italy.
2. After some snack, we talked more about Italy and the renaissance.
3. We then did a quiz on Italy where we learnt some Italian phases. 
4. After a short break we made some super delicious pasta.
5. Finally we got to watch the super cool IBM Robot Pepper and the kids loved dancing and touching it! 

Parent Information

1. How to cook the pasta: Today the children have made pasta and are taking it home. Please make sure to add salt and oil when making the pasta.
2. Tomorrow is GRADUATION DAY at 3.45pm - please come with your cameras and watch as the kids graduate! 

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Entrepreneurship Camp

We had an extremely successful day today, with sales from our trial lemonade stand several times more than what we anticipated!! Today was a good day.

1. First thing we did today was get our game plan ready for our trial lemonade stand and we split into our groups of Marketing, Operations, Sales, and Finance.
2. After planning out our sales strategy, we began creating poster to advertise our lemonade, and made our lemonade. We had two variations to test which one sold better - IBM Blue Lemonade and Regular Lemonade.
3. Once we had made our lemonade and put up our posters, we got our lemonade stand ready in front of the Marketplace Cafeteria.
4. We had an amazing day in sales! We set out with a goal of just selling 10 cups in our trial run, but ended up selling 44! We ended up making $102!!  51% of which will be going to the Princess Margaret hospital for Cancer Research. Our group had many extremely talented sales people, with everyone making at least 1 sale!
5. We literally SOLD OUT of our Lemonade!! YAY!!!
6. To finally wrap up the day, we went outside and played volleyball.
7. A BIG ENORMOUS THANK YOU TO MARY SALUDEZ (Manager at IBM Cafeteria) who was so kind and generous with helping us today.  

Parent Information

1. Tomorrow is Tie-Dye day, please remember to bring a White Shirt with your child tomorrow to Tye-Dye.
2. Please share the GoFundMe and the Instagram (linked above) to help the kids reach their goal. https://www.gofundme.com/f/lemonaid-4-cancer-research  
3. Pre-order your Lemonade now!!  Explorerhop.com  Please share the link with all your colleagues, bosses, friends and even total strangers in the building. 
4. Friday is graduation day at 3:45
5. Scroll down for Pictures of today ⏬

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Around the World Camp

1. This morning we started with a game called Tumbag Presso.
2. After that we heard stories about Egypt and Africa.
3. On the topic of Egypt, we made Pharoah masks and Crowns.
4. After a short break, we had a singing talent show, the group was very talented!
5. We also learned some belly dancing.
6. Then we watched videos of Tribal Jumping Dances from Africa.
7. Finally we closed the day with coffee paintings, which we didn't finish, so we will continue it tomorrow.

Parent Information

1. Tomorrow is Tie-Dye day, please remember to bring a White Shirt with your child tomorrow to Tye-Dye.
2. Also please send them in clothes that can be stained
3. Friday is GRADUATION DAY at 3.45pm 

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Entrepreneurship Camp

Today was a very productive day, with all of the kids working very hard to market our lemonade stand.

1. To begin we learned about marketing funnels, and the steps of the funnel, so we worked on the Awareness and Consideration today.
2. We brainstormed the best way get people interested in our lemonade stand, and we decided that we could raise awareness for it by putting up posters and sending out messages on slack.
3. We then started working on another instagram post, during which we decided we could benefit from a jingle,  that stays in your head.
4. So after creating the post, we started working on a jingle, which was sung by  our camper Evie. Which would make our viewers remember our posts.
5. We then created a banner on the Explorer Hop Website, which leads to our online store, that lets you pre-order the lemonade.  Oh! We also made a product page! 
6. And finally, we had our talent show, and discovered the amazing talents we never knew our group had. Although it was very hard to pick a winner, considering everyone had very cool talents, the winner was Evee, who could spin a fidget spinner on her nose!  (The runner up was able to say the first 65 digit of Pi and eat a whole banana at one time!).  The talents in this group are amazing: Bouncing eyeballs, bouncing soccer balls, knowing every single iPhone model and subway station by heart and even being able to solve TWO Rubics Cubes in 1min 28 seconds!!

Parent Information

1. Please share the GoFundMe and the Instagram (linked above) to help the kids reach their goal. https://www.gofundme.com/f/lemonaid-4-cancer-research  
2. Pre-order your Lemonade now!!  Explorerhop.com  Please share the link with all your colleagues, bosses, friends and even total strangers in the building. 
3. Tomorrow is our trial Lemonade Stand. 
4. LUNCH TOMORROW IS FROM 12.45- 1.30PM. 
5. Reminder send white t-shirts with your child on Thursday for Tye-Dye day.
6. Scroll down for Pictures of today ⏬

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Around the World Camp

We had another lovely day as we learnt all about Australia. 

1. First thing we did today was some chess, which the campers were very good at.
2. After that we played a very active kangaroo game!
3. We then drew the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Australia. Then we painted aboriginal style paintings of australia.
4. After our lunch break, we listened to stories about who discovered Australia, the great barrier reef and learned about the hole in the ozone layer above Australia
5. After discussing all those topics, we learned vocabulary used in Australia.
6. Then we did some Arts & Crafts and made some Australian fish tanks.
7. After that, we watched Australian tribal dances, and even tried to do it ourselves.
8. And finally, we went on another nature walk and played some volleyball!

Parent Information

1. This time we made drawings and fish tanks which the kids have brought home.

Monday, August 12, 2019

Entrepreneurship Camp

WOW!  What a great group of kids! Today was the beginning of our Entrepreneurship Camp. We have a wonderful group of kids who seem very keen on making a very successful lemonade stand.

1. To begin the day, we played some icebreakers to get everyone introduced to one another.
2. We then learned about different types of companies, such as For-Profit, Not-For-Profit, and Charities. And what how each of these companies function.
3. After that, we talked about the trillion dollar companies, (Apple, Microsoft, Amazon) and were all amazed to find out just how much a trillion dollars is.
4. Then after our lunch break, we learned about the basics of a business, such as knowing who will buy your product, what you are competing with, why they should buy your product.
5. We also learned about GoFundMe and Kickstarter, and their differences. We then decided that a GoFundMe would be the better option for our lemonade stand business.
6. Through a vote, the team decided to raise money for Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.  They decided that 51% of the money will go for cancer research and 49% will be divided between the campers + volunteers. 
7. After deciding on a GoFundMe, we created a video to post to our GoFundMe, which is linked here. And also created an instagram post on the Explorer Hop instagram here.

Parent Information

1. Please share the GoFundMe and the Instagram (linked above) to help the kids reach their goal. https://www.gofundme.com/f/lemonaid-4-cancer-research  
2. Tomorrow is the Talent Show - send your child with their most unique talents! 
3. Reminder send white t-shirts with your child on Thursday for Tye-Dye day.
4. Scroll down for Pictures of today ⏬

Around the World Camp

We had a very pleasant day today, which is mainly attributed to the the lovely group of kids we have this week.

1. To start the day, we played some fun games which helped us get introduced to each other.
2. We then listened to the story of Komagata Maru and talked about different cultures in Canada and Toronto.
3. After that, we sat around the world map and talked about where we are from and some places we would like to travel to. The kids will be happy that this week we are learning about most of the countries they want to visit!
4. After a short break, we learned about India, and painted some Diyas, and did vegetable paintings (where vegetables become stamps!).
5. We also learned some Hindi words and did some Bollywood Dancing.
6. Then we learned about the Taj Mahal and saw a 360 view of the Taj Mahal.
7. And to wrap the day up, we went on a nature walk and came back to do some yoga!

Parent Information

1. Today we made Diyas which the kids have brought home.

General Information

We are very excited to meet the kids on Monday.  I will be joined this week by our counselors:

Around the World Camp:  Richa (an educator with a wealth of experience) 

Entrepreneurship Camp:  Abtin (who is full of business ideas! )  

We also have two very enthusiastic volunteers who will go between the two camps: Diya & Peony 

Here are some things to remember: 

Waivers & Registration forms:  If you have received a reminder about the registration form, please can you complete and send to us.  Due to insurance reasons your child cannot participate till we receive the form.  You can find the forms here.  

IBM Waivers:  In addition to our waiver, IBM has their own waivers which have been emailed to you.  Please complete, sign and send a HARD COPY with your child on Monday morning.  Click here for IBM waiver

Lunch & Snacks - Please send plenty of them!  We find our campers get hungry at camp.  No nuts please as we have a camper this week with allergies to nuts. There is a refrigerator but no way to heat a meal.  Don't forget the water bottle. 

Leaving for Lunch:  For those who have parents / authorised adults who wish to take their camper to the IBM Cafeteria for lunch, our lunch break is from 12.00 - 12.45pm.  Please let the Counsellors know if you will be coming to take them for lunch so we have the activities ended in time.  

Leave Phones / Devices at home:  Please leave your child's devices at home, or let them know they need to leave it in their backpacks.  Campers are not allowed to use their devices during camp hours.  The camp is also not responsible for lost/broken devices.  If you need to contact us during camp hours - please email us at hello@explorerhop.com and someone will get back to you very soon.   

Talent Show on Tuesday: We have our Talent Show on Tuesday where kids bring their talents.  Previous winners have been able to name every single subway station in Toronto, impress us with their math talents and touch the top of their nose with their tongues (we will never forget that one!) . So let your child know to bring their unique skills.  

White old Cotton t-shirt for Thursday:  We will be tie-dying tshirts on Thursday which they will wear on Friday for our Graduation Ceremony -so please send in an old white cotton t-shirt. It's ok if it has a print on it. 

Graduation Ceremony is on Friday at 3.45 pm: Please come with your cameras and see how well your child has done as they collect their certificates. We are going to attept to stream it live on our FB page for those who cannot come in person. 

Contact information:  During Camp Hours, please email us at hello@explorerhop.com

Where & When to pick up / drop off 

• Camp Location: IBM, 8200 Warden Ave.  Your child will have a registration badge ready for them at the info desk.  We are in "The Lab". 
• If you do not work in the building and are simply dropping off your child, please call Hasina (416-833-1782) or Abtin ( 647-544-5000) and someone will come and get your child. 
• Drop Off at 9.15am. We will be there from 8.30am
• Pick up at 4.30pm.

What do parents need to do? 

1) Bookmark this page as all the info you need will be published here, along with pictures of what the kids were up to each day at camp.  

2) Follow us on Instagram and Facebook: @Explorerhop  You will see what the kids are up to there.