Robinson ELP Program is Super Popular!

The Robinson Expanded Learning Program is so popular we're unable to take everyone. Our first session of workshops included African Dance, Quilt Making and Cooperation Through K'nex.  Students worked hard in all three workshops and produced some amazing final products.  Check out some of their hard work below!

Ranger Rachel's Nature Club and Scholar's Club

November 6, 2014

Check out the exciting projects happening in Ranger Rachel's Nature Club!  Students multi-task between creating wood-burned walking sticks, studying VT State Parks, and creating their own compasses!

In Scholar's Club, students finish up working on their math homework and continue their study of the Oregon Trail.  Be sure to check out their display in the hallway!

  

 






Session two will be starting on November 18, and will include workshops in Cooking, Yoga, Culture Club: China, Scholar's Club, and Clowning!

November 3, 2014

The first session of the Expanded Learning Program is in full swing at Bristol Elementary school!  We are offering four exciting workshops; Culture Club: China (K-3), Culture Club: Japan (3-6), Ranger Rachel's Nature Club (2-4), and Scholars' Club (4-6).  Last week I was able to document some of the fun/learning that was happening in both Culture Clubs!  

In Culture Club: China, students are learning to create the /ur/ sound by pressing their tongue to the roof of their mouth.  They listened to the sound from an audio clip off of the internet, and also had a guest teacher  (an exchange student from China) demonstrate!  

 Students also learned how to write Chinese words!

 Lastly, students were able to sample moon cake, a Chinese treat!

A few rooms down, the students in Culture Club: Japan were learning to art of origami!  They were able to follow Chris's step-by-step instructions in order to create a pumpkin for Halloween!  After this, they created two box halves which fit together to make one box.  When asked how the walls stay up, one student remarked "I don't know.  They just do.  It's Origami Magic!"  When students were finished making their pumpkins, they glued them into a card, and Chris helped them write "Happy Halloween" in Japanese!

As August fast approaches, we at the 21st Century Expanded Learning Program are winding down our summer academic enrichment offerings and looking toward the bright horizon of the upcoming school year.  But before we close one door and open another, we'd like to reflect a bit on our summer:

OUR SUMMER.  Our summer at Robinson, Bristol, and Beeman Elementary Schools has been built upon the backs of great adventure books, simple machines, Red Clover read-alouds, and rockets.  With fifty students from the Addison Northeast school district, we've dissected tennis balls, traveled imaginatively to Hawaii, built volcanoes and erupted with observations.  Sharks have been on our mind, so has the concept of "infinity."  We've set reading goals and met them.  We've sent postcards.  We've enjoyed healthy snacks, bouncy bus rides and learning.  Learing. Learning.  And more learning.  The type that is nearly imperceptible.  So natural that it feels less like work and more like, well, fun.

But we're only just getting started.  Stay tuned!  The school year is right around the bend!

Bristol's Culminating Performances

We had some great performances last Thursday by our Bristol students. These students were excited to show parents and community members the new skills they have acquired this session. Enjoy these videos of our learners (and parents!) having a blast.

African Dance

 Students rehearse and put on costumes before parents arrive for the show.

Yoga

Parents had fun participating in the yoga final project:

Scholars Club and Magic Tricks

Busy Bees at Beeman!

Our learners at Beeman Elementary have been very busy this session.

Here our scholar's club students take a quick break from learning to get out their wiggles.

Students in our Portraits workshops make fantastic and creative portraits of themselves and others. Here are some students showing off their beautiful pieces of art:

Okay, perhaps it is a bit presumptuous to trumpet our own accolades, but when it comes to enriching  ANESU's students, Maureen and I are loud and proud.  And since we weren't able to offer an acceptance speech (haha) at last Thursday's awards night after receiving an ANESU Education Recognition Award in appreciation for our special contribution in educational excellence, we will use our blog as our platform now:

It goes without saying that Maureen and I would like to thank every administrator, teacher, professional, and parent that has supported the 21st Century Extended Learning Program.  A lot goes on behind the scenes, but it is during our on-site visits when we are able to observe and participate in high-quality, engaging, challenging and affirming academic workshops that we are swept off our feet weekly and reminded why we love what we do!  So thank you.  Thank you for providing opportunities for our students to thrive beyond the school day.  Thank you for tapping into your heart and soul as you develop workshops connected so slyly to the Common Core and the school day that even our most perceptive students don't detect the deep level of academic learning taking place.  Not that we have anything against academic learning.  On the contrary, we believe!  But our students are soaring precisely because their learning is so skillfully woven into their engagement. Dare I say, their fun?   

And thank you, Anne Gleason.  Thank you for nominating us!  Your discernment is uncanny when you write, "(Mandy and Maureen) discussed, de-vised, re-vised and supervised, and probably laughed a lot when they might have felt less-than-perfectly satisfied."  And thank you for noting that we "have been exactly what was called for - a working model of cooperation, collaboration and commitment."

This is when we wave our certificates high above our heads and weep a little.

Thank you.  Thank you!