Beyond Books and Beverages

We think the experiences of older kids should be special. They have unique needs and wants and deserve activities designed specifically for their age group. Their voices need to help drive the design of their own programming. Older kids should have experiences that are different than those of the younger kids.

In our Older Kids Club, they are involved a mix of service learning projects like fundraising for our local animal shelter and helping the younger kids with homework that teach a sense of community and activities that are just plain fun like making our enjoying special snacks and pet rock creations while hanging out in the Older Kids only area of our community.

This month, our Older Kids Club surveyed the younger kids in the program about books they would like to read.  We took a field trip to the local Barnes and Noble, first stopping at the bookstore café for some grown up Starbucks beverages. Then we spent some time picking out books from the younger kids’ wish list. “I really liked this book we picked out, it was called I SPY, ” said Teagan.   They were given a budget and had to experience the democratic process in action by taking a few votes to decide on which books to purchase. “I suggested Mal’s Spell Book and it has some spells in it.  I think it is good for older kids and some younger kids that can read really well,” said Kahlo.

Later this month we will continue a Sombra Older Kids Club tradition by constructing a Haunted House.  Families are invited to tour the attraction with their children during our Family Night, October 30^th. 

Lego Movie Literacy

Lego’s are fun. The Lego Movie that was released this year added even more excitement to the classic building toy. Our idea was to create a Lego class that challenged kids to practice their literacy skills by writing a story – the classic hero’s journey.

The first step was character development. We asked the kids to draw their hero and describe the character’s personality by telling us if their character was good, or bad, or both, what their character liked to do as a job or a hobby, what the character wanted to achieve, what fears or obstacles could make it difficult for the character to achieve the big goal, and what traits, strengths, and skills can help the character achieve the goal?

Then we worked on the setting: We challenged the kids to “paint a picture of the setting… using words.” Where and when will the events of the story happen? 

• Describe the place… Examples: the forest; the school; our town; or on another planet. 
• Describe the location… Examples: beside the big oak tree; on the playground, near the zoo, or by the Purple Sea of Enselor. 
• Describe the objects in the setting… Examples: mushrooms, the twirly slide, the koala bear enclosure, or the statue of the alien hero. 
• Describe the time… Examples: morning, midnight, or dusk; in the present day, past, or future. 
• Describe the weather… Examples: stormy, clear sky, muggy, hot.

We asked them to use descriptive and exciting words to describe each place. We challenged them to use great “kicked up” adjectives (hot/cold, bright/dark, dirty/clean, gloomy/cheerful, simple/elegant, colorful/faded, modern/old fashioned, luxurious/simple, threatening/tranquil).  But we also challenged them to “NOT make their adjectives DO ALL THE WORK” – instead of simply saying that the forest is gloomy – DESCRIBE what gloomy looks like, sounds like, and feels like. The dark forest was wet and a little bit cold, and the wind sounded like the trees were trembling and weeping.

Then we simply walked them through the process of telling the hero’s journey by having them come up with at least three problems or challenges that the hero would need to overcome and a creative, unexpected, or funny way of solving each problem.

Finally, we asked them to write a grand finale’. Tell the story of whether the Character wins or loses, reaches the goal or fails. Is there a moral to the story? If their character succeeds, this is a comedy; when the character fails, this is a tragedy. We challenged them not to just cut the story off, but to “wrap it up with a nice BOW.”

The kids thought about their stories as they build scenes and props with Legos, and worked on their stories at home. When they were happy with their stories, we snuck in a little technology education. We taught them to use stop-animation and green screen technology to create their own Lego Movies.

Here is a good example. As you watch, listen for character development, setting description, problems, solutions, and the grand finale’. Enjoy!

You can download the materials we gave the kids to help them at www.ashcraftafterschool.com/lovinlearnin.html

Spellin' Hopscotch

Spellin Hopscotch - Create a 35-letter (vowels and R, S, T, and N are written twice), 10-row hopscotch grid on the floor, inside or outside.  Write their spelling words or sight words for their grade level on index cards (Note – asking teachers for these lists helps build relationships and partnerships).  

Children draw a card, read it, replace it, and then hops out the word. Children can hop spell answers to any science or social studies question.  Or use numbers and hop out math problems.  

We have also used this to sneak in some social studies.  Hopsctch was developed from myths about mazes and labyrinths – you can see how the game board fits into such a story.   Some versions of hopscotch grew from religious beliefs of a human soul’s journey from Earth to Heaven.  The oldest known Hopscotch board is etched into the floor of the Forum in Rome, Italy.  The game spread throughout Europe during the rise of the Roman Empire.  Children in Britain, France, and Germany were taught the game by soldiers.  Hopscotch is now one of the most widely played games in the world.

Long Love Lists

Long Love Lists - We like to use adding tape for this fun literacy activity.  We simply put up a long strip of adding tape (to add some novelty and fun) and give the kids a topic.  Something like list everything you love (Valentine’s Day); 

everything you are scared of (Halloween); everything that you are thankful for (Thanksgiving) or everything that is WET.  They might list water, milk, orange juice, etc.  Eventually spit and pee might make the list, so be prepared.

Constellations: Kids Create their Own

This is a fun, literacy activity we invented by accident - born out of imagination and a constellation conversation.

We were talking about stars and the groups of stars that form patterns when viewed from Earth - constellations. We talked about the 88 different constellations listed by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy.

We talked about some of the more famous constellations like the Big Dipper and Orion.

Then we began talking about how when we look at stars we can see other patterns that may look like animals, mythological creatures, people, or inanimate objects such as a microscope or a heart.

We gave the kids some black paper and foil stars and let them create artwork based on constellations from their imaginations. To sneak in a little literacy, they all wrote a paragraph about their imagination constellations.

We decided we could kick these projects up a notch by making them GLOW! We have the kids some fluorescent markers and paints and let them do their projects under a black light. This was an instant hit.

We have learned that it is a little easier to use WHITE paper and standard highlighter markers. The florescent colors show up much better on white paper and the highlighters are easier for children to write with (and less expensive) than florescent paint.

The kids LOVE writing their own florescent messages. 

This one is GLOWING literally and figuratively – GLOWING!

FilmCamp Facilitates FUNdamentals

Film classes and camps directly teach about technology and design and also facilitate the development of literacy skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

We have been having a blast with our film classes this year. Enjoy this great example.

Title:  The Haunted School

Description:  Students learned what makes suspense in movies.  They were then given the challenge to make a movie that would actually build suspense in the audience.  They brainstormed ideas, and made an outline of the movie.  They also wrote dialogue for all the characters. They did their own make-up and gathered props and costumes.  During production, students took turns directing and filming scenes.

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