Math Playground!
Welcome (and welcome back) to the Math Playground!
The goal of the Math Playground is to provide a creative, hands-on environment to explore a wide range of mathematical concepts for early elementary learners (Kindergarten through approximately 2nd grade). We have learners with different levels of math understanding and math skills, so there will be activities with different levels of challenge.
Your learner might not be interested in all of the activities, and might find some of them too challenging or not challenging enough. That’s perfectly fine — just as on an outdoorplayground, sometimes you only want a gentle swing, and other times you want to go down the tall slide headfirst with your eyes closed. The important thing is to give learners the opportunity to experience the joy of exploration and discovery in math at their own pace.
Each week we start the class with a story relating to that week’smath theme, and then the learners have the opportunity to try different games and activities.
The weekly themes for the fall term (subject to adjustment to reflect the learners’ interests) are:
Week 1: Introductions, building equations without numbers
Week 2: Sequences and patterns
Week 3: Addition and subtraction
Week 4: Symmetry
Week 5: Sets and attributes
Week 6: Telling time (also Picture Day)
Week 7: Doubling and multiplying
Week 8: Dividing
Week 9: Money
Week 10: End of term celebration (Animal Math)
Many of the in-class activities can be checked out for the week, if your learner would like more time to explore the activity. HOWEVER, many of the activities have small parts that could pose a choking hazard for younger children.
We have a full class this term, so I will be asking parents to sign up to help in 2 class sessions this term. Helpers are there to provide reading help for non-readers, to play games if a learner is looking for a partner, and to be available in case I need an extra pair of hands.
Because of the full class (and small classroom), I need to ask that younger siblings do NOT stay in the classroom unless you are signed up to help that week.
Theater for Kids
Course Description:
Have you ever pretended to be someone else just for fun? Maybe you’ve played dress up with mom or dad’s old clothes and acted out a story with your friends. Or maybe you just like to move and play!
We’ll put stories into action through a series of physical activities, improv games, and role playing exercises. Together through play we’ll learn the “who, what, where” of narrative structure in order to develop our creativity, connect with each other, and think on our feet!
Important Notes:
Wear clothing and shoes in which you feel comfortable moving. Bring a water bottle and a snack.
Course Goals:
Through participation in this course, you will:
– Build an ensemble by playing theatre games.
– Learn basic theatrical vocabulary.
– Explore stagecraft, including voice, body, space, and collaboration.
– Create and perform scenes and stories based on ideas discussed as a group.
– Perform created pieces for friends and family.
InterActive Theater
| Come to this class and interact with plays full of grammar, dances, and history songs, accompanied by silly stories and funny jokes that bring the past to life. Bad Wolf Press has created a selection of theater shows that help kids understand and retain the facts of history, language arts and geography. Each term we’ll perform a different play selection from Bad Wolf Press in an experience to remember for audiences and performers alike! |
Engineers Gone Wild
ENGINEERS GONE WILD Instructor: Erich Schmidt Syllabus – Fall 2012
This class will be all about taking things apart and putting things together. We’ll be studying machines, how they work, mechanical advantage, and then building our own machines. We’ll build some of Da Vinci’s most famous machines, but we’ll get a little help from modern tools. We’ll study motion and how to make things move, gears, pulleys, and more! Electronics is also on the docket, even learning about how circuit boards work. And then our crowning achievement will be a gigantic Rube Goldberg machine that we will set up at next summer’s picnic using everything we’ve learned the whole year.
We are asking everyone’s help in making this class the most awesome experience!
1) Pleasedonateyourelectronics,appliances(small)orbikestoourclass.
2) Please watch the blog for announcements of “stuff we need” – generally it’ll be extra wood, maybe an old garden hose, or perhaps we’ll need cardboard. It’s hard to know what we’ll be inspired to build too far in advance, but we’ll give you as much notice as possible.
I look forward to working with everyone this year in building some awesome machines!
Junior lego Building Club
Self-directed basic lego and ello construction. (No robotics.) Come in and dig through the bins and see what you can create with your friends.
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
Drawing has more to do with seeing than the actual mechanics of using the pencil, paint, and other media. In this class you will learn ways of tricking your brain into shifting sides (from your left to your right) so that you can “see” people and objects in the three dimensional world in a way that makes it easy to depict on a two dimensional plane. It’s a matter of learning to see things’ real shapes by looking at them with loving attention.
This class is suitable for the beginner as well as the more advanced. If you have taken this class in the past, there will be room for you to expand your knowledge and skills in this new class, as there will be many new projects and drawings to draw, as well as room for individualization in the exercises that you may have done before.
Using the ideas and exercises from the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, learners will explore the basic skills of drawing such as the perception of edges, spaces, relationships, lights, and shadows, and the whole. Then we’ll add color, memory, imagination and feeling to make our amazing drawings. This class will include many messy and wonderful mediums for us to explore and dive into, including pencil, charcoal, pastel, working on paper and canvas, and boards, so come prepared to get messy!
In all of my classes, I strive to create a valuable and enjoyable experience for all of the different individuals in the class. I value and appreciate individual expression and interest and do my best to encourage young artists to explore at their own pace and allow for their own artistic whimsies, while at the same time gently guiding them to grow and learn the skills that will give them confidence and joy as an artist. I’m exited to create with you!
Discoverers
In this interdisciplinary class, learners will have time to explore and learn together. Each day will have a routine that includes plenty of time for explorations, free playtime, circle time, play-acting, show-and-tell, singing, arts and crafts, and time to play outdoors too. In this gently-guided class, Discoverers have opportunity to build their interpersonal skills while learning age-appropriate material.
OMSI Lab
We’ve selected what we deem to be the most exciting, inspiring labs OMSI has to offer for this age group, and they will even visit the planetarium and see an IMAX movie (parents pay $8.50 at the door for the movie). These labs meet monthly (only fight traffic once a month). Lab explorations based on state standards, in all of the branches of science for the young scientists ages 5 – 8 are a fun introduction to science at OMSI.
Labs Meet from 10:00- 10:50 on the following Fridays:
September 21 Welcome to the Solar System
October 19, States of Matter
November 16, Hot and Cold Chemistry
December 14 Planetarium Double Feature
January 18, FAbulous Fossils
February 22, Pond Scum and Salmon
March 22, IMAX Movie Feature TBA
April 19, Bridges
May 17, Physics Phenomenon
No Meeting in June
Filed under: Art, Communication, Drama, Industrial and Technical, Math, Science, Social Skills |
Acquara Independent School 
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