Class Summaries

In just a short amount of time, dancers have been working towards alignment and precise execution of plie, tendu, degage, and rond de jambe at the barre to strengthen their technique. In the center, students continue towards proper technique when executing pirouettes, working on developing the correct placement of passe. Progressions across the floor have consisted of chaine turns, pique turns, and grand jete. As we continue in class, we will be working more in the center and across the floor to utilize center combinations that will be used in our Merry and Bright performance.

In Cheer and Tumbling class, athletes have worked on jumps, motions, and stunts.  Stunts include double base thigh stand and single base liberty.  They will put these skills together to work on several different types of cheer sequences!  Stretching is a key component as it will help to learn more challenging skills.

This semester, our Chess program is providing an enriching and engaging experience for all students as they delve into the fundamentals of the game. Through a blend of education and entertainment, children are honing their skills in chess identification, mastering checkmates, exploring advanced tactics like scholars’ mate and forking, all while enjoying fun movies and music that complement their challenging gameplay.

As they progress, students have the opportunity to earn exciting rewards such as candy and vibrant wristbands, symbolizing their mastery of various chess tactics. Additionally, they are gaining proficiency in using chess clocks and participating in daily chess tournaments, where they face off against fellow students for a chance to win Mardi Gras beads.

Throughout the semester, students have been introduced to essential chess terminology, including concepts like grandmaster, splattermate, remove the defender, the golden rule, legal/illegal moves, invalidation, refereeing, and flagging.

As the weeks go by, our young chess enthusiasts are consistently improving, often without even realizing it. They are not only becoming better chess players but also developing valuable problem-solving skills, fostering superior sportsmanship, honing their critical thinking abilities, and building academic confidence, all through their growing mastery of chess.

We encourage each child to play at least three or more chess games at home between classes to reinforce their learning.

Students have been introduced to the triple threat of Broadway performances, which include singing, dancing, and acting!  They are learning how to sing solo and together, all while conducting movements and memorizing words and parts.  Breathing is an especially important technique for performing and students have been learning how to breathe using their diaphragms and vocal power.  This class builds teamwork as students learn to sing in unison and to sing solo parts.  It also builds concentration as these performers are learning when it’s their turn to come in on a song.  And lastly, they are developing self confidence as they get to perform in front of their classmates.

Ask your child to perform “What Else Can I Do” from Encanto, and “SunRoof” from KidzBop – you’ll be blown away by their talent!

This fall, students are focusing on the fundamentals of golf, both putting and building up their full swing.  They are learning how to properly hold a club and follow-through on their swing.  Terms such as “swing like a clock” are being introduced to express the action of swinging with your shoulders.

Students are learning basic engineering terms and concepts, as well as how to measure LEGO bricks.  Each lesson ties the terms of the day to what they are creating to build association.  Within every class, students build a warmup project and a main project, all within the core theme of the class that day.  So far, students have built a brick modeled fish, bees and honeycombs, zebra, savannah habitat, and a pullback motor dolphin.  The terms they are learning include clock spring, overlapping, SNOT modeling, and scale models.

The goal of this class is to create a safe place for students to explore their imagination through building with Lego.  Each project comes with a new challenge, some of which require cooperation among peers to work together and create an amazing LEGO masterpiece!

Students are learning basic engineering terms and concepts, as well as how to measure LEGO bricks.  Each lesson ties the terms of the day to what they are creating to build association.  Within every class, students build a warmup project and a main project, all within the core theme of the class that day.  So far, students have built a brick modeled starter Pokemon, Professor Oak’s laboratory, and Charmander.  They have also created a box frame and ball join Charizard and ball joint/plate modeled folding Professor Oak’s laboratory.  The terms they are learning include ball and socket joint, boxframe, proportions and bricks, brick modeling, and hinges.

The goal of this class is to create a safe place for students to explore their imagination through building with Lego.  Each project comes with a new challenge, some of which require cooperation among peers to work together and create an amazing LEGO masterpiece!

Class is off to a great start as the students have been extremely productive! Utilizing paper and pencil, students design buildings they will construct in Minecraft. Starting with houses and mansions, they focus on using the correct in-game materials and planning within Minecraft. Next, in groups, they design various building types. Students will continue this creative exploration within class this fall.

Students are engaged in fun activities that help them practice counting currency using play money.  They are learning the value of money by name and amount (both coins and bills), how to make change, and create and follow a budget.  Student activities reflect real life scenarios such as developing their own budget for grocery shopping, comparing prices, and calculating costs.  During this process, they are learning terms such as whole dollar, cents, value, decimals, budgeting, save, spend, greater than, equal to, and less than symbols and words.

In this class, students have explored three essential topics/skills:

• Mastering rhythms and discerning note values
• Singing, dancing, and memorizing lyrics
• Harnessing diaphragmatic breathing for strong note holding

Students can delight their parents by demonstrating their ability to sing “Do You Want To Build A Snowman” from Frozen.  They will sing the lyrics flawlessly, accompanied by expressive movements!

Through harmonious singing, students learn the power of working together in unison.  They also gain significant confidence in stage presence as they perform in front of their classmates.

The primary goal of My First Piggy Bank class is to help students get comfortable recognizing coins and their value.  Discussions and activities revolve around saving money, personal savings goals, and sharing what you would buy once a goal is reached.  Students will be working on their own Piggy Bank in which they can save their money in.

Soccer has kicked off with tremendous enthusiasm, combining both enjoyment and valuable learning experiences.  Players learn foundational skills and techniques for kicking, stopping, and dribbling the soccer ball.  Instilling these fundamentals is important as they serve as the building blocks for improved growth and development.  Two key phrases have been introduced to students, “squash the ball,” and “inside the foot.”  Squashing the ball translates to the action of stopping the ball when receiving the pass (putting your foot on the ball), while inside the foot represents the proper method for kicking, especially during passing maneuvers.   Our commitment is not only to nurture budding soccer stars, but also to instill the values of teamwork, recognizing its importance within the realm of soccer.

During the first half of the semester, students learned about how journalists find the news through reliable sources and interviews. Before writing, students reviewed the basic elements of a completed newspaper article. For example, we discussed how to write an interesting headline that would catch the reader’s attention as well as summarize the news story. We also reviewed global issues happening in the world today and the students used the ideas from this discussion to choose a topic for their own feature article. Students produced one article (of any news genre/sub-genre) and showcased six elements of a newspaper article.

Terminology such as journalism, sources, reporter, interview, newsroom, feature story, headline, byline, placeline, lede, nut graf, and background have been discussed.

Students have put their journalist skills to the test!  Class has taught them how to communicate and write in a different style focusing on objectivity, curiosity, and attention to detail.  Moving forward, students will explore investigative journalism and how to analyze research through fact-checking skills and interviews to produce a well-rounded, unbiased story.

This semester, our Chess program is providing an enriching and engaging experience for all students as they delve into the fundamentals of the game. Through a blend of education and entertainment, children are honing their skills in chess identification, mastering checkmates, exploring advanced tactics like scholars’ mate and forking, all while enjoying fun movies and music that complement their challenging gameplay.

As they progress, students have the opportunity to earn exciting rewards such as candy and vibrant wristbands, symbolizing their mastery of various chess tactics. Additionally, they are gaining proficiency in using chess clocks and participating in daily chess tournaments, where they face off against fellow students for a chance to win Mardi Gras beads.

Throughout the semester, students have been introduced to essential chess terminology, including concepts like grandmaster, splattermate, remove the defender, the golden rule, legal/illegal moves, invalidation, refereeing, and flagging.

As the weeks go by, our young chess enthusiasts are consistently improving, often without even realizing it. They are not only becoming better chess players but also developing valuable problem-solving skills, fostering superior sportsmanship, honing their critical thinking abilities, and building academic confidence, all through their growing mastery of chess.

We encourage each child to play at least three or more chess games at home between classes to reinforce their learning.

This fall, the Hillcrest Choir has started the year off with singing games and building their repertoire. They’ve learned about vocal health and the importance of warm-ups with the songs “Whether the Weather,” “Mrs. Shady,” and “How Do You Do And Shake Hands.”  The students have also been getting to know each other and building community with singing games like “Here Comes A Bluebird” and “Scotland’s Burning.”

The choir is hard at work practicing for their upcoming performances this semester. They sang “There Is More Love Somewhere” with the Midway Lower School Choir for Episcopal School Sunday during a special service in the Church of the Transfiguration on October 1st. They are also preparing the song “In Service Of Our Country” to honor any veterans in the community during daily chapel on Friday, November 10th.  Families are welcome and encouraged to attend both events.

This semester, dancers have been exposed to Ballet, Jazz, Modern, and Lyrical. The group really enjoys Lyrical which is a combination of Ballet and Jazz.  In Ballet class, we have worked on alignment, plie, tendu, degage, rond de jambe, barre stretches, and the proper execution of passe. During Jazz, we have begun working on the coordination of steps, for example chasse with opposite arm as leg, grand jete vs. saute chat and correct execution of pirouettes on both right and left sides. In Modern class, dancers have been introduced to some basic floor work and articulation of the spine to get them more comfortable with that style of movement.  Students thoroughly enjoyed Lyrical class where we put together a small combination including floor work and different ways to interpret the steps to add the correct quality of movement. As we continue, we will be building on these skills and look forward to presenting what we have learned during the Merry and Bright performance.

In Debate class, students are exploring ways to dialogue, research, and present their “arguments” in a constructive manner, with opening/closing statements, pro/con speech, rebuttals, and resolutions.  At the same time, they are gaining experience in becoming comfortable and confident when speaking in public.  Over the next six weeks, students will be able to argue their stance on a topic confidently and research items to help persuade the audience.

During the first half of the semester, students learned about the foundation of Graphic Design – where function meets form – and are working their way through the fundamentals of design while creating fun projects that they can connect to. For example, coming up with comical award certificate designs that show composition, rule of thirds, and color theory.  Students have also created vision boards and flyers.

Graphic Design can take on many forms. Although it is most associated with marketing and sales advertisements, the students are putting their own twist on the subject by exercising world-building. World-building is a concept that you find in game design, storytelling, and especially tabletop gaming. Graphic Design is a great way to illustrate world-building because you have to master consistency in your designs, create a cohesive color story, and learn what makes a compelling design.

In Hip Hop class, the dancers have been working on rib cage isolation, six-step, coffee grinder, toe touch, and glides.  They also learned various combinations and will continue to work on freestyle movements.  Students are learning many dance styles and each week we review dances and add to them to create a full combination to practice and show off to their family!

Students are working on new skills every week in three different sports – Basketball, Tennis, and Lacrosse.  Within Basketball, the focus is on shooting, dribbling, and passing.  Forehand, backhand, serving, and volley are being practiced in Tennis, while passing and long and short throwing are concepts being introduced when playing Lacrosse.  Before diving into the main sports, there is a warm-up game each week that students are loving, such as Pac-Man (line tag), Animal Game, Pop-Up Tag, Relay-Race, and Freeze-Tag.  Overall, students have made tremendous efforts and improvements in all sports as they learn balance, ball control, agility, endurance, teamwork, and courtesy.

Students are embarking on a creative journey using various types of Lego build kits.  Beginning with the assembly of smaller structures guided by provided instructions in the boxes, students have built houses, fire stations, and police quarters.  Students have now elevated their skills and are collaborating with team members on group projects, tackling more complex and imaginative builds.

Students have been working hard and showing their skills and creativity in assembling their unique robots that they will work with throughout the remaining classes.  Next, they will use iPads to control the robots, integrating electronic components and fine-tuning the mechanisms for seamless functionality.  Once that is mastered, builders will prepare for challenges and experiments to showcase their robot creations.

Students have started the program off learning the fundamentals of Tennis and important skills such as serving the ball, reaction time, and active game participation.  Players start their session with stretching and then move to a fun warm-up game per week, in example, sliders (bean bags slid across ground to tag other team/practice movement across net and side to side movement), animal games, Head, Shoulders and Cone (a reaction time game), and Musical Dots. Following the warm-ups, students move to tennis drills which help them increase forehand and backhand movement.  Finally, players focus on serves and real-game practice by serving the ball across the net to a partner, volleying the ball back and forth across the net, and swinging over the net with the coach. Overall, students have made tremendous efforts and improvements as they begin to learn backhand, forehand, reflex, and real-game practice skills.

This fall, students are learning about rhythm by clapping and repeating rhythmic patterns and rhythmic notation (quarter-notes and half-notes).  They are also exploring different instruments, playing the guitar, drum, tambourine, and ukulele in class.  Children have been exposed to the work of Antonio Vivaldi and his well-known violin concertos “The Four Seasons.”  They can identify which season they are listening to, as well as the pieces in minor or major according to the violin, viola, cello, and harpsichord.

Terminology such as dynamics, piano, forte, tempo, composer, major, minor, and steady beat have been explored in class.  The children are loving the classical music in a fun and kid-friendly way!

During the first half of the semester, students learned about the three states of matter and how these states of matter are typically measured through mass, volume, and density. The students also learned that all matter expands when it is heated and contracts when it cools, and how this might affect particle structure too.

The students created a DIY Lava Lamp that demonstrates both the difference between two substances with different densities and how these liquids would react to an increase in temperature.

Vocabulary such as matter, solid, liquid, gas, mass, volume, density, immiscibility, molecule, and temperature have been used and discussed.  Students are very curious about experimentation and can exercise their skills in critical thinking, observation, and data-gathering analysis through fun and interactive science experiments!

This fall, student vets have been working extremely hard to earn their lab coats, practicing patient care that includes taking patient information, learning how to use a stethoscope, checking temperatures, administering shots, monitoring heartbeats, reading x-rays, wrapping wounds, and even performing some surgical procedures.

Students have been busy learning about famous artists around the world, their unusual techniques, and different styles of outputs:

Paul Klee’s Cat and Bird:  Students learned about Paul Klee, a Swiss German painter, who created the famous Cat and Bird painting in 1928, depicting the wide face of a stylized cat with a small bird perched on its forehead.  Using oil pastel and watercolors, students drew their own versions of this painting, learning about and using complimentary colors throughout the process.

Folk Art Molas: The Molas is a hand-made fabric panel that forms part of the traditional women’s clothing from Central America. Students cut their own symmetrical Mola design and placed it on acid-free paper.  They also used oil pastels to enhance the artwork.

Kandinsky Abstract Circles:  Learning about the Father of Abstract Art, Wassily Kandinsky, students drew one of his famous paintings which featured concentric circles, using sharpies, oil pastels, and liquid watercolor.

Dancers are having a blast this fall in class, learning different types of movements in ballet technique and jazz repertoire.  They are working on a combination for both styles of dance which include techniques such as chasse chaine, arabesque, pique turns, releve passe, glissade leap, petit battement, plie, ball change, fan kick, hitch kick, and jazz walk.

Players started off the semester learning the fundamentals of basketball, such as how to pass, shoot, dribble, and overall play as a team.  Passes involve bounce and chest passes, while shooting consists of getting the ball in the air and in the hoop.  New skills are introduced every week and all learnings are put together to form a well-rounded basketball player.  Children are having fun and building basketball skills weekly.

This fall, students are excited to discuss their favorite Disney Broadway shows, including Lion King, Aladdin, and Frozen.  They are building a repertoire of Broadway moves and listening to the music from the most popular show tunes.  Currently, performers are working on the hit Broadway show Annie and learning dance steps to the famous song “It’s a Hard Knock Life.”  Dance moves include jazz, hitch kick, chasse, ball change, pirouettes, and leaps.

The Midway Choir students have been busy preparing for Episcopal School Sunday, Veterans’ Day and a couple of holiday chapel performances this fall. The students have worked on effective breathing techniques, dynamics, singing in canon and basic choir etiquette.  It’s a wonderful group who have come together to sing in melody!

Students are exploring the flavors of Ireland through delicious scones and Mexico through appetizing nachos.  Culinary chefs are practicing with kitchen tools and perfecting their measurement skills and have even built their own edible bird nest.  Not everything goes smoothly when cooking, so students have learned that when a recipe fails, you can take the toppings and turn them into a delicious smoothie!

Students are learning basic engineering terms and concepts, as well as how to measure LEGO bricks.  Each lesson ties the terms of the day to what they are creating to build association.  Within every class, students build a warmup project and a main project, all within the core theme of the class that day.  So far, students have built a brick modeled Tinker Bell, Aurora, Cinderella, castle, and magical chair, as well as a plate modeled Captain Hook’s ship, ball joint modeled Mirabel’s Magic Door, and hand-powered Cinderella carriage.  The terms they are learning include ball and socket joints, frames and boxframes, brick and plate modeling, and lastly, overlapping.

The goal of this class is to create a safe place for students to explore their imagination through building with Lego.  Each project comes with a new challenge, some of which require cooperation among peers to work together and create an amazing LEGO masterpiece!

In class, students focus on collaborative group work, immersing themselves in Minecraft education. They work together to create a society within the game, with each student contributing to the community by building houses and taking on specific roles and tasks. These tasks include hunting for food, farming, mining for essential resources for tools or buildings, defending against mobs, and strategizing plans to overcome potential threats. Additionally, they assist in crafting tools to streamline their tasks, fostering teamwork and problem-solving skills. This hands-on approach teaches the students to overcome obstacles collectively and achieve their desired goal of exploring the Nether within the Minecraft world.

This semester, dancers have been working towards developing body awareness and creativity through improvisation. We have explored a few different qualities of movement sustained, swinging, suspended, and collapsed.  We have worked on body alignment and placement. As we continue to progress through the class, we will build upon the skills we have learned so far and begin to work on Merry and Bright performance.

Students have been extremely busy in class this fall!  At first, children worked on a whole group activity by taking a story starter and going around the circle giving each student the opportunity to add a sentence to create the story.  Students have been working on sounding out words and working on letter sounds (long vowels, digraphs, and blends).  In writing, they focused on conventions of writing: beginning sentences with an uppercase letter and ending with proper punctuation, leaving spaces between words.

We discussed ways that illustrations help tell a story and created drawings to go with our writing.

Recently the students enjoyed a Reader’s Theatre project.  They read the book Phoebe and the Flame-Bellied Toad, by Staci Swedeen.  The students read together and chose which character they wanted to portray, as well as wrote lines for the play and illustrated them with pictures.

During the first half of the semester, students learned about how journalists find the news through reliable sources and interviews. Before writing, students reviewed the basic elements of a completed newspaper article. For example, we discussed how to write an interesting headline that would catch the reader’s attention as well as summarize the news story. We also reviewed global issues happening in the world today and the students used the ideas from this discussion to choose a topic for their own feature article. Students produced one article (of any news genre/sub-genre) and showcased six elements of a newspaper article.

Terminology such as journalism, sources, reporter, interview, newsroom, feature story, headline, byline, placeline, lede, nut graf, and background have been discussed.

Students have put their journalist skills to the test!  Class has taught them how to communicate and write in a different style focusing on objectivity, curiosity, and attention to detail.  Moving forward, students will explore investigative journalism and how to analyze research through fact-checking skills and interviews to produce a well-rounded, unbiased story.

The YouTube Creator class is all about nurturing creativity and expression. Students craft scripts and brainstorm video ideas that reflect their unique personalities and interests. Each child has the opportunity to showcase their creativity through their envisioned YouTube channel. The process involves planning the video, selecting a channel name and logo, and researching other kid-friendly YouTube channels for inspiration. Following this, students will begin the recording phase, with subsequent weeks dedicated to editing and finalizing each child’s video, which will be shared with them on individual flash drives.

Parents are encouraged to view the footage and decide if their child is ready to embark on creating a genuine YouTube channel.

Students have been busy learning about famous artists around the world, their unusual techniques, and different styles of outputs:

Diego Velazquez’s Las Meninas:  Students studied the Las Meninas (“Ladies in Waiting”) painting by Diego Velazquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age.  Several contemporary artists in present day have been inspired to recreate the original, so students worked on their very own “Ladies in Waiting” painting.

Illustrations Using Micro Pens and Watercolor Brushes:  Students learned about famous illustrators, James Noel Smith and Jack Unruh, studying their line work and simple use of watercolors.  Using acrylic paint and sticky notes for their background, students then used their backpacks as inspiration, drawing the outside lines of them, showing what’s hanging on the backpacks, and finally, drawing what’s inside.

Mona Lisa, Wonky Mona Lisa, and Taylor Swift:  Continuing with the theme of drawing, students used charcoal black and white pencils to draw the Mona Lisa on a grid system.  From there, they used the same grid to make the Mona Lisa drawings wonky.  And to tie it back to today’s world, the students also drew Taylor Swift in both formats – regular and wonky!

In Cheer and Tumbling class, athletes have worked on jumps, motions, and stunts.  Stunts include double base thigh stand and single base liberty.  They will put these skills together to work on several different types of cheer sequences!  Stretching is a key component as it will help to learn more challenging skills.

This fall the Hillcrest Choir has started the year off with singing games and building their repertoire. They’ve learned about vocal health and the importance of warm-ups with the songs “Whether the Weather,” “Mrs. Shady,” and “How Do You Do And Shake Hands.”  The students have also been getting to know each other and building community with singing games like “Here Comes A Bluebird” and “Scotland’s Burning.”  The choir is hard at work practicing for their upcoming performances this semester. They sang “There Is More Love Somewhere” with the Midway Lower School Choir for Episcopal School Sunday during a special service in the Church of the Transfiguration on October 1st. They are also preparing the song “In Service Of Our Country” to honor any veterans in the community during daily chapel on Friday, November 10th.  Families are welcome and encouraged to attend both events.

So far this fall, dancers have worked on various techniques of modern dance, including Nikolais, Graham, Humphrey, and Limon. These techniques work on fall and recovery, release, lateral “T”, and weight shifting. We continue to work on dynamics in various movements versus fluidity. They have explored improvisation as well.  As we continue with these techniques, we have created a few combinations to work on and will begin to put them together for the Merry and Bright showcase.

Students have shown enthusiasm and curiosity with the hands-on learning experiences about understanding the ocean’s mysteries:

Under the Sea Project:  Students have acted as young marine biologists, sketching sea creatures, discussing different ocean layers and the unique conditions in each, while learning about the deepest point in the ocean, the Marianas Trench.  They have explored various features of the ocean, including the meaning of sunlight zone, twilight zone, midnight zone, abyssal zone, and hadal zone.

Find a Fish Project:  Students had the opportunity to become explorers and discoverers of new fish species by imagining and drawing their own type of fish.  They considered the fish’s behavior, diet, and habitat.  Each newly discovered fish was given a special name and students presented their fish species to the class.

Mangrove Ecosystems:  Students explored the fascinating world of mangrove ecosystems and how plants and animals interact to maintain balance, including the Plum Landing game.  They reviewed how to build a food web to properly understand the predator-prey relationship and reflected on the importance of a balanced ecosystem.

Underwater Rover:  Students learned about historical ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) and their diverse roles in underwater exploration and research.  They received hands-on experience using BeeBots (a robot designed specifically for use by young children) to navigate the ocean, while designing and attaching their own features.  Terms such as submersible, exploration, and equipment recovery were often used throughout the class.

In this class, students have been introduced to three topics/skills so far:

• Disney Magic Introduction and Singing: Children are learning the concept of magic in relation to Disney.  Students started off the semester by playing Disney-themed icebreaker games and singing Disney songs to help them get to know each other better.
• Exploring Disney Characters and Singing: Students are exploring various Disney characters and learning the chorus of popular songs, along with simple choreography.  They are choosing a Disney character they’d like to be during the final performance.
• Dancing and Singing: Students are learning the proper way to sing by focusing on vocal warm-ups and projection.  Additionally, they are learning basic stage directions and more movements in their choreography piece for their performance.

Throughout this exciting journey, students are becoming familiar with essential theatrical terminology such as actor/actress, action, backstage, blocking, break a leg, Broadway, choreography, chorus, costume, dress rehearsal, ensemble, finale, gesture, off-stage, and prop.

As the semester progresses, students are eagerly preparing to showcase their newfound talents by presenting four enchanting Disney animation songs during the grand finale performance. Their journey through the world of Disney promises to be an unforgettable one, filled with magic, music, and the joy of artistic expression.

During the first half of the semester, students learned about the foundation of Graphic Design – where function meets form – and are working their way through the fundamentals of design while creating fun projects that they can connect to. For example, coming up with comical award certificate designs that show composition, rule of thirds, and color theory.  Students have also created vision boards and flyers.

Graphic Design can take on many forms. Although it is most associated with marketing and sales advertisements, the students are putting their own twist on the subject by exercising world-building. World-building is a concept that you find in game design, storytelling, and especially tabletop gaming. Graphic Design is a great way to illustrate world-building because you have to master consistency in your designs, create a cohesive color story, and learn what makes a compelling design.

A variety of topics are covered in our Hola Amigos Spanish class which include going over calendar details, numbers, colors, shapes, pets, and sports. The students participate by singing and dancing to the class song ‘Hola Amigos’ and play a few different interactive games.  At the end of each class, students take home a coloring sheet representing the class topic and their portion of the game.

In class, students are engaged in a collaborative learning experience, by breaking out into small groups to play math games. Through these interactive activities, students not only enjoy themselves but also fortify their foundational math competencies, which encompass addition and subtraction, place value, the art of comparison (greater than and less than), the rhythms of skip counting, and the intricacies of odd and even numbers.

One game involved rolling three dice, each roll unveiling a new challenge to concoct the greatest possible number. Once every student had landed on their number, they arranged them in ascending order, from least to greatest number.  Another game involved using a number line with addition and subtraction stories, as well as board games and card games to build number sense and problem-solving skills.

Science has been fun in Texas due to the high temperatures.  The class took advantage of the heat and made gooey Solar smores, cooked fried eggs outside, and made edible dragon slime.  The team worked together to build a giant pendulum that released vinegar onto colored baking soda which created a blast of fizzle and made for a fun surprise.

Every week, children embark on an enchanting journey guided by the three elements of magic: 1) Make it Fun, 2) Think of Others, and 3) Give Your Best.

From day one, magicians were equipped with a special binder complete with a Velcro pocket, the gateway to their Magic Adventure Pack (M.A.P) and all the delightful props that come with it.  Learners have been extremely careful and diligent with their materials, which is truly impressive!

Each week, students delve into the world of magic, learning and mastering a brand-new magic trick. Along the way, magicians play spellbinding games, share captivating stories, and solve perplexing mysteries. The journey teaches them the values of respect, authenticity, and generosity, as well as communication and presentation skills that will serve them well throughout their adventures.

Students are learning floor tumbling skills to make a routine called V-seat.  This involves skills such as forward rolls, straddle rolls, cartwheels, and backward rolls using a raised mat.  Additionally, they are working on the vaulting horse, which consists of a squat on, side vault, and straddle vault.  Stretching is a key component as it will help to learn more challenging skills.

Students are currently learning the fundamentals of typing, such as the home row keys and which finger to use when typing a certain letter on the keyboard.  They are also practicing the proper way to position their eyes, body, and hands while typing.  The repetitive nature of typing will help form a habit and will become second nature to these learners very quickly.

Game Makers class offers an exciting journey into the world of game development using Multimedia Fusion software. Students are learning to create video games through coding, utilizing the program’s user-friendly interface to craft complex game designs. Currently, students are in the final stages of completing a thrilling ping pong game. They will have the opportunity to take this game home on a flash drive, enabling them to play and enjoy it in their free time. Looking ahead, students will dive into the creation of a new game, incorporating intricate obstacles and challenges to enhance their skills and creativity further.

Students are learning floor tumbling skills to make a routine called V-seat.  This involves skills such as forward rolls, straddle rolls, cartwheels, and backward rolls using a raised mat.  Additionally, they are working on the vaulting horse, which consists of a squat on, side vault, and straddle vault.  Stretching is a key component as it will help to learn more challenging skills.

During the first half of the semester, students learned about the three states of matter and how these states of matter are typically measured through mass, volume, and density. The students also learned that all matter expands when it is heated and contracts when it cools, and how this might affect particle structure too.

The students created a DIY Lava Lamp that demonstrates both the difference between two substances with different densities and how these liquids would react to an increase in temperature.

Vocabulary such as matter, solid, liquid, gas, mass, volume, density, immiscibility, molecule, and temperature have been used and discussed.  Students are very curious about experimentation and can exercise their skills in critical thinking, observation, and data-gathering analysis through fun and interactive science experiments!