Week 4 Recap

What a week! The campers traveled a long journey of exploring the qualities of epic tales. We started the week by viewing a powerpoint about epic tales and the 6 qualities of epics. We then started working on our own script and storyboard for the movie we would produce. 

 Script writing is hard work! So we took some time off to play a little "Star Wars Jedi Master Life." Miss. Sarah won - it came down to her Jedi Padawan vs. Mr. I's Sith Lord.

We went out to scout locations and then filmed the movie short on Wednesday and Thursday. 

 Once we shot the film, we were up in the "editing room" for hours...organizing, cutting and mixing footage, adding sound, etc. The kids now know the basics of Adobe Premiere Elements editing software and a little more about file organization.

On Friday, with our movie wrapped, we finished our read aloud of a children's version of The Odyssey. We watched "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou," a very funny retelling of Homer's masterpiece. The campers LOVED "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" and were able to pick up on many of the literary references and symbols. I was so proud! We concluded the week with our own puppet show version of The Odyssey completely improvised by the campers. GREAT JOB kids!

Here is the campers film short:

Here is the puppet show. This is hysterical! 

Camps Update & Business Week Recap

The camps are going great!!!! Hopefully I will do them again next year - send me feedback on your thoughts about pricing, times, themes, etc.. Enrollment for next week's camp is closed but there are still spots open in Epic Story Week - June 17-21 (campers will write, act and direct in their own MOVIE!), Theatre Week (July 15-19) and Myths, Fairytales and Folklore week (July 22-26). 

The camp that just wrapped was Business Week and the campers impressed me with running their own non-profit business. Throughout the week, the campers learned about for-profit and not-for-profit businesses, famous entrepreneurs and executives, and the stock market. They worked as a team to conduct their own not-for-profit business using Alex's Lemonade Stand as a platform. The campers served as CEO, CFO, VP of Marketing, etc... The CFO did a cost analysis on our products. The VP of Sales ran a taste test survey on several types of lemonades. The VP of Marketing designed the booth color scheme and produced a commercial. Each day of camp, the campers attended business meetings, made task lists and set goals. The compliments the campers received today at the Farmer's Market were awesome. People were amazed at the customer service skills (which we role played ahead of time) and the visual appeal of the booth (thank you iPad and Pinterest - which our campers used for research!). 

Business Week Recap Video

Alex's Lemonade Stand Commercial

Outta this World Recap & SCIENCE ROCKS videos

Here are a few videos I made to recap our "Outta This World" camp experience...what fun memories!  

The participants at "Outta This World" tried out hands-on experiments and solved problems just like real NASA scientists. We were inspired learning about American heroes like Captain Jim Lovell (Apollo 13) and Christa McCauliffe (Challenger).

Our participants will fly as virtual crew members on the Orion test flight (2014? 2015?) thanks to the research they did on space radiation!

Outta This World camp was true summer enrichment. I am so proud of what we accomplished and pleased to acknowledge that similar programs would have cost 50-75% more than the cost of my program. I am able to keep costs low by keeping the groups small, operating out of my home and utilizing the vast information through free educational Web sites. Consider signing up for a camp with me this summer - it will be a week your child will never forget!

Oh - and I promised to share online the videos we watched on Friday...reminding us that SCIENCE ROCKS!!!

We didn't have time to watch these, but I wanted to share. This is the Will I. Am "I.Am.First Science is Rock and Roll" special. Lots of celebrities advocating science education...lots of kids doing COOL stuff with robotics! 

Wednesday Recap

Another great day during our Outta This World week! We began the day learning a little bit about the history of NASA and creating our own Mission Badges. We discovered how NASA astronaut's go about creating their mission badges. There are over 135 NASA Mission Badges!

Next, the campers learned about Newton's 3rd law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. To better understand this vital law used in rocketry, the campers made balloon rockets and then launched them to the stars! (Well, my ceiling to be more precise, but who's judging...we used our imaginations!). Check out our video of the balloon rocket launch, filmed by two of our campers!

Balloon Rocket Launch

We ended the day planning and constructing our Orion mission projects. Campers were designing and building model rockets, a space suit, a rover and a tent for Mars. They will continue this work on Thursday. To make the work a little easier, the campers enjoyed watching "Horton Hears a Who" in the background as they cut, taped and stapled tissue paper and tinfoil to their projects.

Tuesday Recap

Another great day! We began the day creating Sun-Earth-Moon models and learning about the relationship between the Sun, Earth and Moon, rotations, the ocean tide and more.

Next, we created pin-hole viewers so we could measure the sun. Unfortunately, the sun wouldn't come out! Our plan is to try again today!

We enjoyed a special treat of watching Space Chimps and eating Miss. Sarah's famous Bo Bo Dip. Then later, we conducted materials testing on our tissue paper and copy paper as part of our Ray Shielding Experiment.

Materials Testing Video

It was a busy, fun day!

We survived our first day!

We survived day one of camp and the kids did GREAT! What fun! We kicked things off recording odd facts about ourselves using a voice changing app for the iPhone. The campers then listened to the recordings and guessed who each recording belonged to. They LOVED that! 

Next, we created our own solar system stained glass (I got the idea from Pinterest! Gotta love it!). This was challenging cutting work but the campers oohed and ahhhhed at their finished results. 

 

We learned about radiation and the challenge radiation presents to astronauts. We also learned about NASA's Orion mission and the campers made a video on the Weather on Mars:

The Weather on Mars Video

After some free time and lunch, we began working on the Exploration Design Challenge for NASA. The campers tested "radiation" resistance on a variety of materials and then tracked the data in a graphic organizer. After the experiments, we discussed the findings, tweaked our experiment and did some further research. 

To celebrate our hard work, we enjoyed ice cream sundaes at the end of the day! 

Well, we were still working actually while having the sundaes...but ice cream makes hard work a lot easier!