Themes and Activities

After School and Summer Enrichment Themes

Themes and activities are designed to capture your child’s interest. They are available either as after school summer Saturday programs or they may be incorporated into the school day as a class activity. All are inquiry-based and require active student participation. Following is a short description of some popular themes.

• Saturday Science for Girls: Saturday sessions for girls only! The last Saturday of every month, girls have an opportunity to experience the full range of science activities in small groups. We will incorporate activities from all the other workshops, have fun and learn about science. Why girls only?
• Forensics: Does crime scene investigation sound like fun? In this course you will learn to use real crime scene investigation techniques to solve forensic mysteries. Fingerprinting, blood typing, examining blood spatter, chromatography, chemical analysis, and examining trace evidence under a microscope are all techniques used in this workshop.
• Exploring Ponds and Ditches: From the nature of water and its physical properties, to microscopic life, to crayfish to birds, you will learn about farm pond uses and ecology and will investigate the remarkable fresh water life found in ditches and puddles surrounding Darwin’s Workshop.
• Light and Shadow: When we look at the stars, examine the lens of a cow’s eye, watch the colors change on bubbles or cook a meal using the sun, light shows us our world. We will use activities and experiments drawn from chemistry, biology and physics to investigate the properties and behavior of light, colors and shadow.
• Chemical Concoctions: Watch things bubble and fizz, change colors and temperature as you study physical and chemical properties of matter. We will answer such questions as: Why does aspirin upset our stomachs? and which type of antacid works the best? We will make our own pH indicator and test it on various substances and we will construct molecular models from chemical formulas to predict how molecules and atoms will interact.
• Projectiles: Catapults, stomp rockets, paper airplanes, and rockets. You will build and propel objects, learning first-hand about Isaac Newton and his three Laws of Motion.
• Inventors Workshop: What do rubber band propelled cars, chemical rockets, falling eggs, Mentos and Coke, and periscopes have in common? They all use the transfer of energy to get things done! If you are an inventor at heart and like to use your hands as well as your brain, this workshop is for you!

Tutoring

Tutoring is available for students from kindergarten thru adult.

Teacher Training

Ms. Discoe's experience both- as a front-line teacher and as an administrator responsible for curriculum and teacher evaluation-allows her to inspire other teachers to refresh an enliven their teaching skills.