We had a fun week in our After School classes and the Youth Guidance instructors wanted to share what's been happening during their lessons to show all of our awesome parents what their kids have been up to!
In Ms. Dennis' Fitness Fun class, students participate in a variety of physical activities that get them up and moving around the gym, as well as learning new exercises to keep them healthy and active.
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| OHHHHH YEEEEAH! Kanon pushes it to the limit! |
Sometimes, after a long day at school, the best feeling in the world is getting to run around the gym, stretch your muscles, and sweat out some of that energy that's been bundled up all day (Believe us, these kids have A LOT of it!)
Sometimes the students take the lead and show everyone else how to do a certain stretch or exercise. Warm-up exercises include jumping jacks, push-ups, and laps in the gym. à
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Mr. Nall's Drama Class had a fun time learning new character-building games. Mr. Nall wrote six different scenarios, each with its own unique challenge that needed to be fixed (For example, helping a little old lady cross the street, assisting the police in catching a bank robber, etc). Mr. Nall also wrote six different character traits on a gigantic green dice, that had to be acted out during the scene. So if Riley (1st Grade) rolled 'HULK SMASH' and 'Carry the Groceries Up a Tall Building' she would act out how the superhero Hulk would carry the groceries up the stairs. The results were completely random and always creative!
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| Riley rolls the dice... |
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| & acts like Hulk carrying the groceries, while Symone watches. |
Afterwards, the students played one of Mr. Nall's favorite improv games- Scenes from a Hat! This game is lifted from the improv show 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' Mr. Nall wrote some very bizarre scenarios, put them all in a hat, paired student into groups of two, and watched as the students collaborated to create zany scenes with over-the-top characters. Emily and Carolina (5th Grade) took their prompts and came up with some great scripts and characters. One of their prompts was 'The Best Butter in the World is $9000!'
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| Carolina and Emily perform a scene during a game of 'Scenes from a Hat' |
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A mystery awaited the Watercolor Class this past week. When the students came to class, all they found on the table was a gigantic piece of paper that appeared to be completely blank. Mr. Nall told the students that there was a secret message on the paper-written in white crayon and colored pencil. In order to reveal the message, the students would need to get their brushes wet, put some colors on the paper, and reveal what the message said. Hearing this, the students grabbed their brushes and started putting as much color on the paper as they could! The message on the paper revealed the day's assignment: write a secret note in white crayon/colored pencil to someone and have them try to decode it using their paint-set.
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| Miles writes his secret message in white colored pencil. |
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| Watercolor paint is added and a secret smiley face is revealed! |
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One of the best things about after school at STEM is seeing how the students collaborate and work together to make works of art that show their range of progress and ambition. For Graphic Design class on Friday, the students did just that.
Mr. Nall brought in a roll of register tape, uses this scroll to collaborate with has friends and all draw together. The students added their own designs to the nearly 30 foot scroll of paper. The students used an array of media from crayon, pencil, watercolor, even collage! Two students came up with great idea of adding a hidden green line to each drawing on the scroll- a mini-version of 'I Spy' that challenges anyone looking at the scroll to find the hidden green line.
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Being in Chicago, sometimes the weather doesn't always agree with how we get to spend our time in after school. The gym was being used on Friday, and since the playground still had some ice and snow on it, we took to the music room and created a game that involved a square of tape and a bouncy ball!
Students worked on their teamwork and communication skills while challenging themselves to beat their own top scores. Their goal was to bounce and catch the ball back and forth to their teammate as many times as possible!
For an extra challenge, the older students passed the ball back and forth without catching it, hitting it off of their hand, but still bouncing it in the square! Lexi, Emily, and Reese gave this challenge a try and did a GREAT JOB!
Declan and Kannon proud of their achievement!
It was another great week at STEM's Youth Guidance After School Program!
