Winter After School Activities will run until Classes will run through Friday, March 31.
To make up for the cancelled Wednesday classes, Painting and Mixed Media and Fun with Mrs. Pritchett will be extended by 30 minutes (until 5:15pm) on the last two Wednesdays of the winter session - March 22 and 29.
Meadow Pond PTO After School Activities Course Catalog
*Spring 2023*
**All activities are after school unless otherwise indicated**
M O N D A Y S
Hip Hop Dance (K-5)
Hip Hop Dance is a high-energy class, with age appropriate and upbeat music. Instructor Kim Alcott brings out students' own individual style and personality and incorporates fun games. Students must wear sneakers and comfortable clothes for moving.
Challenge Island (K-5)
Students are divided into teams, based on grades. If 24 or more students enroll, this class will be split into two classes.
Students get ready to set your clocks for an action-packed travel-through-time adventure! Each STEAM Team will test their STEAM savvy as they whiz around the universe to visit other places and times in history!
We begin by designing a Time Machine Prototype using up-cycled materials with at least 3 functions – real or imaginary -- and present them to the class. This prototype will be used later in the session to build a ‘life size’ time machine that the students can actually sit in!
Time Machine Island weekly adventures also include:
- It’s 1849 and we’re visiting GOLD RUSH MOUNTAIN where we design and build a Runaway Mine Car Ride with as many drops, jolts, falling boulders, “keep out” signs and direction changes as possible. And of course there is gold!
- At PYRAMID PEAK in 2500 BC, we learn about how ancient Egyptians built the mighty pyramids... and the strength of the triangle in civil engineering, by building our own using unique materials! We design a few mummies as well and learn to write our names in Hieroglyphics – “Write Like An Egyptian”!
- It was 1620 at MAYFLOWER HARBOR as the Pilgrims boarded the Mayflower in England to set sail for America. The Mayflower was powered by wind with the help of its billowing sails and students today design their own wind-powered ships to carry their ‘penny’ Pilgrims down our Challenge Island Raceway to the New World!
- It’s 1977 and today we visit Challenge Island’s PINBALL WIZARD WAY. We learn about growing up in the 70s ... use problem solving and the scientific method skills to create a real working pinball machine using the potential energy of elasticity. Every STEAM Team gets to play a round on every pinball machine!
- In 1884, the first roller coasters worked using gravity alone and people paid 5 cents to ride ... but first they had to climb to the top of a 50 foot tower! Our STEAM Teams visit ROLLER COASTERRIDGE and build their own coasters using foam pipes for track and marbles for passengers. ALWAYS a favorite challenge!
- ICE AGE GLACIER, the SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE & RIO DE JANEIRO’S MARACANA FOOTBALL STADIUM are also part of our itinerary!
When children embark on a Challenge Island adventure, they are transported to a learning environment that’s adventurous, involves high-level thinking and is HUGE FUN! Each class is active, interactive, exciting, and totally hands-on and encourages the children to collaborate, communicate, think critically and build their creative skills while they put the engineering process to work. It’s screen-free and imagination-powered fun!
T U E S D A Y S
Beginning Acting (2-5)
Through a series of fun theatre games and improvisations, children learn the fundamentals of acting for theatre from a professional actress with over 30 years of experience in stage, film and television. While the course is perfect for children who have a natural flare for acting and who would like to further explore their talent, the main focus of the class is for children to draw on their imaginations and develop confidence in self expression in a safe group environment. The theatre games and improvisations are designed to encourage spontaneity, trust, and respect within the group. Drawing from their improvisational works, actors will then create group scenes which they will perform for each other.
Mini Clay Creations (K-5)
We will use a variety of techniques to make colorful clay masterpieces. They will mostly be small in size but have lots of fun details. Students can create realistic food miniatures, cute animal sculptures, refrigerator magnets, backpack zipper pulls, and more. Our themes will be determined by student interest and could include anything from tiny pizza slices and layer cakes to ladybugs, turtles, and other fun keepsakes. Projects will be designed to appeal to both boys and girls.
Comic Crafting Workshop (3-5)
We will use a variety of techniques to make colorful clay masterpieces. They will mostly be small in size but have lots of fun details. Students can create realistic food miniatures, cute animal sculptures, refrigerator magnets, backpack zipper pulls, and more. Our themes will be determined by student interest and could include anything from tiny pizza slices and layer cakes to ladybugs, turtles, and other fun keepsakes. Projects will be designed to appeal to both boys and girls.
W E D N E S D A Y S
Outdoor Play (1-5)
Outdoor play helps children grow socially, helps develop healthy ways of forming new friendships and using their imagination to entertain each other. Sign up and let's get some sunshine, fresh air, and activity together!
Learn to Garden (3-4)
Students will learn what plants need to grow through a variety of hands-on activities. Students will help take care of the vegetable and flower gardens at Meadow Pond and will also plant seeds to take home.
T H U R S D A Y S
Beginning Spanish (2-5) **before school**
This program will instill a positive feeling for every-day Spanish vocabulary, with emphasis on pronunciation and reading skills. By means of play-acting, drawing, singing, the children learn to read simple text and to use every-day expressions.
Beginning French (K-5) **before school**
Students begin to learn the basic units in French such as numbers, members of the family, colors, food, animals, clothing and parts of the body in a fun and relaxed environment. During class we will practice sound changes, pronunciation, conversing, listening and writing through songs, coloring, games and short stories.
Beginning Spanish II (2-5) **For students who took Beginning Spanish in Winter.**
This program will instill a positive feeling for every-day Spanish vocabulary, with emphasis on pronunciation and reading skills. By means of play-acting, drawing, singing, the children learn to read simple text and to use every-day expressions.
Coding 00A (K-2)
This course is designed for young children to learn how to code using blocks, pictures, and tapping interactions. Students will explore the fundamentals of coding by solving puzzles. As they progress through adventures such as Ocean Odyssey, Robots, Wild Rumble, Puffball Panic, Super Squad, they learn about sequencing, parameters, events, loops, conditional logic, and nested loops that help to establish foundational coding skills.
Fun with Mrs. Pritchett (2-5)
We will shoot, score, pass, fumble and run but most importantly we will have tons of fun! Join Mrs.Pritchett for ASA. ⚽️🏀🏈🥏🏐🎾🏒#sportssquad #gamemode
Your child will participate in a wide variety of activities both run in PE and a few new games. Floor hockey, scooter games, air square, astroids, pillow polo and many more. Outside weather permitting. Join us for some exercise and maybe meet a new friend or two!
Beginning Piano (2-5)
Welcome to the world of Beginning Piano! For the beginning piano class, we will learn basic fingering technique and finger numbering, all repeated in a pattern. We will learn key names based on visual recognition, all repeated in a pattern. We will learn a simple song such as Happy Birthday by rote. There will be an introduction to simple notation based on note location (as a step up, step down, two steps down etc). There will be a sharps and flats explanation as well as rhythm explanation. We will do a "spider" game modeled after Hanon exercises (five consecutive steps up and down), a "see saw" game (swinging wrist right and left) to relax wrist action. We will learn to play a simple song by printed musical notation, and students will be introduced to a scale.
F R I D A Y S
Chess (1-4)
Join your school chessmates for a winter of fun matching your skills across the board. Beginner instruction on opening, middle and endgame with strong emphasis on playing! Beginners will also learn the moves and rules of chess. Children will play supervised games and practice the art of checkmate on diagrams tailored to their level. Students at the intermediate level will be grouped to learn at a higher level playing against more competitive opponents and advanced strategies.
*NEW* After School Activities (ASA) Committee
The MPES PTO board is seeking a chair and volunteers to work closely with the PTO VP to organize and run our after school activities. ASA is an important fundraiser for the PTO, and the funds raised go right back to the school to support enrichment activities such as field trips, building improvements and supplies not covered by the school budget, and so much more. We’ll work as a team, divide and conquer, and bring engaging activities to Meadow Pond!
The Committee’s responsibilities include:
- Partnering with the PTO VP to plan ASA sessions in winter, spring, and fall;
- Identifying classes and instructors to build each session’s schedule;
- Liaising with instructors and BOCES (which partly subsidizes some ASA classes);
- Liaising with school administration;
- Developing promotional materials and managing registration; and
- Answering parents’ questions.
If you’re interested, or have questions, please reach out to Barbara Williams at mpptovp@gmail.com
