CC Afterschool

DIY - Making Papyrus

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 17:25:00 +0000

Our Summer Camp theme this week is DIY.

Megan and the kids made their own version of papyrus. The word paper comes from the word papyrus which is a plant that old civilizations used to make paper. Having limited access to actual papyrus, Megan's club instead took a more eco friendly approach.

The kids gathered up all the scrap paper they could find, sorted them by color, texture, and thickness. After that the they began the process of breaking it down until it became fibrous and then added color to it. once that has been achieved the kids gecan sifting out the fibers and placed it on a parchment paper, this allows them to get totally hands on and shape the paper,

After that they just sandwiched it between some heavy books and found a nice sunny place for it to dry.

It take a few days for the paper to completely dry but after that the kids had created fresh craft paper for the community to use!

By Josh Rosenquest

11 Ways to Help Kids Manage Stress

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 16:54:00 +0000

At Children’s Choice, one of the outcomes we are trying to achieve with kids is that they develop skills for managing stress, coping with feelings, and being resilient when bad things happen in life. How do we do this?

1. Power of Play
We make time for play. Play is not a four-letter word. Well, actually it is, but that’s not the point. Play is not a frill. It is a powerful tool for managing stress. Play gets the brain to release powerful neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin that counteract stress. Play creates a sense of belonging and fosters cooperation. Play supports social, intellectual, and language development. Play builds confidence, and relieves stress. So, we bring “FUNERGY” to the job!

2. Confidence through Enrichment
Confidence is a skill that is a necessary building block for developing self-control and the ability to solve stressful problems. Often, kids who are struggling in traditional school subjects suffer from a lack of confidence, which inhibits their ability to solve problems and increases stress in difficult situations. When children have the opportunity to be involved in activities like drama, team-building, music, cooking, sports, gardening, dance, and art, they learn that there are many things they might be good at in addition to the more traditional school subjects. Through these experiences they gain the ability to approach challenges with more confidence.

3. Role Models who Fail
Adults make mistakes. Sometimes adults hide this fact from children or blame others when they make a mistake. At CC, we are trained in the value of recognizing mistakes, admitting mistakes, and learning from mistakes. When we make a mistake, we acknowledge the mistake so the kids can hear us saying, “Oops” or “My bad.” Then we come up with a strategy to fix our problems, and talk about the lessons we learned. We very intentionally do all of this out loud, so children can hear how responsible adults handle it when we make mistakes.

4. Permission to Make Mistakes
We give kids permission to make mistakes. Mistakes are part of life, and are valuable to the learning process. Some of the strongest learning moments happen when people make mistakes. When kids make mistakes, staff don’t shame them, or punish them. We say, “That’s okay, try it again.” We say, “hit the reset button and try a different solution.”

5. Name that Feeling
We help children identify feelings by labeling or naming the emotion out loud. “I see that your face is red and you are breathing very fast. It looks like you are angry. What’s happening?” or “I can tell you are upset right now. You look very sad. Would you like to talk about it?”

6. Listen, just listen.
When we do get kids to open up and talk to us, we don’t interrupt. We let them finish. We don’t “make them wrong” or disagree, especially when they are talking about their feelings. You won’t hear our staff say, “You shouldn’t get angry about that” or “That is not something to get upset about.”

7. Acknowledge Super Powers
We don’t attempt to control kids. Instead we help them develop what psychologists call an Inner Locus of Control. We teach kids to recognize their feelings, and to understand that feelings are not good or bad, but that they have control over their actions and how they behave when they feel a certain way. When kids say things like, “Ryan made me hit him,” we challenge this by asking “Would it be more accurate to say, you felt angry and chose to hit Ryan?”

We intentionally teach children these steps to coping when bad stuff happens.

Help them C.O.P.E.

8. C = Calm.
This is all about arousal control. We teach them breathing techniques like taking a series of slow breaths in through their nose and even slower breaths out through their mouth. We teach them progressive muscle relaxation exercises like first tensing and then relaxing their muscles starting at their toes and ending with the muscles in their faces.

9. O = Options.
We encourage them to stop, take a breath, and relax before reacting to the situation. We know the longer they delay before reacting, the longer of a list of options they can create. The more options they can create, the more likely they are to come up with an effective and appropriate response. , Frontal Lobe takes the keys, Self Talk, Break it Down, Generate Long Lists, Brainstorm, Visualization and Mental Rehearsal Making a long list of strategies,

10. P = Problem Solving
The next step is picking a strategy and putting one into practice. Try it out and see if it works. We teach them to acknowledge that the situation stinks, to acknowledge how they feel about it, make a list of possible solutions, then pick one. One of our useful phrases is, “That stinks, now… what can we do to MAKE THE BEST OF IT?”

11. E = Evaluate
After picking a problem-solving strategy and trying it out, look back and see if it worked. We ask, “Did that work?” “What part didn’t work so well?” “If you could go back and try it again, what strategy do you think you might pick this time?”

Create a Planet!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 13:27:00 +0000

This weeks theme at Osuna is SyFy Channel.

We created our own planets and solar systems. Cabins 1 and 2 created a solar system teeming with life where you could create your own planet and anything was possible! Cabin 3 created a planet where there were Pizza Shaped Planes that dropped Pizza from the sky and Cabin 4 had a planet where they spoke their own grunting language.

Cabin 5 created a planet that resembled the Death Star and Cabin 6 created a Minion Planet where King Bob ruled supreme. In Cabin 7 the sky on their planet made it rain money and Cabin 8’s planet had well thought out tunnels and poisonous plants.

After each cabin presented their planets, we took a community vote for who would win our Deep Blue C that week and the winner was Cabin 6 with the Minion Planet! It is now Cabin 6’s privilege to get to decorate and protect the Deep Blue C until next week’s assembly where a new cabin can win the Deep Blue C.

Space Wars

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 13:08:00 +0000

This week at Osuna, the theme is SyFy. Ben led an enrichment club called Space Wars.

Kids in the younger unit worked together in pairs to create their own space ships. They spent a few days constructing their ships out of materials such as cardboard, tinfoil, Popsicle sticks, and pipe cleaners.

After the ships were built and decorated, we took them outside for an intergalactic meteor shower of water balloons! We divided into two teams and held a tarp up in between. Hidden by the tarp, each pair chose a location for their ship.

One child was the “seeker” and peeked around the tarp to see the opposing team; the seeker then gave the “launcher” a description of where to throw their water balloon. It was up to the launcher to throw his/her balloon over the tarp, in hopes of connecting with a ship on the other side! Everyone had fun and got wet, and we strengthened our communication skills along the way by designing, constructing, and executing a plan with a partner.

By Shannon Donegan

Name That Fruit!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 20:30:00 +0000

This week's theme at Children's Choice Sombra Del Monte Summer Fun Camp was the Game Show Network. We played a fun and healthy game called "Name That Fruit!"

Here's how you play:

1. Go to the grocery store and pick out the weirdest looking fruit you can find.

2. Gather some cutting boards and knives

3. Have all the kids wash their hands

4. Show the kids the fruit on piece at a time. Have the kids guess what the fruit is. Once they've guessed you can sneak in some geography and science by talking abouthow the fruit grows, where it originates, and what it can be used for.

5. After you've gone through all the fruits have the kids cut up the fruit in small pieces.

6. All the kids do a blind taste test. You can do blindfold or just gave them close their eyes. After everyone has tried the piece everyone says "Name That Fruit!" And you discuss what fruit they think it is.

By Sommer Batterson

Roman Aqueduct Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 22:20:00 +0000

This week’s theme is National Geographic and Discovery Channel at Comanche

This week we learned how Romans got their water. As Roman towns got bigger, it became difficult for people who lived in towns to get drinking water. Because raw sewage was draining into the rivers, people who drank river water often got very sick or died. First in Rome and then elsewhere, Romans decided to build long stone channels or aqueducts to carry clean water from nearby hills to the towns. The first Roman aqueducts were build in 312 BC.

This week Rebekah challenged the kids to build their own CC aqueducts. The challenge was to build an aqueduct to transport water from a short hose to a small kiddie pool using any resources they could find. After inventorying their supplies and brainstorming the team created a long snake like aqueduct consisting of pool noodles, flimsy cardboard tubes, duct tape and saran wrap. They quickly realized that wasn't enough, they needed gravity to assist them, so they spread out and used their various heights as part of the structure itself to ensure a slight downward gradient. Triumphantly, they celebrated by splashing into the pool.

By Josh Rosenquest

Jeopardy: Make Your Own

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 16:59:00 +0000

One of our themes for Summer Fun Camp 2016 is Game Shows.

Check out our Pinterest Page for more of our Summer Fun Camp Themes.

For years, we have created Jeopardy games that we use with kids. We pick categories, and then create answers and questions - you know the game - no need for us to explain the format and rules.

Recently we created a Jeopardy game for Family Events. The kids and parents separated into teams and competed against each other to win prizes. To sneak in a little education, we used one category that contained Children's Choice facts that we wanted parents to learn/know. We are including the categories, questions, and answers (below). Feel free to replicate!

We have also created a functional electronic Jeopardy game that uses Power Point. Click here to download the template, then just make your own edits to personalize the game for your organization.

Health and Safety Jeopardy Game

Family Jeopardy!

Category: Children’s Choice Community

For 100 Points
How old is Children’s Choice?
-17 years old

For 200 Points
Which two areas of our community are you allowed to take your shoes off in?
-The Quiet Area
-The Drama Area

For 300 Points
Name three holidays that Children’s Choice is closed for:
-Christmas, Christmas Eve
-New Years
-Thanksgiving, the day after
-Labor Day
-Memorial Day

For 400 points
If you are going outside at Children’s Choice when the sun is out, what 4 things do you have to do before you go?
-Clean up your mess
-Put on Sunscreen
-Clip Your Name
-Ask a Staff

For 500 Points
Name all 5 staff that currently work at Children’s Choice ADO
-Erik
-Ben
-Miranda
-Samantha
-Marcus

Category: Children’s Book and Author

For 100 Points
'The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another his mother called him 'WILD THING!' and Max said 'I'LL EAT YOU UP!' ...'
-Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

For 200 Points
'Once there was a tree.... and she loved a little boy.'
-The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

For 300 Points
'A mother bird sat on her egg. The egg jumped.'
-Are You My Mother? By PD Eastman

For 400 Points
'A told B, and B told C, 'I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree'.'
-Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.

For 500 Points
'All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this...'
-Peter Pan by JM Barrie 

Category: Animal Trivia

For 100 Points
Human beings have 840 of these in their entire body, while elephants have 40,000 of them in their trunk only. What are they?
-Muscles

For 200 Points
What's the difference between a turtle and a tortoise?
- TURTLES CAN LIVE IN WATER OR LAND / TORTOISES LIVE ONLY ON LAND

For 300 Points
Animal names: If a male chicken is called a rooster and a female chicken is called a hen, What do you call a male cat?
-Tom

 For 400 Points
Which river in New Mexico and Arizona hsa the same name as a venomous lizard?
-Gila River/ Gila Monster

For 500 Points
The heaviest crustacean ever captured was 3 foot 6 inches long and weighed 44 pounds. What kind of animal was it?
-A Lobster

Category: Cartoons

For 100 Points
What blue-skinned cartoon characters took North America by storm in 1981?
-The Smurfs

For 200 Points
What cartoon features a team of superheroes that includes Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven?
-Teen Titans

For 300 Points
What cartoon characters were created when Professor Utonium accidentally added "Chemical X" to a concoction that also included sugar, spice, and everything nice?
-The Powerpuff Girls

For 400 Points
What cartoon, accompanied by a collectible card game, became a huge hit in Japan in 1998?
-Yu-gi-oh

For 500 Points
Who is the creator of television's most popular dysfunctional family, The Simpsons ?
-Matt Groening

Category: Mythical Creatures

For 100 Points
This legendary creature roamed the forest of Europe and never was tamed. It had a single magical horn growing from its head.
-Unicorn

For 200 Points
I was a mythical creature found in the sea. I was half human, half fish. The female of the species was most commonly reported. A classic children's fairy tale and a Disney movie were about me.
-Mermaid

For 300 Points
I am a symbol of rebirth, as I was born many times. I was born of fire. Every 500 years I would be set aflame and then I would rise from the ashes.
-Phoenix

For 400 Points
Which 19th century horror novel was written by Mary Shelley?
-Frankenstein

For 500 Points
According to Greek mythology, every time one of this dragon-like monster's heads was cut off, two more grew in its place. It was finally killed by Hercules. What was it?  
-Hydra

By Erik Wolf

A Day in the Life of a Children's Choice Kid

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 21:14:00 +0000

We wanted to know what it was like to spend the day as a Children's Choice kid.

Marli, a 5th grader, graciously let us follow her around for one afternoon. You can see the many activities she did that day, such as a lottery drawing, practicing for a talent show, and hanging out in the older kids area.

Kym’s Sandwich Sushi

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 20:27:00 +0000

We had a great time making, plating and garnishing our very own sandwich sushi. Everyone had the chance to design and construct their own sushi roll based on their individual tastes, likes, and dislikes. Many voiced ideas about other ingredients one could use inside the sushi roll and everyone was excited to repeat their experience at home. Parents were also pleasantly surprised to see their children so excited about making a healthy snack or lunch for themselves. We also loved hearing one of the children explaining to their parents the nuances of aesthetics in terms of plating and garnishing, “Just like in a restaurant!” Sandwich Sushi was a success on all counts!

See below for recipe.

Sandwich Sushi:

1 Tortilla

1 Cream Cheese Packet (or 3 TBS)

1 piece deli ham (or sandwich meat of your choice)

1 shredded carrot

1 red bell pepper, sliced thin

1 lettuce leaf

1 cucumber, sliced length wise

Cilantro (for garnish)

Slice 1 inch strip off the end of the tortilla, to make a straight edge. Spread tortilla with cream cheese, place ham, lettuce, cucumber, carrot and red bell pepper on opposite end of tortilla from straight edge, Tightly roll tortilla toward straight edge. Slice ½ inch pieces of “sushi” from the now rolled “sushi roll”. Plate sushi pieces on a plate and garnish with cilantro. Enjoy!

How to Earn Money Having Fun!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 17:37:00 +0000

Let’s face it, finding a job is hard. It’s even more difficult to find a good job that actually makes a positive difference in your life and the lives of others. But at Children’s Choice they have a secret strategy for keeping their employees happy. You want to know the secret? It’s simple.

They value their employees.

It’s not just my opinion that Children’s Choice is one of the best places to work. Children’s Choice has been awarded by the Albuquerque Journal 3 years in a row for being a Top Workplace for Small Businesses in New Mexico.

Here are just some of the many reason why Children’s Choice is one of the best places to work at in New Mexico.

It makes a positive difference.

CC (Children’s Choice) is a before and after-school program that offers a safe place for kids to go when they aren’t in school. Not only is it a model of quality for after-school care, it is Nationally Accredited. Additionally, many former CC kids have shared stories about their experiences in our program and attribute a part of their success to those experiences and their relationships with CC staff.

It’s all about the...

Randomly ask a CC staff person CC to finish this phrase, “It’s about the…” and without hesitation they will shout “RELATIONSHIPS!” This is because CC highly values the interactions between kids, staff, and families.

CC focuses on positive and meaningful interactions. It’s the only time during the day when adults can spend significant time with kids in a small setting, doing fun, enriching activities. Staff are trained to pay attention to kids needs and teach positive social interactions. These are life long skills that children and adults need to achieve success in life.

You feel appreciated and valued.

At CC, staff is always highly valued. Part-time employees get 8 paid holidays, and 9 paid holidays your second year. Full time staff has access to health, dental and vision care, as well as a 401K with 7% matching, life insurance, and 10 days paid leave every year.

Not only that, Children’s Choice makes over 70 hours of paid training available each year. Mike and Chelsea Ashcraft, the CEOs of Children’s Choice, travel the country to provide training at conferences and other after-school programs. But more importantly, they train their own staff. CC, unlike most businesses, allows staff to learn the philosophies and values directly from the founders, and if you have any questions you can ask them directly.

It’s a lot of FUN!

Children’s Choice is a place where play is required. After-School should be a time when kids can be themselves, so we encourage staff to play. Not only that, we go on fields trips, do fun activities, and have enrichment clubs.

You can bring your passion to CC. Staff get to make their own curriculum and bring in their interests and talents to share with the kids. This means that if you’re into cooking, you can teach a group of kids how to cook. If you’re into science, you can do a science project with the kids. If you like music, you can start your own band with the kids. A big part of the CC is the experience we create, and we always want to the experience to be FUN!

5. The company’s values align with yours.

At the end of the day, it’s what you want that really matters. There are a ton of jobs that you can get that won’t listen to you, or take in consideration what your needs are. But at Children’s Choice we know the key to our success is having a staff that we value.

If you want to learn more, or want to apply to Children’s Choice go to www.childrens-choice.org.

505-296-2880

By Chris Walsh

5 Ways to Motivate Kids to Learn Math!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 16:22:00 +0000

For most kids, math can be a total bore. This year I taught I an after-school math class called Dramatic Math, and my goal was to make a math class that I would have loved to gone to. Here are some ideas we came up with to make math fun and exciting.

1. Warm Up to Math!

After spending all day in class, the last things kids want to do is sit down and do some math problems. So we always start with a math warm-up exercise. A math warm-up example:

16 Shakedown -Shake each limb starting with arms and going down to the leg sixteen times. And count together. Then ask what half of 16 is. 8! Perfect, now shake every limb 8 times. Now what is half of 8? 4, of course! Shake every limb 4 times. Keep going to till you get down to 1!

2. Make it a Game!

Kids love challenges, strategies, and games. A math quiz SHOW is always going to be better than a plain math quiz. Plus, it’s a great way for kids to interact in groups.

3. Keep it Physical!

Lots of people think math is just a lot of worksheets and written problems. I always like to give physical challenge to test kids bodies as well as their minds. Examples include:

Division Exercise – Break kids in to groups of 2-6 depending on how hard you want their math to be. Then challenge to do something ridiculous like 120 push-ups, but also let them know that they can divide 120 by the amount of people in their group. This also works great with crunches, jumping jacks, and running.

4. Make it Hands On

A lot of the problem with math is it very abstract and hard to understand when if you can’t see it or touch it. That’s why we try to let kids interact with math in a tactile way such as making a lemonade stand where they have to use money to and make transactions.

5. Keep it Dramatic!

Our math class was called Dramatic Math because wanted to tell a story with the math. One of the ways was having the kids come up with sketches or even movie ideas that involved math. We did an Indiana Jones type movie trailer where kids going into a candy cave and have to solve math problems!

Dramatic Math Trailer

By Chris Walsh

5 Steps To Rocking a Twinkle Light Parade

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 23:44:00 +0000

1. Start with an Idea:

Children’s Choice participating in the Twinkle Light Parade came from Carmen our John Baker site director. Inspired by wanting families and kids and staff alike participating in this fun parade she had the had the idea of a How the Grinch Stole Christmas inspired float and spread the word to our site directors.

Once our site directors were on board, and a list of the float rules and requirements was acquired and registration fees were paid. We were on the road to rocking the Twinkle Light Parade.

2. Build an Awesome Float

Essential to any great parade is to have fantastic parade float. You gather the troops and brain storm an idea of what would be the most visually striking on the parade route. Our float was an homage to the town of Whoville in the How the Grinch Store Christmas. A backdrop of the town was created along with a lit Christmas tree. Our parade allowed people on the float, so we made Whoville come to life with a singing Cindy Lou Who and a Grinch who was waving to the parade goers with Max by his side.

3. Bring Awesome People on Board

You can’t rock any parade without awesome people to celebrate with. We at Children’s Choice are lucky to have such fun loving families and staff that the invitation was made open to anyone to come join us the day of the parade. We posted invitations at all of our sites and spread the word to our staff. People came out to help build the float leading up the parade as well as show up the day of the parade to help with make up, costumes and general prep for the float. We had a wonderful turn out for our first parade.

4. Get Your Twinkle On

We had a simple criteria if anyone wanted to join our float . they had to be ‘Twinkled Out’ on the day of the parade. Since our theme was Whoville we encouraged our staff to channel their inner Dr.Suess and come in costume if they were able. If not, that was okay.

We had a mix of families in Christmas Sweaters with twinkle lights, suits with glow sticks taped on, Santa hats, people even brought their four legged friends decked out for the holiday. Everyone received a glow stick in a balloon to twinkle along the parade route or twinkle lights as they walked behind our already sparkling float.

5. Bring the Spirit of the Season (& Comfy Shoes)

The twinkle light parade is an even that preps our city for the holiday season. It’s a time to bring families together with members of the community to share a wonderful time of year. Our staff was on hand selling hot chocolate to parade goers. Families and Staff that walked the float route got to know each other while waving to parade watchers. We sang carols and members of our parade crew passed out candy to families we passed along our way. It was great to have kids notice us from the sidelines and the community recognizes our organization. It was such a great night that the two mile walk seemed to end so quickly.

If you’re interested in help Children’s Choice with our float next year, sign up for our mailing list www.childrens-choice.org.

Survival: Shelter, Skills, & Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 16:55:00 +0000

In this club, the children were encouraged to think about what life would be like in the desert environment without modern tools, food services, and shelters.

The group began by designing tools that could aide them in hunting and gathering. After carefully considering the options based on food available and environmental conditions, the children then made their designs came to life.

They collected materials found in the environment and assembled them together to form larger tools. This was day one of the club, on day two the children were asked to consider what they might need in order to build a shelter that would protect them from the harsh New Mexico Sun and flash flooding common to the area. On day three the children continued working on their shelters but something had begun to change in the way the children thought of their shelters. What began as independent shelters quickly changed into community shelters as the children became aware of what the other survivalists had to offer with their individual environments.

Day four of the club was a day of food preparation for the big survivalist feast, but there was a catch! The only tools available to the children in order to chop the vegetables for their vegetable stew were large stones that had been collected outside.

Upon surveying several children, it was found that this was their favorite day of the club. Some said it was the feeling of smashing the stone onto the tough produce while others enjoyed the strong food smells, whatever the case, these children worked hard to put themselves in the mindsets of early New Mexican settlers and enjoyed the reward of building everything for themselves and for their community of survivors.

By Lisa Audette

Advocacy & Recycling

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 17:08:00 +0000

Don't know what to do with those old, inefficient incandescent light bulbs that you replaced with more efficient CFLs and LEDs.

Lights On Afterschool is a nationwide event celebrating afterschool programs and their important role in the lives of children, families and communities.

To draw the attention of parents and educators and advocate for the importance of afterschool programs, this year for Lights On Afterschool one of our schools decided to have a lightbulb gallery! The kids spent the afternoon painting lightbulbs with glass paint and displaying them for families to see. The kids loved that they looked like hot air balloons to represent New Mexico!

Things you'll need:

1.Any glass light bulb

2.Glass paint and markers ( from craft store)

3.Air dry clay

Don't bake the lightbulb a as the paint instructed as it makes glass explode! Place light bulb in clay before they star paining to hold as a base and start painting. Let dry at least 4 hours!

By Sarafina Nagle

Experiment: Edible Energy Explosion

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 21:00:00 +0000

Our own Fruit Ninja in Training (Ryan age 6) had a question. Can the force and pressure of a lot of rubber bands wrapped around of the middle of a watermelon really make the watermelon explode? If so, how many rubber bands would it take to make a watermelon explode? The guesses ranged from 50-1,000 and we recorded all of the opinions of the children on a piece of paper.

We started our experiment by placing rubber bands around the middle of a watermelon. The kids helped to count the rubber bands as the staff stretched them around the watermelon. We started out placing five rubber bands at a time and were able to practice counting by 5s (to sneak in a little math). After 200 rubber bands were on, we began placing the rubber bands by the 10s. After we hit 500 rubber bands, we had to go back inside and look for more!

As the experiment continued, the watermelon began to ooze bubbles and juice out of where the stem had originally connected the watermelon to the plant.

Then the watermelon began to crack slowly, and as we placed the 558^th rubber band on the watermelon, it popped! Watermelon showered everywhere like rain and the pieces ranged from baseball sized pieces to mist.

Rubber bands are great examples of potential vs. kinetic energy. When they are stretched, they are full of lots of potential energy (stored energy). When they snap back, this potential energy is converted into kinetic energy (energy in motion), and... boom! Watermelon shower!

The kids really enjoyed this experiment and thanked Ryan for sharing it with the community. Next time we want to try different sized watermelons and see how the watermelon size affects the number of rubber bands needed.

By Erik Wolf

Jim Dine Hearts

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 16:21:00 +0000

Jim Dine (1935), is an American Pop Artist and Abstract Espressionist who is known for his colorful and iconic painting of robes and hearts. He is considered an important figure in Neo-Dada and a forerunner of Neo-Expressionism. He is the undisputed King of Hearts. He paints, prints, draws, and sculpts them. When asked how many hearts he has made, he responded, “Millions… I have not idea but it’s mine and I use it as a template for all my emotions. It’s a landscape for everything.”

In this art class, we showed the students an example of a Jim Dine heart painting.

We asked them, “What colors were in used in the art. How does it make you feel?” Then we told them that we were going to do our own version of the heart picture.

Materials needed:

· Paper

· Crayons

· Pencil

· Watercolors

· Water

· Brushes

We first showed the students how to draw a big heart on their page with pencil. Then we had them trace over the pencil with crayon. Once their heart was drawn, the students then used watercolors to fill in the heart. We had them think about the colors inside the heart, and outside and asked how they wanted them to contrast.

Here are their heart-filled results.

Beyond Books and Beverages

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 18:13:00 +0000

We think the experiences of older kids should be special. They have unique needs and wants and deserve activities designed specifically for their age group. Their voices need to help drive the design of their own programming. Older kids should have experiences that are different than those of the younger kids.

In our Older Kids Club, they are involved a mix of service learning projects like fundraising for our local animal shelter and helping the younger kids with homework that teach a sense of community and activities that are just plain fun like making our enjoying special snacks and pet rock creations while hanging out in the Older Kids only area of our community.

This month, our Older Kids Club surveyed the younger kids in the program about books they would like to read. We took a field trip to the local Barnes and Noble, first stopping at the bookstore café for some grown up Starbucks beverages. Then we spent some time picking out books from the younger kids’ wish list. “I really liked this book we picked out, it was called I SPY, ” said Teagan. They were given a budget and had to experience the democratic process in action by taking a few votes to decide on which books to purchase. “I suggested Mal’s Spell Book and it has some spells in it. I think it is good for older kids and some younger kids that can read really well,” said Kahlo.

Later this month we will continue a Sombra Older Kids Club tradition by constructing a Haunted House. Families are invited to tour the attraction with their children during our Family Night, October 30^th.

Apples, Acids, & Bases

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 19:25:00 +0000

Sometimes the best curriculum ideas come not from prior planning, but spontaneously following through on the expressed interests of kids. After making a HUGE mess playing with the ink inside a broken pen, this curious group came to me to plead their case. With straight faces and genuine sincerity they said, "But Carmen, we were EXPERIMENTING! We like to experiment."

So the next day we experimented with ACIDS and BASES.

First we had to think like scientists. We had to have a question. We did a little research online and found an experiment we wanted to try. We learned from our research that apples and other fruit can turn brown when cut open and enzymes inside of the fruit are exposed to oxygen and react with an iron or copper cofactor in the fruit. The apple oxidizes... so it is a little bit like an edible rust on the fruit.

Our research question: What will keep apples from turning brown, an acid or a base?

Our hypothesis: We thought the apple treated with a base (baking soda specifically) would turn brown first.

Materials:

5 apple slices
5 canning jars with lids
Vinegar (or dilute acetic acid)
Lemon juice
Water
Baking soda dissolved in water
Solution of Milk of Magnesia and water

Procedures:

We added a slice of apple to each jar.
We poured enough of each liquid into the jar to completely coat the apple slices
We put the jars on a white board and labeled each space.
Then we made a guess about which one would keep the apples looking the freshest.
We made our hypothesis and wrote it down. We watched our experiment for 2 days then unveiled our apples!

Results: Our hypothesis was supported. The apple slices in the acids (lemon juice and vinegar) did not get brown as much as the apple slices in the bases (milk of magnesia and baking soda water) or our control (plain water).

by Carmen Prince-Morris

Sam the Worm: A Teambuilding Activity

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 19:29:00 +0000

August was all about getting to know each other, the staff and our environment. One of our favorite activities was Saving Sam!

The Challenge:
Sam is our friendly neighborhood gummy worm.

While on an ocean adventure, Sam's boat (the plastic cup) capsized and his life jacket (the Lifesaver Candy) is floating underneath it. Working as a team, the kids had to get Sam and his life jacket in the boat without touching him. The only tool they could use/touch was a straw.

Oh, and Sam can't fall in the water at any time because he CAN'T SWIM!

But Sam had no need to worry, because our team of bright engineers put their heads together and found a way to save the day. They had to use some very important tools to accomplish this goal: listening, patience, teamwork, cooperation and above all they had to remember that it was OK to make a mistake, start over, and learn from their peers.

Fun for the Zoo: Engineering Enrichment and Enhancement.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 19:35:00 +0000

In our Fun for the Zoo class, student “fungineers” are challenged to invent enrichment items that provide stimulation, challenge, and novelty to enhance the behavioral, physical, social, cognitive, and psychological well being of zoo animals.

In the wild, animals must forage or hunt for food, and protect themselves against predators, but in the zoo, most of their needs are provided for by the keepers.

So, enrichment must be provided to alleviate boredom and stimulate the animals. Environmental and behavioral enrichment for zoo animals is all about stimulating them to investigate and interact with the environment. This keeps animals mentally and physically fit.

Sensory enrichment is designed to stimulate the animals’ sense of smell, touch, hearing, vision, and taste and elicit natural behaviors from the animals. We do this by introducing objects, smells, and “toys”. We provide novel textures such as straw, blankets, burlap, and cardboard.

We decorate toilet paper and paper towel tubes.

Then the keepers put novel scents such as spices or perfumes into the tubes for reptiles and rodents to experience and explore.

One of our favorite activities involves creating food puzzle feeders. To get the food animals must use their species-typical and time-consuming behaviors like foraging, hunting, problem-solving to think and work and solve the puzzle to obtain the food

We cut up trout, apples, and carrots (provided by the zoo nutritionists) and froze them in buckets of water.

The polar bears had to spend time getting through the ice to get to the good parts of these tasty “food-sicles”

We made lots of paper mache’ food puzzle piñatas. We painted some like pumpkins (with non-toxic orange paint) for a Halloween gift to the chimpanzees. The keepers put delicious grapes inside and the primates had to discover how to get the juicy treats out of the pretend pumpkins.

We painted some red, white, and blue for the Mountain Lions to have a similar (but meatier) experience on the 4^th of July.

We created some nesting bowl food puzzles for the elephants made of plastic bowls, PVC pipes, and bungee cords.

The keepers put a favorite elephant treat (Fruit Loops) inside and the elephants had to reach through an opening into the elephant barn and pull on the bungee cords to release the treats.

This is a great idea other afterschool programs can replicate all across the country. This class creates a partnership with the education department of the local zoo, and builds upon student science and engineering knowledge and skills. This class produces a great service learning experience for the kids. This class is enriching the lives of our zoo animals, by ensuring that the animals have a stimulating life with opportunities to engage in natural behaviors, make choices and exercise control over their environment. It is all about environmental engineering enrichment and enhancement that leads to healthier, happier animals (zoo animals and human animals).

Fun for the Zoo

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 16:59:00 +0000

In an amazing collaboration between CC & the ABQ BioPark., each this month this class experiences a special visit by zoo educators, then we take the kids on a field trip to meet behind-the-scenes with a zoo keeper/animal handler. Then… this week this class will be challenged to engineer ENRICHMENT toys that will be placed into the chimp enclosures to facilitate cognitive development of the these apes at the zoo. How cool is that? Thanks to the http://www.cabq.gov/culturalservices/biopark/zoo for the support of education of kids in Albuquerque!

Greg, the chimp handler, meets with our team and provides

up close and personal education about the Chimpanzees.

Fun for the Zoo students learning all about chimps.

Our team of engineers building paper mache' pumpkins.

The paper mache' pumpkins will be filled with grapes and healthy chimpanzee food and hidden in the habitat for the chimps to figure out - exercise for the brain.

More than STEM: Creating Community through STEM Classes

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 18:34:00 +0000

Creating a Sense of Belonging

In our afterschool STEM classes, we DO want to increase knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and math… but even more importantly… after-school, we want to inspire a positive attitude toward school and learning in general; we want to teach intrapersonal and interpersonal social skills; we want to create a sense of community and a feeling of attachment and belonging.

How do we do this? We make it fun; we make it bigger; we give it class; we do it right!

We invest class time in relationships and teambuilding. We create rituals that build a sense of belonging. We make learning playful because we know PLAY is fertile ground for growing imagination and creativity. We make learning playful because PLAY fosters a sense of belonging and encourages teamwork. We make learning playful because PLAY is our brain’s favorite way to learn.

We create rituals because we know that RITUALS create a sense of belonging. Here are our Top 3 rituals for creating a sense of belonging in our STEM classes.

STEM Chants:

We provide semester-long or year-long STEM classes at every one of our schools. We begin every new STEM class by teaching and celebrating all of the awesome things that STEM has done for mankind. Science has helped us to eradicate diseases, help animals, and understand our world. Technology has helped us develop all kinds of tools to help make our lives easier, more productive, and more convenient. Engineering has helped us to create better forms of transportation, better bridges, and better machines. Math has helped us to solve complex problems, discover new knowledge, and predict complicated results. We brainstorm on all of the awesome ways that all of the STEM-related fields have worked together to make life better.

Then we set up the STEM chant ritual. We tell the kids that whenever we say “STEM is…” that we want them to respond with “…Awesome!” We do this loudly and quietly. We use this call and response as a way to get the attention of the kids whenever we need to ask a question, give an instruction, or see if they are ready to move on to the next activity. We do this frequently in every class for the entire year or semester. The kids are conditioned like Pavlovian Dogs to say “Awesome!” whenever someone says, “STEM is…”

STEM Names & the STEM Name Game:

Players think of a STEM-related term that begins with the same letter as their first name (with younger children, any STEM name will do). Then they go around the circle, introducing themselves by their STEM name and first name. Chemical Chelesa, Microbial Mike, Atomic Adeline, Multiplication Madison, etc. We like to pause on the first day and quickly discuss the definition of each new STEM term (sneaking in a little vocabulary). Then we repeat, but this time the first player says their own name, the second player says the first player’s and their own name, the third player says the first two people’s name and their own name, and so on…until the last player attempts to say everyone’s name in order ending with their own name. Repeat this time going the opposite direction. Each time we use each other’s name in discussion throughout the duration of the year or semester, we use our new science names. This creates a special sense of community and feeling of belonging to our special STEM group.

STEM Shirts:

At the beginning of each semester, we make Sharpie Science Shirts. We print up plain white t-shirts with the organization’s logo for only a few dollars per shirt. We make small designs about the size of a quarter on white t-shirts. Then we drop rubbing alcohol on the designs very slowly. The alcohol spreads across the fibers of the t-shirt and acts as a SOLVENT on the Sharpie ink – producing nice bursts of color. We talk about the meaning of words like disSOLve, and SOLution, SOLid, SOLubility, and SOLvent. It is a science of SOL – tie dyed t-shirt. Kids frequently wear their shirts on STEM class days. Plus as a grand finale’ – at the end of each semester, we take a special science-related field trip and everyone wears their STEM shirts.

Lego Movie Literacy

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 18:46:00 +0000

Lego’s are fun. The Lego Movie that was released this year added even more excitement to the classic building toy. Our idea was to create a Lego class that challenged kids to practice their literacy skills by writing a story – the classic hero’s journey.

The first step was character development. We asked the kids to draw their hero and describe the character’s personality by telling us if their character was good, or bad, or both, what their character liked to do as a job or a hobby, what the character wanted to achieve, what fears or obstacles could make it difficult for the character to achieve the big goal, and what traits, strengths, and skills can help the character achieve the goal?

Then we worked on the setting: We challenged the kids to “paint a picture of the setting… using words.” Where and when will the events of the story happen?

Describe the place… Examples: the forest; the school; our town; or on another planet.
Describe the location… Examples: beside the big oak tree; on the playground, near the zoo, or by the Purple Sea of Enselor.
Describe the objects in the setting… Examples: mushrooms, the twirly slide, the koala bear enclosure, or the statue of the alien hero.
Describe the time… Examples: morning, midnight, or dusk; in the present day, past, or future.
Describe the weather… Examples: stormy, clear sky, muggy, hot.

We asked them to use descriptive and exciting words to describe each place. We challenged them to use great “kicked up” adjectives (hot/cold, bright/dark, dirty/clean, gloomy/cheerful, simple/elegant, colorful/faded, modern/old fashioned, luxurious/simple, threatening/tranquil). But we also challenged them to “NOT make their adjectives DO ALL THE WORK” – instead of simply saying that the forest is gloomy – DESCRIBE what gloomy looks like, sounds like, and feels like. The dark forest was wet and a little bit cold, and the wind sounded like the trees were trembling and weeping.

Then we simply walked them through the process of telling the hero’s journey by having them come up with at least three problems or challenges that the hero would need to overcome and a creative, unexpected, or funny way of solving each problem.

Finally, we asked them to write a grand finale’. Tell the story of whether the Character wins or loses, reaches the goal or fails. Is there a moral to the story? If their character succeeds, this is a comedy; when the character fails, this is a tragedy. We challenged them not to just cut the story off, but to “wrap it up with a nice BOW.”

The kids thought about their stories as they build scenes and props with Legos, and worked on their stories at home. When they were happy with their stories, we snuck in a little technology education. We taught them to use stop-animation and green screen technology to create their own Lego Movies.

Here is a good example. As you watch, listen for character development, setting description, problems, solutions, and the grand finale’. Enjoy!

You can download the materials we gave the kids to help them at www.ashcraftafterschool.com/lovinlearnin.html

Spellin' Hopscotch

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 15:21:00 +0000

Spellin Hopscotch - Create a 35-letter (vowels and R, S, T, and N are written twice), 10-row hopscotch grid on the floor, inside or outside. Write their spelling words or sight words for their grade level on index cards (Note – asking teachers for these lists helps build relationships and partnerships).

Children draw a card, read it, replace it, and then hops out the word. Children can hop spell answers to any science or social studies question. Or use numbers and hop out math problems.

We have also used this to sneak in some social studies. Hopsctch was developed from myths about mazes and labyrinths – you can see how the game board fits into such a story. Some versions of hopscotch grew from religious beliefs of a human soul’s journey from Earth to Heaven. The oldest known Hopscotch board is etched into the floor of the Forum in Rome, Italy. The game spread throughout Europe during the rise of the Roman Empire. Children in Britain, France, and Germany were taught the game by soldiers. Hopscotch is now one of the most widely played games in the world.

Long Love Lists

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 14:54:00 +0000

Long Love Lists - We like to use adding tape for this fun literacy activity. We simply put up a long strip of adding tape (to add some novelty and fun) and give the kids a topic. Something like list everything you love (Valentine’s Day);

everything you are scared of (Halloween); everything that you are thankful for (Thanksgiving) or everything that is WET. They might list water, milk, orange juice, etc. Eventually spit and pee might make the list, so be prepared.