ImpACT

Chinese New Year

mthwin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:09:46 +0000

Celebrating Chinese New Year with our students was tinged with sadness as it was also the last day for our college tutoring volunteers. Due to a schedule change, it would be difficult to continue to have college tutors, so tutoring times will now only be led by our young adult volunteers – our tutoring leads. Students and college tutors exchanged farewell notes in the Chinese red envelopes to commemorate the time they spent together this last semester. Along with this opportunity to say their goodbyes, the students got to have fun with their tutors making colorful paper lanterns and enjoying tangerines and Chinese gummy candy. The students also learned more about this holiday through a presentation given by tutoring lead Cindy Wu. At the end of the tutoring time, certificates that were prepared beforehand by tutoring leads were given out by the students to their tutors as a thank you for serving in Impact. Although it was sad to see the college tutors go, this last Sunday with them was still filled with sweetness as we celebrated Chinese New Year together.

Jeoffrey Batangan

mthwin — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:01:31 +0000

A Boy’s Dream: Nerf Guns and the Beach

mthwin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:01:41 +0000

All the boys had an outing this past weekend where we began the day with a hearty breakfast from McDonald’s before enjoying various games involving nerf guns. After Mr. Quang gave a tutorial on the basic workings of the nerf guns and safety of course, we were at war. But it was all in good fun as we ran around and shot one another with the foam discs. After we wore ourselves out playing with the nerf guns we went to the beach where we enjoyed splashing around in the cold water, tossing around the Frisbee, playing sharks and minnows and just playing together. We were all tired by the end of the day but we had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and we’re all looking forward to the next outing. Check out the pictures below.

Beyond Cartoons and Candy: What We Learned about Piñatas

mthwin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:02:20 +0000

Conventional wisdom tells us that piñatas are to be heartily smashed for the sake of candy and plunder. Teacher Diana taught us much more about the wholesome origins of our beloved piñatas. It turns out the piñata was originally meant to be a physical representation of the seven cardinal sins; the smashing of the piñata was a symbolic rite to cast away one’s sins.

To follow the pure tradition of the piñata, we crafted fantastic piñatas of our own at ImpACT! Though it was quite the viscous mess, we certainly had fun crafting our own piñatas. During the following week, we proceeded to eviscerate our fine work with much gusto. We played challenging review games for the chance to swing at our piñatas. When all was said and done, the floors of ImpACT were littered with candy, joy, and knowledge!

Recycle. Reuse. Reduce.

mthwin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:36:35 +0000

January brings a new year, resolutions, and in ImpACT, the Story of Stuff. What is the Story of Stuff you might ask? Well, it is a class about how natural resources get transformed into consumer products, where plastics and paper come from, and how we can generally reduce the trash we create. We spent two weeks in January learning about how things get manufactured and recycled. By the end of the class the students were not only able to sort out piles of paper, plastic and trash into its respective place but they were also able to explain what natural resources make the things we use every day.
The second week of this unit highlighted different types of energy and water conservation. But the best part of this unit was making our own recycled paper. We put different pieces of scratch paper and newspapers in a blender, added water, and voila! Minutes later after using a screen to drain the water we made our own recycled paper! No need to buy paper from Office Depot Mom! I can make my own!

Joyland Christmas Celebration!

mthwin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:11:40 +0000

Lights! Camera! And action! This Christmas season, we participated in the much anticipated Joyland Christmas Celebration (JCC), an annual production put on by ImpACT and Joyland (the children’s ministry at Gracepoint Church) to share the meaning of Christmas with others. Over 20 students were able to participate in JCC and after braving the long practices, sudden script changes and…slight technical difficulties, we were able to put on one of the most exciting and festive JCCs ever!

This year’s 2nd and 3rd grade skit included a series of engaging vignettes, classic Christmas carols and a fantastic finale medley to portray the Christmas story. As JCC approached, the children prepared by memorizing their lines, practicing the selected carols, and working with their teachers and team leads to bring out their latent acting potential. These long day practices not only gave the teachers and team leads time to bond with their students, but also gave students time to bond with each other through costume fittings, practice rehearsals, and of course most importantly—the snack times. At the same time, other teachers and volunteers were hard at work to transform Willard auditorium from an everyday school auditorium into a brilliantly propped stage complete with a cozy fireplace and decked out Christmas tree.

Finally, the day of JCC arrived. Excitement was definitely in the air as our students got dressed in their costumes and waited backstage for their cue. The house lights dimmed. The music came on. And soon, the auditorium was filled with our children singing, acting, and dancing. When the house lights came on, it was rewarding to see so many friends and family attend JCC. Overall, the students had fun portraying the meaning of Christmas through their skit and we know that all that hard work, sweat, and occasional tears in preparation for JCC was well worth it!

Drama Class

mthwin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:08:53 +0000

Impact had it’s first drama class this past November. We had a fun-filled three weeks to learn about all the fascinating aspects of drama. In the first class, we learned about the basic concepts for any performer like correct posture, voice variation, enunciating, and projecting. Activities like tortuous tongue twisters or telling scary stories with only alphabets helped to enforce these concepts. In our second class, we delved into the interesting history of improvisational theater that began in 16th-century Italy, and which still finds expression in modern day improv games. We competed in our own improv games like Line Charades and the “What are you doing?!” game where we acted like whale hunters, kung fu masters and bear wrestlers. On our last day of class, we put all we learned together by participating in Reader’s Theatre, an activity in which we recited lines from the script “The Tortoise and the Hare”. We ended our drama class by presenting in front of the class!

Ms. Angel

mthwin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:32:59 +0000

Mr. Wilson

astucki — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:39:54 +0000

Under the Sea

mthwin — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:56:18 +0000

What do clown fish, green sea turtles and fluorescent jellyfish have in common? Well, besides being in the animated feature Finding Nemo, they are also long time residents at the Monterey Bay Aquarium where we had our second large group field trip this year!

After spending time in class learning about the different underwater habitats and animals that live in the ocean, we had the opportunity to solidify what we learned by going to one of the world’s most well known aquariums. It was an early Saturday morning in October as we boarded a special Google bus that took us down to Monterey. After eating lunch, we were greeted by a very enthusiastic Monterey Bay Aquarium guide who led us into the aquarium where we caught a glimpse of the mysterious world of the sea.

We split up into our teams and explored different parts of the aquarium from the giant kelp forest standing over 30 feet tall to the dark jellyfish exhibit where the only light provided was the light coming from the fluorescing jellyfish. We saw creatures that ranged from the majestic Great White Shark to one of the ocean’s smallest creatures—the seahorse. But perhaps one of the most enjoyable exhibits at the aquarium was the touch pool exhibit where we were able to feel the soft sea cucumbers, prickly sea urchins, and the elusively graceful bat rays. However, the time came when we had to leave the world of the sea and come back to land. We finally got back on the bus and said farewell to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.