NEWS

Summer 2010: A Story in Pictures

Our summer camp was the best ever, with 60 students participating in character ed., art and music, tutoring, sports and games, swimming, field trips, Greg Manning's Camp of Champs, Diversity Day, and a healthy breakfast and lunch.

View Summer Pix

 

Spring, 2010 Update

06/03/2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring, 2010 Stats:

Total Enrolled Students:  80

Staff Diversity: 2 AA, 2 Latino., 10 C; 4 M, 10 W; 10 degreed, 2 High School, 2 College

Student Diversity:  49% Latino, 27% Caucasian, 24% African-American

Centers: (Eugene C. Clark Recreation Center,  Andrew Buchanan Elementary School)

Regular Activities:  Tutoring, Homework Help, Recreation, Art Instruction, Enrichment Projects, Service Learning. 

Activity Periods: 5 days per week, 2:45-5:45 PM

May was "Enrichment Month," complete with special events and field trips

Note: We have offered nearly fifty  field trips over the last five years and two summers.  The children have been complimented on their behavior every single time.  Mr. Herbert Doloway, our "landlord" at the CRC, states that ours is the only group of children he would consider using the building. There has never been a racial conflict.  The lessons our children have learned go far beyond academic improvement.  They are better people, more self confident and self aware.  These lessons will effect them for a lifetime.  This May alone, we've had the following field trips and special events:

Gettysburg I – The older students visited the wax museum.

Gettysburg II – Everyone visited the new national park; the spectacular cyclorama and the new museum.  Videos will appear here soon.

Bowling – Just plain fun.

Roller Skating - Fun again.

The CRC fourth and fifth graders attended  the special Hershey's Sports track meet for kids in Shippensburg. (We won certificates, below:)

 

Diversity Day - We celebrated everyone's heritage with visits to the John Brown House, the Old Jail, the Capitol Theater, and, of course, ice cream for all at the Ice Cream Station. We also spent a day on the activity discussed below:

This is a poster created by Shen Hongying, from a Sarasota, FL sister city  in China.  It contains a quote, " Our skin is just the envelope. We are the letter."  created by  Valanchie Emile of Bradenton, FL. Both works of art were examined, discussed, and written about, as our students expressed their emotions orally and in writing on Diversity Day.

 

Jet Rae Farm - the CRC kids visited a working dairy farm and enjoy dinner with Holly Thrush and her parents.

 

The "Old Jail." All program children have now visited the Kittochtinny Historical Society

 

A visit to the Greencastle School Farm, TAYAMENTAASACHTA Environmental Center (try saying that only one time fast!) where we took a trail hike and learned how to bake our own pretzels.

Student Bridge Awards - Each student received an award certificate and an official North American Contract Bridge t-shirt.  We hope you enjoy the following clip of Mary, Maria, and our 16 new bridge players, right here.

Picnic/Field Day at Memorial Park - Games, Awards, hot dogs, hamburgers.

The annual K.L.A.S. Reading Celebration, complete with student and staff performances, a new book and bookmark presented to every student, and and.  of course,  the presentation of the world class K.L.A.S.  t-shirt to inspire lifetime memories of a great year.

Other Community Partner and Field Trip Activity this Spring

Bridge Lessons

In April our fourth and fifth graders began their participation in a wonderful enrichment activity. We had been approached earlier by Rec. Center bridge club ( Member, National Contract Bridge Association) leader, Mary Katzmann.  She offered to have club members give bridge lessons to our students.  This really happened. Sixteen students began learning.  They were immediately receptive and attentive.  They didn’t want to stop learning when we had to move on to the next activity.  Mary reported immediate success.  They can't wait wait until the next week’s lesson.  Now, they even play on Fridays. Seeing is believing, so take a look below.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a copy of the text of the local newspaper Public Opinion 's view on  our kids' awards for learning bridge. . .

KLAS learns to play bridge

Staff report

Sixteen elementary school pupils in the Kids Learning After School program were rewarded recently for learning to play bridge through the tutelage of Chambersburg Bridge Club members.

The pupils received "Bridge is Cool.com" T-shirts and certificates of participation in an award ceremony May 22 during the Chambersburg Bridge Club game in Eugene C. Clarke Jr. Community Center.

Bridge club members were available this school year to teach the game of bridge to the KLAS youth.

The ceremony honored Alondra Andrade, Elaine Bowders, Martha Cruz, Jalissa Garcia, Emily Hill, Fernando Hurtado, Devon Jones, Virginia Lopez, Nihja Middleton, Edith Navarro, Marisol Pablo, Mercy Sanchez, Jordan Stottlemyer, Shanie and Shanta Torres and Joel Velasquez.

Bridge club coordinator Mary Katzmann also presented a bridge trophy to be displayed at Thaddeus Stevens Elementary School, Chambersburg.

"These kids have learned a lot, not only about bridge but about socialization, discipline and logic," Katzmann said. "I think they have improved their math skills and potential as well."

Bridge is cool: Mercy Sanchez was one of 16 students in the Kids  Learning After... (Courtesy)

 

Fighting Racism

April also contained an especially  meaningful activity.  The fourth and fifth graders at Andrew Buchanan wrote and performed a series of public service commercials about racism in our community and our country.  You may connect to a You tube video of one of their performances right here

 

Also in  April,  the Franklin County therapy dogs visited the Andrew Buchanan program.  Our students were fascinated by the 25 dogs and their owners.  Everyone sat on the gym floor and learned firsthand about the important job of the therapy dog.

 

In February, the children were enthralled by the routines of Magician Frank Culler from Waynesboro.  We all want Frank to return.  In the picture below, he's just placed a rabbit in the box. Look what he's doing now.

 

The 4-H (Penn State Cooperative Extension), led by Barbara Aldredge, has become a part of our program again and will continue her work through April.  Barbara and her colleagues have instructed all of our children in the subjects of nutrition and physical fitness, but the way they have engaged the children is really something special, using art, mathematics, and hands-on activities, all with their insistence on civility and politeness.  Instead of simply being visitors and presenters, they have become an integral part of our program.

 

The Franklin County Bookmobile has been with us on a regular basis throughout our history.  The bookmobile gives the children a chance to select books they choose for pleasure reading.  We keep the books on site for reading occasions and discussions about their content.

We now have two resident professional artists, Christina Hans and Cassie Sheffield.  They teach art and art appreciation to each of our school groups on a weekly basis.  They are both wonderful at engaging our students and exposing them to the joys of creativity.  Their teaching is carried out as a hands-on learning activity that allows students to take pride in their creations.  

Camp of Champs is coming back one more time this spring, all the way from Atlanta, Georgia.  This time Greg Manning will bring his wife, Lea Henry, Olympic Gold Medalist and head women’s basketball coach at Georgia State University.  They will conduct a three-day seminar in basketball and citizenship.  None of us can wait.  In past sessions, Greg, a superb motivational speaker, has helped our students appreciate the importance of learning life skills and the development of academic proficiency.

 

Our service-learning project for this year continues.  We are landscaping a special garden area of the "Old Jewish Cemetery"  that just happens to be within walking distance of both after-school sites.  So far, we have cleaned up the brush and weeds that covered the space, prepared the ground, and hauled away the debris.  We planted daffodil bulbs and the major shrubbery last fall. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming up, our students will learn more about the history of the cemetery and they will create more written reflections on their experience.  They will mulch the new garden bed and clean up winter debris.  In  April, they enjoyed the “flowers” of  their labor.  They even won a prize at the Tuscora Daffodil Society - Chambersburg Garden Club Daffodil Show. The hands-on nature of this project helps create teamwork, interest in the “new” students from their program in the opposite site, and plenty of constructive thinking about the tasks being carried out.      

Also this semester:

We walked to the Downtown Chambersburg Ice Fest, where our students watched an artist carve the famous ice chair.                                                                                                   

March 2-6 was Dr. Suess reading week. Students and staff  celebrated with readings, performances and parties.

Here's first grade Tutor/group Leader leader Judy Stouffer reading Green Eggs and Ham.

Now wait until you see this.