Summerfun 2010
Mini Camp:
June 28 - July 7
8:30 - 3:30pm
Summerfun:
July 5 - July 30
8:30 - 3:30pm
The Common School’s Summerfun programs keep kids physically active and intellectually
engaged. Morning programs require a 5 day per week commitment. Afternoon programs are available part-time (fewer than 5 days a week). Participants of both the morning and afternoon sessions bring a lunch to eat while they enjoy recess from 12:00 - 12:30.
Mini Camp
June 28 - July 2
8:30am - 3:30pm
$300.00
Enviro-Explorers
Ages 3-7
Valerie Strong
During this additional week of camp, children will be invited to explore the natural world around them. We will hike through conservation land, explore plant and animal life, work in our garden and investigate our ponds. A great emphasis will also be placed on nature-based arts and crafts. We will use natural mediums such as water, fibers, rocks and wood as well as other art materials. Each day will also include, outdoor play, water fun, stories and games.
Imagine!
Ages 8-12
Burleigh Muten
Writing workshop facilitated by Common School teacher and children’s author, Burleigh Muten. Have fun letting your imagination create characters, settings and plot that spring from the well of your creativity. No worries about grammar or spelling. It’s vacation writing! We will spend some time creating Artist Trading Cards, a collage in miniature designed to be given away. There will also be plenty of time for outdoor fun and water play.
Ages 3-7
Valerie Strong
During this additional week of camp, children will be invited to explore the natural world around them. We will hike through conservation land, explore plant and animal life, work in our garden and investigate our ponds. A great emphasis will also be placed on nature-based arts and crafts. We will use natural mediums such as water, fibers, rocks and wood as well as other art materials. Each day will also include, outdoor play, water fun, stories and games.
Imagine!
Ages 8-12
Burleigh Muten
Writing workshop facilitated by Common School teacher and children’s author, Burleigh Muten. Have fun letting your imagination create characters, settings and plot that spring from the well of your creativity. No worries about grammar or spelling. It’s vacation writing! We will spend some time creating Artist Trading Cards, a collage in miniature designed to be given away. There will also be plenty of time for outdoor fun and water play.
Summerfun Morning Programs
July 5 - 30
8:30am - 12:00 noon
$590.00
Farm
Ages 3-4
Section “A” Grace Grieci
Section “B” Valerie Strong
Using Bramble Hill Farm, we will explore and experience day-to-day farm life with Farmer Hans. The farm is adjacent to The Common School—just a short walk through the woods. We will mix our farm visits with related projects and crafts, music and drama. Each day will also include plenty of time for sand and water play, block building, and time outside in our wading pools, sprinklers and slip ‘n slide.
Creepy Crawlers
Ages 5-6
Section “A” Cathy Wolf
Section “B” Natania Hume
We will spend the month exploring the natural world around us, focusing special attention on its tiniest inhabitants—worms, grubs, insects, spiders, caterpillars, butterflies, toads, salamanders (anything we can find!). We’ll use magnifying glasses, nets, terrariums, and critter farms to closely investigate these little beings. We’ll spend a lot of time outdoors—looking under rocks, turning over logs, hunting up these powerful ‘decomposers’ along the trails and along the nooks and hollows of the forest. Indoors, we’ll read stories, make a creepy crawlers mural, sew a choice of critter pillows bed bugs, pill(ow) bugs, or luna moths), recreate habitats and create models of our tiny friends using a variety of materials. Each day will include plenty of time for open-ended art and science exploration, outdoor fun and water play.
Sound Works
Ages 7-11
Brendan Taaffe
If you liked Eco-Rock, you will love Sound Works! Ever wonder what a carrot recorder sounds like? Or a one-string coffee can guitar? A PVC tube xylophone? Using materials from our everyday lives, we’ll make our own instruments and then create our own music. By the end of July, we will create a performance, limited only by our imaginations and how much stuff we can find to make noise with. We will also use the program Garage Band to embellish our work. Along the way, we will have plenty of time to make other cool stuff, listen to music, and play outside.
Ages 3-4
Section “A” Grace Grieci
Section “B” Valerie Strong
Using Bramble Hill Farm, we will explore and experience day-to-day farm life with Farmer Hans. The farm is adjacent to The Common School—just a short walk through the woods. We will mix our farm visits with related projects and crafts, music and drama. Each day will also include plenty of time for sand and water play, block building, and time outside in our wading pools, sprinklers and slip ‘n slide.
Creepy Crawlers
Ages 5-6
Section “A” Cathy Wolf
Section “B” Natania Hume
We will spend the month exploring the natural world around us, focusing special attention on its tiniest inhabitants—worms, grubs, insects, spiders, caterpillars, butterflies, toads, salamanders (anything we can find!). We’ll use magnifying glasses, nets, terrariums, and critter farms to closely investigate these little beings. We’ll spend a lot of time outdoors—looking under rocks, turning over logs, hunting up these powerful ‘decomposers’ along the trails and along the nooks and hollows of the forest. Indoors, we’ll read stories, make a creepy crawlers mural, sew a choice of critter pillows bed bugs, pill(ow) bugs, or luna moths), recreate habitats and create models of our tiny friends using a variety of materials. Each day will include plenty of time for open-ended art and science exploration, outdoor fun and water play.
Sound Works
Ages 7-11
Brendan Taaffe
If you liked Eco-Rock, you will love Sound Works! Ever wonder what a carrot recorder sounds like? Or a one-string coffee can guitar? A PVC tube xylophone? Using materials from our everyday lives, we’ll make our own instruments and then create our own music. By the end of July, we will create a performance, limited only by our imaginations and how much stuff we can find to make noise with. We will also use the program Garage Band to embellish our work. Along the way, we will have plenty of time to make other cool stuff, listen to music, and play outside.
Two-week Sessions
Workshop 1: July 5 - 16
8:30am - 12:00 noon
$300.00
Workshop 2: July 19 - 30
8:30am - 12:00 noon
$300.00
Workshop One: Farm and Fiber
Ages 8-12
Michelle Parrish
Have you ever wondered where yarn comes from? Would you like to know which garden plants make dyes? Have you ever wished you could work on a farm? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then this camp is for you! We will take care of some wooly animals, while enjoying the views at Bramble Hill Farm. We will tend the NEW fiber and dye garden, where we’ll grow plants that can be used for spinning yarn and for dyes. We will also take some hikes and learn about local wild plants that are good for fiber and dyeing. Watching these plants be spun into yarn and cordage is as magical as Rumpelstiltskin spinning flax into gold!
Workshop Two: Fiber Arts Camp
Ages 8-12
Michelle Parrish
Now that you know all about wool, flax and growing dye plants, you are ready for the next magical step in fiber-arts. Raw plant and animal fibers are transformed into lovely, colorful yarns. You’ll get to weave your own cloth on a loom, and sew it into a project such as a bag or a placemat. We will harvest some dye plants, dye yarn with them, and see what colors they make. We’ll also do some felting experiments, with wool, and take hike up to Bramble Hill to visit the sheep. You are welcome to come and weave even if you didn’t come to Farm and Fiber Camp!
Ages 8-12
Michelle Parrish
Have you ever wondered where yarn comes from? Would you like to know which garden plants make dyes? Have you ever wished you could work on a farm? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then this camp is for you! We will take care of some wooly animals, while enjoying the views at Bramble Hill Farm. We will tend the NEW fiber and dye garden, where we’ll grow plants that can be used for spinning yarn and for dyes. We will also take some hikes and learn about local wild plants that are good for fiber and dyeing. Watching these plants be spun into yarn and cordage is as magical as Rumpelstiltskin spinning flax into gold!
Workshop Two: Fiber Arts Camp
Ages 8-12
Michelle Parrish
Now that you know all about wool, flax and growing dye plants, you are ready for the next magical step in fiber-arts. Raw plant and animal fibers are transformed into lovely, colorful yarns. You’ll get to weave your own cloth on a loom, and sew it into a project such as a bag or a placemat. We will harvest some dye plants, dye yarn with them, and see what colors they make. We’ll also do some felting experiments, with wool, and take hike up to Bramble Hill to visit the sheep. You are welcome to come and weave even if you didn’t come to Farm and Fiber Camp!
Summerfun AFTERNOON PROGRAMS
July 5 - 30
12:30pm - 3:30pm
$28.00 per day
(# of registered days x $28 = total)
(# of registered days x $28 = total)
Building a Rainbow
Ages 3-4
Valerie Strong
We will explore the world of color by inventing and naming our own paints. We will take a close look at the colors around us, and replicate them through various mediums. Some of our activities will include collage, creating colorful murals and tie-dyeing. The program will remain flexible to allow for some “down-time” after the active morning. There will also be plenty of time for outdoor fun and water play on our slip ’n slide and in our wading pools.
Play Works!
Ages 5-6
Cathy Wolf
Outdoors, the real fun begins as we delve into construction materials-creating mud and straw bricks, with which to build our outside play villages or castles complete with real stick figure dolls to populate our constructions. We will even attempt to add clay figures, bowls, plates and furniture fir our mud homes. They will then be fired up in our outdoor brick and sawdust kiln. Our leisurely afternoons will also lead us out on the trails to explore and build stick and leaf forts. Of course, there will be plenty of time for water play too. Inside, we will surely get our hands dirty during our afternoons exploring all the ‘stuff’ that goes into the fun substances we like to play with. Instead of Silly Slime, play dough and cornstarch goop just appearing ready for play, we will create these together out of the unlikely ingredients that go into them- and then play the afternoon away with our creations.
Water Works!
Ages 7-12
Brendan Taaffe
We will explore water and the creatures that live in it. From bubble making, to paper marbleizing, to mucking about in the Fort River and casting nets in our pond, we will keep busy as we play and experiment. There will also be time devoted to outdoor fun and games. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be spent swimming at the Amherst College Pool. Pick-up on these days is at Amherst College at 3:15pm.
Ages 3-4
Valerie Strong
We will explore the world of color by inventing and naming our own paints. We will take a close look at the colors around us, and replicate them through various mediums. Some of our activities will include collage, creating colorful murals and tie-dyeing. The program will remain flexible to allow for some “down-time” after the active morning. There will also be plenty of time for outdoor fun and water play on our slip ’n slide and in our wading pools.
Play Works!
Ages 5-6
Cathy Wolf
Outdoors, the real fun begins as we delve into construction materials-creating mud and straw bricks, with which to build our outside play villages or castles complete with real stick figure dolls to populate our constructions. We will even attempt to add clay figures, bowls, plates and furniture fir our mud homes. They will then be fired up in our outdoor brick and sawdust kiln. Our leisurely afternoons will also lead us out on the trails to explore and build stick and leaf forts. Of course, there will be plenty of time for water play too. Inside, we will surely get our hands dirty during our afternoons exploring all the ‘stuff’ that goes into the fun substances we like to play with. Instead of Silly Slime, play dough and cornstarch goop just appearing ready for play, we will create these together out of the unlikely ingredients that go into them- and then play the afternoon away with our creations.
Water Works!
Ages 7-12
Brendan Taaffe
We will explore water and the creatures that live in it. From bubble making, to paper marbleizing, to mucking about in the Fort River and casting nets in our pond, we will keep busy as we play and experiment. There will also be time devoted to outdoor fun and games. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be spent swimming at the Amherst College Pool. Pick-up on these days is at Amherst College at 3:15pm.
