On Tuesday, we challenged the students to create their own Afterschool bulletin board. They agreed to do Baby Yoda and Light Sabers. Two students helped Mr. Ross with the border. Mrs. Brittany did the letters. Everything else was done by the students. We had the Baby Yoda group that watched a how-to video on drawing Yoda, and the Light Saber … Read More

Social and Emotional Learning, or SEL, helps children learn skills for understanding different kinds of feelings, building healthy relationships, communicating with others, and making good decisions. While we bring in SEL to our afterschool classroom, we know that parents are important in teaching these skills too. Here are some fun activities you can try at home! #UTExtensionAfterschool https://www.today.com/parenting-guides/social-skills Social Skills … Read More

For Fun Friday, we did the Straw Through Potato science lesson. The students were challenged to be able to put their straw all the way through a potato. They struggled with it until they were shown the science. If you cover up one of the straw with your finger, this traps air in the straw, which makes the straw stronger, … Read More

Yesterday, our robotics team deviated just a bit from our usual robotic studies. We explored virtual reality through the Merge Cube and our iPads. The students had a lot of fun interacting with their Cubes! Source

Yesterday, we did nature art. The students drew a tree, then used wildflowers to color it. Really cool! Source

For our last Friday before spring break, we pulled out one of our all-time favorite activities, Windbags. Only this time we included a geometry lesson. First, two students were challenged to blow as much air into their bags as they could. As expected, both students held the bag against their mouths and blew (like you would with a balloon). After … Read More

We started a new set of lessons in our 3rd-5th grade group called WagiLabs Kidpreneur. WAGI stands for What A Great Idea. This series teaches students how to find their passion, look for a need in the community, design/invent something to fulfill that need, and then make it, thus becoming a kid entrepreneur. This is all accomplished through teaching STEM … Read More

For March, our Lego activities are focusing on St. Patrick’s Day. Here the students made shamrocks. Source

Here the students are working on a multi-day craft project. When it’s all finished it will end up on our bulletin board. Source

Here are Lydia and Leah (sisters) working together on an iPad during homework time. We take advantage of technology and use the students’ IXL accounts to follow up on what the students are learning during the school day. Source