Educational Skill Building
Educational Skill Building
Lower School
Little Explorers: Junior Kindergarten (VIRTUAL)
Instructors: Robin Blick and Elizabeth Butler
Grade Level: For rising Junior Kindergarten (JK) students
Prerequisites: Students must be 4 years old before the first day of the course
Adult Support: 3, Full adult supervision and support required .
Course Description
Little Explorers - Junior Kindergarten is designed to be fun and engaging, and to provide opportunities for your child to explore and participate in numerous age-appropriate activities. We will be teaching school routines, encouraging social/emotional development, and exposing participants to math, language, and phonics. Weekly themes will shape our academics and storytime to make the summer a memorable experience.
JK students will meet M-F from 8:30-9 am for a morning meeting, exploring school routines, phonics, literacy, and math. In addition, your child will get one weekly 1:1 student-teacher 10 minute FOCUS meeting, and one 30-minute exploration session.
Weekly Breakdown
- Daily Morning Meeting: 20-30 minute whole class
- FOCUS: (1) Individual/Partner 10 minute personalized session (Scheduled)
- Exploration: (1) 30-minute whole class (Wednesday)
Incoming Junior Kindergarten students will need full adult supervision and support until students become familiar with virtual lessons.
Dates and Themes:
- June 22-26 Pirates
- June 29-July 2 (M-TH) Patriotic
- July 6-July 10 Adventure
Times:
- 8:30-9 am (Live Session)
- 11 am-11:30 am (Course Extension, Weekly Personalized Session)
Course Price: $99, Required course materials provided
Little Explorers: Senior Kindergarten (VIRTUAL)
Instructors: Elizabeth Butler and Robin Blick
Grade Level: For rising Senior Kindergarten (SK) students
Adult Support: 1-2 Minimal to frequent adult supervision and support required
Course Description
Little Explorers- Senior Kindergarten is designed to provide rising SK students with reading, math, and writing skills to help sustain and build their general learning during the summer months. Each week, this course will focus on different Independent and Guided Reading, math, and Writer’s Workshop topics–while featuring a weekly theme. The course curriculum will help students start their next school year feeling confident and prepared.
SK Students will meet M-F from 10-10:45 am for a morning meeting, exploring school routines, phonics, language, and math. In addition, your child will get one weekly 1:1 student-teacher 10 min FOCUS meeting, and one 30-minute exploration session.
Weekly Breakdown:
- Daily Morning Meeting: 20-30 minute whole class
- FOCUS: (1) Individual/Partner 10 minute personalized session (Scheduled)
- Exploration: (1) 30-minute whole class (Wednesday)
SK students will need some adult supervision and support, this will likely mirror the support they have needed during the school year.
Dates and Themes:
- June 22-26: Pirates
- June 29-July 2 (M-TH): Fourth of July
- July 6-10: Adventure
Times:
- 10-10:45 am (Live Session)
- 11:30 am-12 pm (Course Extension, Weekly Personalized Session)
Course Price: $99, Required course materials provided
JumpStart Grade 1 (VIRTUAL)
Instructor: Nicole Carroll
Grade Level: For rising Grade 1 students
Adult Support: 1-2, Minimal to frequent adult supervision and support required
Course Description
JumpStart offers rising Grade 1 students the opportunity to review overall academic skills that help sustain and build general learning while encouraging social/emotional development during the summer months. Students will participate in various age-appropriate activities with a focus on literacy and math concepts – all presented in a virtual manner with a fun and enriching twist. The course curriculum will help students start their next school year feeling confident and prepared.
Dates:
- July 13-July 17
- July 20-July 24
- July 27-July 31
Times:
Live Session
- 8:30 am-9:15 am OR
- 10-10:45 am
Course Extension (Optional)
- 11 am-12 pm
Course Price: $99, Required course materials provided
JumpStart Grade 2 (VIRTUAL)
Instructor: Imanda Marcus
Grade Level: For rising Grade 2 students
Adult Support: 1-2, Minimal to frequent adult supervision and support required
Course Description
JumpStart offers rising Grade 2 students the opportunity to review overall academic skills that help sustain and build general learning while encouraging social/emotional development during the summer months. Students will participate in various age-appropriate activities with a focus on literacy and math concepts – all presented in a virtual manner with a fun and enriching twist. The course curriculum will help students start their next school year feeling confident and prepared.
Dates:
- July 13-July 17
- July 20-July 24
- July 27-July 31
Times:
Live Session
- 8:30 am-9:15 am OR
- 10-10:45 am
Course Extension (Optional)
- 11 am-12 pm
Course Price: $99, Required course materials provided
JumpStart Grade 3 (VIRTUAL)
Instructor: Ivonne Mendoza
Grade Level: For rising Grade 3 students
Adult Support: 0, No support required
Course Description
JumpStart offers rising Grade 3 students the opportunity to review overall academic skills that help sustain and build general learning while encouraging social/emotional development during the summer months. Students will participate in various age-appropriate activities with a focus on literacy and math concepts – all presented in a virtual manner with a fun and enriching twist. The course curriculum will help students start their next school year feeling confident and prepared.
Dates:
- July 13-17
- July 20-24
- July 27-31
Times:
Live Session
- 8:30 am-9:15 am OR
- 10-10:45 am
Course Extension (Optional)
- 11 am-12 pm
Course Price: $99, Required course materials provided
JumpStart Grades 4-5 (VIRTUAL)
Instructor: Rob Campbell
Grade Level: For rising Grade 4-5 students
Adult Support: 0, No support required
Course Description
JumpStart Grade 4-5 is an academic math and literacy offering for rising Grade 4 and rising Grade 5 students with the goal of helping prepare students for the upcoming academic year. Avoiding the “summer slide” or just wanting to help your child’s confidence in coursework for the upcoming school year? This course is a great way to meet these goals in a relaxed, summer setting.
Daily activities will include a variety of research-based strategies to help build reading comprehension, fluency, word attack, and working memory, as well as writing work and math fluency with problem-solving. The course curriculum will help students start their next school year feeling confident and prepared.
Dates:
- June 22-26
- June 29-July 2
- July 6-July 10
Times:
Live Session (Suggested Groupings)
- Grade 4: 8:30 am-9:15 am OR
- Grade 5: 10-10:45 am
Course Extension (Optional)
- 11 am-12 pm
Course Price: $99, Required course materials provided
Level Up Phonics (VIRTUAL)
Instructor: Joy Urtnowski and Marissa Coletti
Grade Level: For rising Senior Kindergarten-Grade 2 students
Adult Support: 2-3, Frequent to full adult supervision and support required
Course Description
Blends and digraphs and diphthongs, oh my!
Through personalized systematic phonics instruction, Level Up Phonics provides students with a targeted daily practice of phonics skills to build a solid foundation for decoding difficult words and understanding spelling patterns.
Small group live instruction will be tailored to meet your student’s phonics development after a pre-assessment is conducted on the first day of class.
This course will also provide students the opportunity to practice new sight words, daily journal writing, and strengthen penmanship skills through handwriting practice. Virtual games and printed materials will be provided to students to enable some independent practice of skills at home. Daily lessons will be provided the evening before each class session.
Level Up Phonics is a distance-learning class and will be offered through virtual class instruction, recorded lessons, and demonstrations, interactive practice games that are assigned to each learner, and live check-ins. The first day of each session will include a whole group class meeting, 1:1 virtual literacy assessment, and independent work samples that the learner will submit to the instructors.
Instructors will assign students a class time after the first day in order to differentiate instruction. Additionally students will be asked to check-in briefly during office hours to discuss independent work progress for the day.
Suggested Prerequisite: Students should have an understanding of letter sounds /a/ - /z/ as skills taught to build upon that knowledge.
Dates:
- Session I: June 22-July 10 (Three-week course)
- Session II: July 13-July 31 (Three-week course)
Times:
Live Session
- Group 1: 8:30- 9:15 am
- Group 2: 9:30-10:15 am
Course Extension (Optional)
- 11 am-12 pm
Course Price: $349, Required course materials provided
Introduction to Public Speaking (VIRTUAL)
Instructor: Luke Wingfield
Grade Level: For rising Grade 3-5 students
Adult Support: 0, No support required
Course Description
Introduction to Public Speaking provides students with tips and tricks that will give them the skills needed to speak in front of others with confidence and clarity.
“What if I mess up? Everyone is going to judge me.” For many students, just the thought of speaking in front of a group is enough to make them nervous. This course provides the principles and basic skills associated with the creation and delivery of oral messages in a classroom setting. In addition to improving their self-expression, students will develop skills that improve their ability to present their work and thrive in an interactive classroom environment.
Students will learn how to make effective public presentations that articulate their own views while still respecting the views of others. Instruction includes effective delivery and organization, as well as the development of effective listening skills.
During the two-week course, your child will virtually deliver two speeches in front of their peers. The first speech will be a personal introduction about themselves and their background. The second speech will be informative and must teach the class about a topic of their choice. The learning outcomes of this course are to encourage and prepare students to speak clearly, confidently, and to manage communication apprehension or “stage fright” positively in the classroom setting.
Dates:
- June 22-July 2 (Two-week course)
Times:
Live Session
- 8:30 am-9:15 am OR
- 10-10:45 am
Course Extension (Optional)
- 11 am-12 pm
Course Price: $179, Required course materials provided
Introduction to Persuasive Speaking (VIRTUAL)
Instructor: Luke Wingfield
Grade Level: For rising Grade 3-5 students
Adult Support: 0, No support required
Course Description
In Introduction to Persuasive Speaking, students will learn the standard format for a persuasive speech.
The general format for a persuasive speech will include:
- Position Statement: State your opinion and arguments succinctly
- Reason: Support with facts and data
- Ethics: Convince your listener you are fair, trust-worthy, and well-informed
- Emotion: Appeal to listener’s emotions
- Conclusion: Restate your opinion succinctly
In addition to improving one’s self-expression, your child will develop skills that improve their ability to present a persuasive argument that is informed and well-supported. Students will learn how to make effective public presentations that articulate their own views while still respecting the views of others.
This course will span two weeks. In the first week, students will focus primarily on developing basic delivery techniques, positive speaking habits, and writing structure. At the end of the first week, they will deliver a persuasive speech using a cause/effect or problem/solution organizational structure. The second week will focus on conducting research and using persuasive speech techniques to present an argument about a current event.
Dates:
- July 6-July 17 (Two-week course)
Times:
Live Session
- 8:30 am-9:15 am OR
- 10-10:45 am
Course Extension (Optional)
- 11 am-12 pm
Course Price: $198, Required course materials provided
Debate (VIRTUAL)
Instructor: Luke Wingfield
Grade Level: For rising Grade 3-5 students
Adult Support: 0, No support required
Course Description
In Debate, students will learn how to think critically, listen actively, and speak with conviction. These skills will help them excel in classroom discussions, student council meetings, and in their lives beyond school. Students will learn to make informed opinions and respond to criticism with positivity and respect.
“Should children in elementary school have cell phones?” “Should schools get rid of homework?” “Should uniforms be mandatory?” Such pressing questions on the minds of students will be debated in this active and exciting enrichment course.
Students will work collaboratively to form opinions, organize arguments, and respond effectively to the opposition. Your child will be given the opportunity to consider and examine issues that are important to them, helping spur their interest in being an active citizen in the Parker community. Finally, students will learn to consider both sides of the issues they face and approach each other with understanding and respect.
During the course of two weeks, students will learn the fundamentals of persuasion and debate tactics. At the end of each week, they will participate in team debates arguing opposing sides of an issue selected by the class.
Dates:
July 20-July 31 (Two-week course)
Times:
Live Session
- 8:30 am-9:15 am OR
- 10-10:45 am
Course Extension (Optional)
- 11 am-12 pm
Course Price: $198, Required course materials provided
Little Authors Academy
Instructor: Little Authors Academy
Grade Level: For Grade 2-5 students
...More information to come!
Course Description
Little Authors Academy taps into each child’s creativity and expands their writing skills. As they learn about the components of a story, the illustration process, book layout, and more, your child will develop his or her voice to creatively express themselves as an author and illustrator.
Our goal is to inspire the artist within and empower and grow their confidence, to teach them the fundamentals of how to write, construct, and publish a book.
A fun way to jumpstart a student’s career as an author, we provide an enjoyable and relaxed environment to build a passion for writing.
Dates:
- August 31-September 4
Times:
- 8:30 am-10:30 am