Virtual Spring Break Courses

Spring Break Courses@Home

We offer half-day, virtual spring break courses for students to continue learning at home. The courses are led by dynamic teachers, taught online, and feature small class sizes. Learn something new, interact with other students, and be guided by an engaging teacher!

SPRING BREAK Courses@Home 2020

Join us for engaging, interactive, 1/2-day virtual courses. We offer classes for upper elementary, middle school, and high school students. Courses options will include science, engineering, and literature.

Dates: Monday - Friday, April 6-10, 2020

Location: Virtual! We use Google Hangouts Meet (Teachers will meet with students virtually to lead learning activities)
Technology Required: Students need to have internet, computer, web camera, headphones, and a microphone
Materials (some courses): We strive to continue to make our science and engineering courses hands-on! We are going to drop off materials for science and engineering courses. Materials will be sanitized as part of our packing procedures.
Course Sessions:
- Morning Courses - Mon-Fri, 9:30 - 11:45 am (15-min break at 10:30 am)
- Afternoon Courses - Mon - Fri, 1:00 - 3:15 pm (15-min break at 2 pm)

Select either a morning or afternoon course, or mix and match courses to create a full day of learning!

View the camp descriptions below (or at the bottom of the registration pages).

Morning Session Offerings (9:30 - 11:45 am)

FULL - Science@Home: Kitchen Chemistry (4th-6th), Dr. Sarah
MakerLab@Home: Pinball Machine (7th-9th), Mr. Ryan
- Due to the materials needed, there is an additional $35 materials fee and students keep their creations!
Literature Alive: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by D. Adams (8th - High School), Mr. Andrew

Tuition: $225 (5 half-day classes)

Afternoon Session Offerings (1:00 - 3:15 pm)

Literature Alive: The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (4th-6th), Mr. Andrew
MakerLab@Home: Waterfall Fountain (7th - 9th), Mr. Ryan
- Due to the materials needed, there is an additional $35 materials fee and students keep their creations!
Science@Home: Genetics in the Movies (8th - High School), Dr. Sarah

Tuition: $225 (5 half-day classes)

Camp Descriptions

Schedule	Grades	Title and Description
Morning Session: 9:30 - 11:45 am FULL - no spots remaining	4th-6th	Science@Home: Kitchen Chemistry (4th-6th), Dr. Sarah Students become chemical chefs in this hands-on food chemistry camp, exploring the chemistry behind their favorite foods and recipes! Students will learn about the chemicals that make up their food, exploring the physical and chemical reactions involved in cooking. Each day will center around a couple key food chemistry concepts through experimentation, resulting in at least one optional edible product. Topics include different types of nutrients/macro molecules, enzymes, and oxidation. Materials: This course requires materials. We will have prepacked kits that we will deliver to your home.
Morning Session: 9:30 - 11:45 am Register	7th-9th	MakerLab@Home: Pinball Machine (7th-9th), Mr. Ryan Grow your creative making skills as we take on a unique challenge: building a pinball machine! Starting with a pack of materials provided by your instructor, we will design and build our own pinball machine from simple materials (wood, foam, springs, rubber bands, recyclables). Inspired by DIY pinball machines like Makerball, you decide the theme and design - make your own ramps, obstacles, and traps. Assemble and tinker with the action of your launcher and flippers while learning more about materials and creative uses of them. Next, using an Arduino microcontroller we'll add some lights or sound. Using conductors, creativity, and some code (C programming language), we'll add unique elements to our pinball machine. Get a workspace ready and prepare for a fun week of hands-on building and learning. Materials: This course requires materials. We will have prepacked kits that we will deliver to your home.
Morning Session: 9:30 - 11:45 am Register	8th - High School	Literature Alive: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by D. Adams (8th - High School), Mr. Andrew "Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide. Together they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space." This year is the 42nd anniversary of the BBC 4 radio play The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and to celebrate the occasion we will taking be inspiration from Douglas Adams' novel and creating a short "choose your own adventure" type of interactive novel. The writers room will discuss plot, character, and setting together, as well as breaking out to work creatively individually in small groups.
Afternoon Session: 1:00 - 3:15 pm Register	4th-6th	Literature Alive: The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (4th-6th), Mr. Andrew "Armed with only a frying pan and her common sense, young witch-to-be Tiffany Aching must defend her home against the monsters of Fairyland. Luckily she has some very unusual help: the local Nac Mac Feegle—aka the Wee Free Men—a clan of fierce, sheep-stealing, sword-wielding, six-inch-high blue men." The goal of this camp is to create a short "choose your own adventure" type of interactive novel using Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men as a touchstone text. The writers room will discuss chapters from the novel and then work creatively and collaboratively on a writing project.
Afternoon Session: 1:00 - 3:15 pm Register	7th-9th	MakerLab@Home: Waterfall Fountain (7th - 9th), Mr. Ryan Imagine an indoor tabletop fountain with flowing water, waterfalls, and animated lights that you design and build from scratch. You will experiment with water, pumps, circuits, lights, materials, fluid pressure and flow, and gravity. Using the engineering design process and starting with a kit of materials, you will design a completely unique water feature. Each day we will have science and engineering lessons related to the project. We will start with a basic design to learn about the materials, pump, and lights. Next, you will expand and modify your fountain to your own design. Get a workspace ready and prepare for a fun week of hands-on building and learning. Materials: This course requires materials. We will have prepacked kits that we will deliver to your home.
Afternoon Session: 1:00 - 3:15 pm Register	8th - High School	Science@Home: Genetics in the Movies (8th - High School), Dr. Sarah Did you ever wonder how feasible it really is to create Jurassic Park? In this camp, students will spend the week learning about some of the real genetics concepts behind their favorite sci-fi movies. Each class will center around one fictional universe and/or movie, mixing discussion with virtual and hands-on simulations to understand the real scientific concepts in greater detail. We will cover topics such as mutations, cloning, and modern options for genetic engineering such as CRISPR. We will also devote some time to real techniques that sound like they must be science fiction but are actually real! Materials: This course requires materials. We will have prepacked kits that we will deliver to your home.