Lawrence Hall of Science: Fieldtrip #1

On Saturday, July 24^th, ImpACT volunteers and students had a wonderful time of learning at the Lawrence Hall of Science, in the hills of Berkeley. The students started the day climbing and taking pictures around the sun-warmed giant whale model and the structure of DN A. Afterwards, we enjoyed the panoramic view of the San Francisco bay while eating pizza together for lunch.

At the scream exhibit, students, team leads and volunteers screamed at the top of their lungs as they rode a simulated roller coaster and struggled around the giant spinning wheel (fighting those irresistible centrifugal forces). After visiting the scream exhibit, the students and team leads understood the science behind roller coasters and why it makes us vomit (hint: it’s a coordinated response between the brain and our stomachs).

Downstairs at the animal exhibit, the students had a great time observing and patting the leopard lizard, snake and Elton, the chinchilla (in case you didn’t know, a chinchilla is a hybrid between a rodent and a rabbit). The staff at LHS invited the students to join in naming the newborn baby chinchilla, and many of the students wanted the baby chinchilla to bear their names.

At the end of the day, though tired, everyone was reluctant to end an exciting morning of science and learning.

School’s Out, ImpACT’s In

We started our first-ever three-week long summer program for our ImpACT Tutoring students. Our first crop consists of thirteen 4th and 5th graders. This summer program was birthed out of a both a burden and a vision to further support the students academically during the summer since it is a time when many children and youth regress in their learning due to the unstructured environment of summer vacation. Our goal is to review and practice basic skills, as well as introduce concepts they will need for the following grade level. We are partnering with Berkeley Academics and through the support of their resources (curriculum, facility, and computer lab) as well as a generous grant from Advent, we are able to better meet the academic needs of our students.

We have drivers who go out to Oakland and throughout Alameda to pick-up the students in the morning and drop them off in the afternoon. We have other volunteers who help out with various needs throughout the day. We are offering three classes – Math, Computers, and Essay Writing – taught by our very own experienced teachers. Students have time for free play (basketball, ping pong, board games, foozball, and dodgeball) and time to eat lunch with each other, teachers and volunteers during the day as well.

We are in our second week and the students are really enjoying the summer program. We hope that this time will also be a time where they bond together as a group, bond with teachers and other adult volunteers. We want the students to know that there are many adults around them who are here to support them.

Solar Systems, Tangrams, and Haikus

Summer is halfway through, and we just finished our first wave of three exciting ImpACT Academic Boost classes!

For Tangram class, we sat around Teacher Chris as he read a story about two foxes with the ability to transform.  The kids were captivated and eagerly tried to guess what the foxes would transform into on the next page.  Afterwards, we had a blast using our tangram pieces to try making different animals shapes.  Geometrical!

Fine art of Haiku,
taught we were by Teacher Cindy,
and Teacher Connie.

Isn’t that a cool haiku?  No?  Really?  You’re right, it’s not very good.  Actually, the kids did much better!  After learning some basic rules, like the number of phrases and syllables, they had a chance to write their own poems.

Who knew learning about the solar system could be so … relaxing? We laid down on our backs to watch the stars above while Teacher Olivia and Hallie pointed out fascinating facts about the planets in our solar system.  For instance, did you know that Earth is the 5th largest planet?  To demonstrate what they learned, the kids glued all the planets onto a large piece of paper in order by their distance from the sun.

Please look forward to the new set of classes coming in the following few weeks!

ImpACT Breakfast

On Saturday, July 10^th, ImpACT volunteers enjoyed a hearty breakfast with the students and their families. Volunteers, parents, and students chowed down on a delicious meal of French toast, sausages, smokies, scrambled eggs, and fresh fruit. Principal Tony gave an introduction to ImpACT and provided an explanation of the people behind the yellow, blue, and orange shirts.  Afterwards, we watched a slideshow to see all the things we did at ImpACT last year – classes, outings, field trips – and we realized how fast time flies when you’re having fun!  Teacher Frances also gave an overview of our tutoring program and other opportunities for students to receive academic enrichment.  In the end, families had a time to chat and connect with the team leads, teachers, and parents , and find out more about what their kids experience on Sunday mornings. Amazingly, we even got to see some old faces whose little brothers/sisters are now coming to ImpACT!  We know there were many others who wanted to come but couldn’t make it, but we’ll definitely have another one of these soon!

SummerFest – Day 3

Our last day at SummerFest took place on a sunny, Sunday afternoon. After spending two straight days getting to know one another, the kids arrived energized for some team bonding time and outdoor sports.  Students shared their favorite part of SummerFest (Baking! Magic show! Laughing at the silly chemistry teachers…) and drew their own family portraits to share with one another, just in time for Father’s Day. During large group, students watched an entertaining performance on the theme of Metamorphoses and the character virtue of humility. To top off the day, ImpACT volunteers led our teams in some outdoors games, including the enormously-popular Wizards, Elves and Giants and Dodgeball. The students exhausted themselves in an hour of raucous fun, dodging balls along with team leads and volunteers, and vocalizing “Stick to it!” all the way. Wolfing down a delicious lunch of hot dogs and chips, we reflected on all the pleasant memories of SummerFest 2010, and looked ahead to the next busy year at ImpACT.