Summer Programs: Enrichment Programs

Updated Friday, May 31, 2013. 

 

Enrichment Programs are an optional supplement to a camp day. Campers can enroll in one Enrichment Program to individualize their morning schedule. Junior Adventurers, Adventurers, and Junior Counselors interested in delving deeper into an interest or exploring a new hobby can sign up for an Enrichment Program for an extra $60/session.
 
There are both minimum and maximum enrollments for all Enrichment Programs.
 
Rocketry
Instructor: Ross Feitlinger
Session: 1
Grades: 5-8
Materials Fee: $15

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's just your model rocket flying high through the sky! In this enrichment program, each student will get a chance to build, paint, and launch two different rockets. They will become junior rocket scientists and learn all about the ins and outs of rocket flight. This class will be limited to 12 rocket scientists. I hope you will join me to reach for the stars!
 

Digital Storytelling

Instructor: Marcia Bernard

Session 2, 3

Ages 8-13

 

Digital storytelling utilizes technology to tell a story. Through voice, photographs, video, and animation a story comes alive. In this camp, children will have the opportunity to learn some of the latest computer applications while creating their own stories.  Utilizing Bement’s Mac lab, students will learn iPhoto, iMovie and Comic Life software as well as the web applications Storybird, Kerfoof and Animoto. Students will also spend time writing and developing their digital photography skills. This is a fun chance to be creative and build technology skills in a relaxed environment.

Limited to 12 campers

 

 

Athletic Sport Training

Instructor: Will Paulding, Bement PE instructor and Upper School Coach

Ages: 8-12 years

Sessions: 2, 3, 4

 

Looking for more speed and a quicker first step in everything you do, from the soccer field to hopscotch to the classroom? This camp is designed to get you moving in both body and mind. We will learn good movement habits and patterns that will increase overall strength, speed, and agility through active play. Campers will use sport-specific movements while participating in well-planned and thoughtful games that will emphasize correct jumping and landing techniques, acceleration, and deceleration, and build lifelong skills to ensure that their play, whether on the playground or on the athletic field, is as safe and productive as it can be. Campers will also learn the benefit of an active lifestyle.  Research shows more and more that an active and physically fit lifestyle leads to increased brain activity that helps young learners each and every day.  This camp will help your child build a healthy base for a productive and healthy body and mind. (No previous experience required)

 

Equipment Used: Cones, agility ladders, jump ropes, reaction balls, speed hurdles, balance boards  

 

Games Include:

 

            4 Goal Soccer

            Red light-Green light variations 

            American Gladiators

            Crab Walk Soccer

            Dodge ball variations

            Capture the flag variations

            Rock, paper, scissor-games

            Knee tag and other tag variations

            Obstacle courses

            Medicine ball tennis

            Ultimate Frisbee

            Tug-of-war

            Mirror and matching competitions

            Relay races

            Plus many more!

 

Hands On Candy-Making and Basic Baking
Instructor: Ann Caloon
Sessions: 1
 
Enjoy two weeks of candy-making and baking with Bement's own baker right in The Bement School kitchen! Your child will learn many safety tips for cooking in the kitchen, and s/he will have hands-on experience working with several candy and baking ingredients and materials. This is an experience that your child will be able to use in years to come! We will create many different types of candy and baking treats to bring home each day.
 

Swimming Lessons
Sessions: ALL
 
The goal of this program is to foster the development of your child's comfort, confidence, and skill level in the pool. Lessons are designed to improve water skills and stroke development, while integrating important safety skills and fun activities. Our instructors have helped to develop this program and have years of swimming instruction working with all ages and levels. For children ages 5-12.
 

Digging into Nature (Full day program)
Instructor: Louise Smith
Session: This program is FULL for 2013
Ages: 8-12
Fee: $475
 
This camp offering, limited to six children, is all about experiencing nature first-hand. We spend our days in a variety of ways--exploring trails, dipping into ponds, playing and swimming at a safe bend in the Sawmill River in Montague. Children fill buckets, collect stones, dig clay out of a river bank, and catch and release minnows, frogs and red-spotted newts. When we hike on trails, we stop to play in the shallow brooks, floating sticks downstream and creating miniature dams and little pools. These are the classic things children discover when they're given time to play in a natural setting. Projects, such as making small boats out of scraps of wood and making clay pots and "ancient" shards of pottery, change from year to year and grow out of the children's time in nature.
 
I believe that through developmentally appropriate, direct experiences in nature, children learn to love spending time in the out-of-doors, gain knowledge of the natural world in an integrated way, and become invested in taking good care of the earth. I also feel strongly that digging into nature gives children the time and space they need to explore who they are. In the process, they have a lot of fun!