The summer is speeding by, and it’s hard to believe we’re halfway through with classes! It’s amazing to see how much they’re learning. Be sure to ask your child to show you their amazing work!
Animation Studio: Stop Motion Animation
“Wow! I canʻt believe itʻs the 3rd week of our CRDG Summer Programs. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to work with your children. I have enjoyed the studentʻs creativity and bringing their clay into life. ” ~ Mrs. Nagatoshi
This weekʻs focus is on Claymation. There are a lot of movies and T.V. shows created using stop motion animation, such as the recent theatrical movie, “The Missing Link.” After learning about how they made this movie and applying those techniques to our own claymation videos, we were excited to watch it on Friday.
Hawaii Nature Study Program: Explorers
Our week 3 focus was on plants. We were able to identify plants we eat and plants we use in our everyday lives. We also learned about how Hawaiians used canoe plants as valuable resources and to promote sustainability. One of the plants we learned about was kalo. We even learned a new song about a kalo man. The next time we go for a walk, ask us to identify some of the plants we leaned about in class this week. We may even sing the kalo man song for you!
Minecraft: A Virtual Learning Adventure
For Week #3 we did a week-long project: creating an amusement park. Everyday we had a new assignment, and sometimes two assignments. By the end of the week all of our amusement parks included: a front gate (where customers can buy tickets, stand in line to get in, and other things like bag checks or temperature checks). Around the front gate we added stands and stores where people could “purchase” things before entering the amusement park. We also added a photo area with cameras so guests can take pictures at the front of the amusement park. The second assignment was a restaurant with outside and inside sitting areas, and a to-go area where guests can order food to eat around the amusement park.
Tuesday’s first amusement park assignment was building our first ride— a roller coaster. We had to build a big roller coaster with hills and big turns. Our second assignment was to add a bumper cars ride using an ice rink & row boats.
Wednesday’s assignment was to create our choice of water park ride for the amusement park. We were instructed to make a complex water ride with multiple slides, tunnel slides, multiple levels, and a pool at the bottom.
On Thursday we had to add a giant ferris wheel to the amusement park. We were told to make it as big as possible, with at least 6 carts on the wheel. All the carts should be different colors and big enough for guests to sit in. Unfortunately making the ferris wheel move in Minecraft is hard, so ours we stationary – it will just be a decorative ferris wheel.
Finally, it was Friday! Today’s assignment was to add a game zone to our amusement park. We had to design three games, minimum. We used our imagination to create carnival games like: ring toss, ping pong ball throw, shooting galleries, and even a horse race. If we finished that early, we added a go kart track and a free-fall ride.
This was a HUGE week but the completed amusement parks were AWESOME!! It was so much fun running around each other’s parks, riding the rides and playing the games!
Nature’s Palette: Exploring Art in Nature
This week we focused on “Flora + Attention”. We worked with flowers and leaves picked from our yards and outside areas and thought about what we can learn from them such as symmetry, texture, and color. We made pressed flower bookmarks, paper bouquets, and pictures using leaves and flowers then doing a crayon rub of the textures.
STEM Workshop: Lego Machines
For the third week of Lego Machines, we were under a lot of pressure! We used pressurized air to build claws, lifts, and crushers. Then we experimented with how much pressure in pounds per square inch (psi) we could create within a set period of time. Finally we had to determine how much psi we needed to do certain tasks.