February 14, 2001
Classes beat the winter blahs
TCAPS presents Winter Enrichment program
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
If you happened to walk by the art room at Oak Park Elementary School Saturday morning you might have been in for a shock. Goaded on by their teacher, seven students were doing their best to destroy personal computer components.
Wielding hammers, pliers, screwdrivers and wrenches, these industrious students were wreaking havoc on these high-tech wares, harvesting chips, wires, screws, washers and disc drives. The students will use these parts, all from donated, older computers, to make a robot as part of their two-week class entitled "Robbie and Roberta Robots."
"I think this is awesome," said Kyle Bevelhymer, a fourth-grade student at Central Grade School. "We are going to build a robot next week."
The idea for the class is the brainchild of Claire Crandall, a former extended day program employee at Long Lake and Blair Elementary Schools. She has used electronic components before to make robots and Christmas decorations and believes this is a great way to harness students' creativity and problem-solving abilities.
"This is not a kit, this is sheer ingenuity," said Crandall. "The taking it apart is so much fun, everyone's used a computer but who knows what's inside."
Besides the robotic fun, other Oak Park classrooms Saturday morning featured sign language, guitar, Karate, cooking and stained glass classes. These offerings are just a few of the options offered Saturday at the Traverse City Area Public Schools Winter Enrichment program. In fact, during the next four weeks, students and adults can choose from among 29 course offerings to help fight mid-winter blahs.
"We heard from families that they wanted a chance to come into the schools," said Pat Lewallen, special programs principal at Traverse City Area Publics Schools. "This is like community education, which was around in the 70s."
Lewallen said she sent out a notice to all district employees asking for ideas for enrichment courses and the response was excellent. The Oak Park custodian is teaching guitar, a substitute teacher is teaching Karate and a childcare manager at Westwoods Elementary School is teaching cooking. Once a topic is approved, the teacher takes it from there, Lewallen said, designing their own courses.
This is the second year the district has offered mid-winter courses, though the scope and variety of courses is much greater this year. A half dozen courses are geared to adults, including a refrigeration and air conditioning seminar, personal empowerment courses and a homebuilder's license workshop. A few other courses are geared to both adults and children, allowing parents to learn something with their children.
Students in the "Cooking with Kids" classes spent part of their first session working out a menu for future classes. They will spend the next five Saturday morning delving into the basics of baking bread and cookies, making breakfast, churning homemade butter and how to cook Italian cuisine. They wound up last week's session making Dirt Cups featuring crushed Oreos, chocolate pudding and Gummi Worms.
"I like to cook and we can make fun stuff here," said Grace Balcon, a third-grade student at Cherry Knoll Elementary School.
Not all ideas for courses came from the district. A group of parents initiated one course, the "Mexican Cooking, Culture and Fun" course that will be held at Westwoods Elementary School on Thursday evenings. They knew teacher Rosielinda Sawyer from her work at the school and approached her about leading the course, requesting it for both adults and students. Sawyer quickly agreed.
"I like bringing the cultures into the classroom and I will be teaching authentic cooking methods," Sawyer said. "We will be rolling out tortillas with a press."