Tag: school clubs

Fun with Fancy Nancy Club

Posted on by Marie

A colleague of mine recently introduced me to the Fancy Nancy series, by Jane O’Connor. The books are very well written and beautifully illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. The details on each of the pages are brilliant! They really capture the essence of what Fancy Nancy is all about. I also truly appreciate how Jane has incorporated learning and enhancing children’s vocabulary into something that is fun and exciting. Fun with Fancy Nancy Club is a club that can be fun, fulfilling, and educational all at the same time.

Week 1-Make your own Fancy Fabric Hair ribbons

Introduce the group to Fancy Nancy by reading  her  first book entitled, Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor

Fancy Fabric Hair ribbons

Materials needed:

  • Fun, yet sturdy fabrics
  • sparkly pony beads
  • hair ties
  • fabric cutter
  • yard stick

Directions:

1) First have an adult use the fabric cutter and yard stick to cut equal sized strips (~ 1/2 in wide. and 6 in. long)

2) Next, have the children choose fabric strips and tie simple knots to create their hair ties. Every third or fourth tie they can add a bead to make it look more fancy if they so desire. The more strips they choose, the thicker and fuller their hair tie will become.

Week 2- Fancy Decoupage Trinket Boxes

Decoupage is a fancy way of saying the art of decorating with colored paper cut-outs, paint, & glitter. I think children will truly enjoy creating their own decoupage boxes

Expected Project Time: 45 minutes-1 hour

Materials Needed:

  • Small boxes (1 per child)- small takeout boxes or margarine tubs would work well if you are on a $$, or you can purchases small cardboard boxes at a local craft store.
  • White (or Clear) school  glue & water
  • Plastic bowls
  • Paintbrushes
  • Magazines, Color Catalogs, & Newspapers
  • Scissors
  • Glitter Glue
  • Rhinestones
Side of Box
Side of Box

Directions:

1)  Spread out magazines, catalogs, and newspapers. Encourage children to cut out shapes and objects that interest them.

2)  Mix 1 part glue to 1 1/2  parts water in each plastic bowl to prepare a glue wash. Have children “paint-on” their cutouts in their desired pattern. TIP: Use only interior pages from the magazines, not covers as they will be too thick and won’t stick/lay flat against to boxes. The thinner the pages, the better ~ the more polished outcome there will be!

Top of Box
Top of Box

3) Allow the boxes to dry for 10-15 minutes. In the meantime you can check out FancyNancyBooks.com for some adorable printables the children can use while they are waiting. Use rhinestones & glitter glue to give their boxes an extra special fancy touch – Voila! Fancy Decoupage trinket boxes to hold all of their fancy objects! TIP: If boxes are still too wet after 10-15 minutes, skip this step and save it for the following day/week when the group next meets.

Week 3: Fancy Nancy Vocabulary Challenge

You can start this session by reading Fancy Nancy’s Favorite Fancy Words, by Jane O’Connor. Then ,depending on the ages of children in the group you can have 2 different types of challenges or use a combination of both. Have small prizes on hand for everyone who participates in the challenge. Prize Ideas: Boa Pens, Rhinestone Rings, Glittery playdoh.

Ages 9-12: Fancy Word Spelling Bee

Gather a list of fancy words (ex. accesories, boas, parasol, etc.) and challenge children to take turns spelling the words.

Ages 5-9: Fancy Nancy Vocabulary Challenge

Using the list of fancy words you have compiled have the children guess what the definitions of each word are.

Week 4: Special Event: Fancy Nancy Tea Party & Dress Up Day

This week encourage the children to dress up for the tea party and wear pearls, fancy dresses, costume jewelry, tiaras, gloves, boas, etc. One of most festive parts of a tea party is serving dainty and delicate foods, most of them being “mini” versions of their normal selves. You can serve scones and tea sandwiches (sandwiches with filling such as egg salad, chicken salad or cucumber/cream cheese, crusts cut off, cut into 4 triangular shaped pieces), small fruits & veggies and tea of course.

You can also encourage the children to discuss their club experience ~ what did they learn? What was their favorite part of the club?

For more about information about Fancy Nancy, visit FancyNancybooks.com

Looking for more club ideas? Check the club themes page for some more exciting themed-units!

Camping Club

Posted on by Marie

Kids of all ages really enjoy hands on experiences and adventures. What could be more adventurous than camping? Starting an After School Camping Club with your kids can be fun, easy and educational too!

Ages recommended: 5-12

Week 1: Design First Aid Kits-

Materials needed:

Cotton balls, band aids, 1 pair of non-latex gloves per child, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, q-tips, gauze, permament markers, & washed out plastic margarine tubs.

Directions:

Explain to the children the importance of carrying a first aid kit while Camping. Have each child decorate their own first aid kit and stuff them with all the first aid supplies.

Week 2: Make Trail Mix

Teach the children about what trail mix is and why it is a popular snack for camping. Trail Mix is a combination of dried fruit, grains, nuts, and sometimes 1 or two sweet items. It is often used as a healthy well-balanced snack for camping and hiking because it’s lightweight, nonperishable, & nutritious. It gives a quick energy boost of carbohydrates such as dried fruit or granola, and sustained (takes longer to burn off) energy from nuts. **Be careful with nuts here, many children have severe allergies to tree nuts or peanuts, be sure to make sure your children do not have nut allergies or that your school is a nut free zone.

Let the children have fun mixing & matching the various components of their trail mix. Have a vote, and choose the most popular from each category:

Dried fruits: pineapples, cranberries, raisins, apricots, apples, strawberries or blueberries, or bananas

Grain: Wheat, Corn or Rice Chex, Multi-grain cheerios, or Granola

Nuts: Peanuts, Macadamia Nuts, Almonds, Cashews

Sweet: chocolate chips, yogurt chips, chocolate covered raisins, M&M’s

Week 3: Make a Camping Scene Craft and Campfire Story Writing

Craft time!!! Try making this  fun camping scene craft from Oriental Trading Company. Announce the “Campout!” for next week and allow kids to write campfire stories if they wish!

Week 4: Campout!

Make a pretend campfire rolled up brown construction paper logs & tissue paper flames. Ask in advance to see if any staff or parent if they have a tent they would be willing to let you borrow. If this is not possible, you can use sheets to cover tables to make a “tent.” Ideally try to find a grassy patch to host your campout, otherwise indoors is ok as well. Have the children bring flashlights, sleeping bags, and first aid kits and munch on the trail mix that they made. Invite the children to share the campfire stories they have written with the group. Play a few fun camping games such as “I Spy” or “Going on a Camping Trip” or sing a song the Bear Hunt Song.

Looking for more club ideas? Check the club themes page for some more exciting themed-units!

School Club Ideas in current economic climate: Art, Music, and Sports Club Ideas

Posted on by Marie

In the current economic climate many schools are being forced to cut out extracurricular programs from the school day such as art, music and to a lesser extent P.E. or Sports. This is devastating for our children as they are missing out on very valuable educational opportunities and access to gaining lifetime skills and appreciation for the Arts and physical fitness. Now granted, I don’t think we could ever expect to replace School Arts, Music or Physical Education programs in an after school setting. I remember going to visit the symphony with my 4th grade Music Teacher as one of my all time favorite memories from my elementary school years. I do think, however by offering after school programs, with an emphasis in Art, Music, and Physical Education that we can help to maintain that “spark” in children and open their eyes to what kinds of experiences are available to them!

Here are some ideas below about how to incorporate Art, Music & physical education in the after school setting. If you need more ideas about how to plan your club take a look at my article on planning your first after school club.

Music Club Ideas

1)   Hand bell Club- You can purchase a set of hand bells for kids that are color coded for the different notes they play. I found a set at Lakeshore Learning. The set came with color coded cards to play different songs such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” You can start by teaching children about musical notes, note values, and scales and move on teaching how to play songs with the hand bells. As a special event at the end of the club event parents and friends to a Hand bell recital.

2)   Karaoke Club- If you have a karaoke machine, or even just a boom box and microphone you can host a karaoke club.  The children can practice, and you can hold a concert for them at the end of the club session.

3)   Music Appreciation Club-Teach children to appreciate music. This can be accomplished in many ways. You can teach the kids to identify some classical music and then play a game of “Name that Tune.” They can listen to various styles of music and paint or draw about how it makes them feel. You can teach them about rhythm and have them clap or dance to different beats. Also, if you have access to a musical instrument set you can teach them to identify various instruments by sight and sound, and have children take turns playing the instruments.

Art Club Ideas

Teach children about various artists biographies and allow them to create art based on their styles. Make sure to allow for some time for children to create artwork base on their own artistic styles. At the end of the club hold an art gallery to showcase the children’s artwork.

Examples of artists you can showcase:

  • Charles Schulz- kids can create their own comic strips inspired by “Peanuts”
  • Georgia O’Keefe- flower paintings
  • George Seurat-Kids can create pictures using pointillism or images that look completely whole but looking more closely are created with series of dots instead of connected lines.

Sports Club Ideas

Some Sports Club would benefit from having a great Coach. Talk with your parents/staff to see if anyone may be interested in coaching a sports club once a week or even once a month. If they are not available for a long term commitment perhaps you can have them come for the last (special event) session to perform a Demo or be a Guest Speaker.

1)   Jogging Club- You can teach the importance of stretching and warming up. As a special event you can hold a jog-a-thon, and let the children help choose a great cause to earn funds for.

2)   Basketball Club

3)   Football Club

4)  “Yoga for Kids” Club- Many DVD’s or cards are available that teach fun yoga moves to kids

5)   Dance Club

Harry Potter Club

Posted on by Marie

The Harry Potter series has become very popular with my older students aged 9-12. It is great to see them get excited about reading. Here is a fun way to get kids involved in an after school club inspired by Harry Potter

Week 1- Make your own wizard wand

Materials needed:

  • 9 x 12 white, brown, tan, and grey construction paper
  • Glue gun (adult use only)
  • Brown and black tempera paint
  • Gold and silver felt pens
  • Scotch Tape

Directions:

1)  Have the children choose their wand color. Next have the children roll wands hot dog style, so that one end is wider than the other, and use scotch tape to hold it together.

2) Next a staff person will glue their edges shut, and children can choose to paint their wands with brown or black paint.

3) Allow wands to dry a few minutes and add hot glue “veins.” Once these are dry the children can use gold or silver felt pens to color their “veins.” Once completed encourage the children to name their wands and write a short story about the details of their wand.

Week 2- Hogwarts House Ties

Materials Needed: hole punch, yarn, markers, scissors, and template from Activity Village.

Directions:

Hogwarts has four houses: Gryffindor (red and gold), Hufflepuff (yellow and black), Ravenclaw (blue and bronze), and Slytherin (green and silver). Have the children choose the house they most identify with and create their own House ties.

Week 3: Bertie Bott’s Jellybean Taste Off

Jelly Belly used to carry the Bertie Bott’s every flavor beans, as you saw in the Harry Potter movies. These have been discontinued. You can however still get a similar product called “Beanboozled” with flavors such as canned dog food, rotten eggs, pencil shavings, and skunk spray. Have a challenge to see which jelly beans kids will eat and give awards for everyone who tried the “Every Flavored Beans”

Week 4: Have a Harry Potter Read-a-thon and Pajama Day

Encourage everyone to bring their favorite Harry Potter book; if possible have a few available for kids who don’t own the books. Serve popcorn and have kids brings their pj’s, blankets, & pillows and have a read-a-thon!



Looking for more club ideas? Check the club themes page for some more exciting themed-units!

 

Homework Club/Help in After School Programs: How to make this time productive

Posted on by Marie

Many after school programs offer a Homework Club or hour. Some are required to do so and some do it to add to their beneficial daily programming. Whatever the reasons it can be quite a challenge to have a successful homework program in an after school setting. Here are some tips to hosting a successful homework time

1)  Construct a Parent/Staff/Student Homework Agreement: Expectations should be clearly outlined on this agreement. Be sure to have the Parent/Child sign it and keep it in a safe place. Important questions/points to consider and include on this agreement are:

  • Are children who are signed up required to attend Homework time?
  • Discipline Policy and Procedures are clearly outlined and parents are aware of it. (see #4 sub-heading below for more on this)
  • How long will Homework time last?
  • How many Staff will be supervising Homework time?
  • Center responsibilities – are they responsible for making sure homework is completed or corrected? Will the center be providing materials such as pencils, rulers, lined paper, dictionaries, etc. If so, list what will be provided

2)  Provide a Daily Sign In/Out Log: Keep track of student attendance in HW Time and place it in the Parent area at the end of the day for their review

3)  Post Homework Time Rules: Make it clear what is expected of the children while they are in HW Club

4)  Provide a suitable Homework environment: Ideally a room with tables and dedicated only to Homework time. If you have a large number of students or mixed ages you may want to make a seating chart. Try to minimize distractions as much as possible. Set up a corner where children can sign in and out and check out pencils, paper, dictionaries, rulers, erasers, and calculators (optional.) It is best not to have an electronic sharpener in the room as it can become quite a distraction. Try to have Staff make sure pencils are sharpened beforehand and if necessary hand out handheld sharpeners, which are much more budget friendly anyway.

5)  Instill a Discipline Policy: The goal is to provide an atmosphere that is conducive for everyone to complete their Homework. Set up Homework Club Discipline Guidelines and be consistent about enforcing them. Example~ 3 Step policy if children are being disruptive 1) Verbal Warning 2) Move their Seat 3) Dismissal from Homework Time.

6)  Provide Rewards & Incentives: Reward positive behavior during Homework Time. Try to to recognize not only their good behavior but also how well they are staying focused on their Homework and completing it. You can use a Smiley Sticker Chart, and have a Homework Party after a certain number of stickers are earned.  You can also put up a WOW Board, showing off children’s stellar work.

7)  Have Break Time Before Homework Time: Try to have a 15 to 20 minute window between the time school gets out to when Homework time begins. During this break the children can relax, have a snack and then re-focus on their work without feeling burned out.

Best of Luck having a successful Homework Time at your program. As with any new idea with children, you may want to adapt or change a few things here and there to fit the needs of your program.

When to host after-school clubs: daily vs. weekly models

Posted on by Marie

You have several options when it comes to choosing how and when to host after-school clubs: monthly, bi-weekly, weekly, or daily. I personally feel that hosting clubs monthly is too infrequent and disrupts the continuity of the children’s enjoyment and fulfillment with their club experiences. If however, your after-school program is full of other activities I would probably adopt a bi-weekly model (having a “Club” Day every other week.) For the purposes of this article I am going on to focus two models: weekly and daily, and discuss the pros and cons of each.

Hosting clubs daily – Each club is assigned a certain day of the week.

(Ex. Mon=Art Club, T= Superheroes Club, W=Scrapbooking Club, Th=Camping Club, F=Basketball Club)

PROS

  • Many choices: this model offers children a variety of choices and attendance options.
  • Back up staffing plan: If a Staff Member is absent and lesson plans are readily available it is fairly easy to have another Staff Member to lead the club for that day.
  • More space and availability in clubs: Usually it is much easier to allow children to have their first choice club in this model. The club will be less impacted because they are not being hosted all on the same day. Also, as long as you provide sign ups well in advance of the club you can make sure there is enough materials and supervision for everyone.
  • Its their choice: For all the club planning you do there are going to be kids that are worn out from the school day and just want to relax, play basketball, or read a book at an after school program. Perhaps they are part of a sports or dance team and this is the only part of their day they have for relaxing and talking to friends. In the daily model it is the kid’s choice. They can join a club or opt out.

CONS

  • Lack of excitement: It may lack the excitement of having a “Super Club Day,” as in the weekly model.
  • Missed opportunities: If kids only attend 2, 3, or 4 days a week they may lose out on joining their first choice club.

Hosting clubs weekly- One day of the week is known as “Club Day,” all clubs are hosted that day, simultaneously.

PROS

  • Modified Day Schedules:  Hosting clubs weekly can be a huge benefit if your school or center has any type of modified school day program where the children get out of school much earlier on a weekly basis; For instance a 11:25 release time as opposed to 2:00pm release time. Having a “Club Day” can help to make modified days more enjoyable and interactive for the children. It’s a promising alternative to adding movie/video game time.
  • Very exciting environment: If you really advertise and pump up your Staff and encourage them to do the same kids will look forward to Club Day very much!
  • Allows for more programming: Since clubs will only be held once a week you have plenty of opportunity to plan other programs and activities at your program that are not club related.

CONS

  • Children may miss clubs: Some children have extracurricular activities or may only attend 2, 3 or 4 days a week. If clubs are offered only once a week many kids would lose out on having the opportunity to join a club.
  • Staff Absences: If one or more Staff is absent on Club Day it can definitely impact the program. Being in ratio becomes the main priority, meaning staff won’t be able to spread out as much. This can possibly lead to canceling one or more clubs for the day. That in itself becomes a choice that will be hard on the children ~ which club do you cancel/reschedule? Or do you cancel all clubs that day and move them to another day?
  • Limited Choices: Since all clubs are being led simultaneously there will likely need to be a limited number of spots in each club. This means kids may not get to choose their first choice club. Also, a child may not be interested in any of the clubs, and since there are only Club activities being offered that child may become bored.

Taking all of these points into consideration may help you to decide what model best fits your program. Originally, I used a weekly model myself, but due to concerns with staff absences, staying in ratio, and overall having a smaller number of staff and children a daily model has been a better fit for our program.

Do you have any other suggestions or tips on when clubs are hosted at your school? Please comment back! I’d love to hear from you.

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