Summer Activities and Camps

Families, below you will find numerous camps and activities available this summer.  Each has its own unique schedule and opportunities to fit the interests that your child may have.  I hope this helps to keep your kids active and learning throughout the summer months.  

~ Todd Reed- ELP Instructor

CAMPS

Kirkwood STEM Camps (Cedar Rapids) https://www.kirkwood.edu/kick

STEAM Camps (Iowa City) http://www.thesteamroom.org/#!summer-camps/c1qv

Art Camps (Ceramics Center Cedar Rapids) http://www.theceramicscenter.org/summercamps/

Acting Camps (Cedar Rapids) http://www.theatrecr.org/education/

Acting Opportunities (Vinton) http://www.act1.org/

Reading/Math/Engineering Camps (Iowa City) http://www.willowwind.org/summer-program/

History Day Camps (Des Moines) http://www.lhf.org/en/programs__events/day_camps/summer_day_camp_2016/

Zoo Day Camps (Des Moines)  http://www.blankparkzoo.com/en/education/safari_camps/

Camp Invention (Waterloo) http://campinvention.org/about-us/

Chess Camp (Prairie Point Middle School, Cedar Rapids) www.chessiniowa.org/http://www.chessiniowa.org/chesscamp.

Belin Blank Programs and Classes for Students http://www2.education.uiowa.edu/belinblank/students/

Summer Camp for academically talented students http://crdiscoversummercamp.weebly.com/

Day Camps: Learn from Professionals and Artists http://www.summitschools.org/

Iowa State University Summer Programs http://www.opptag.iastate.edu/summer/index.php

Des Moines listings - https://desmoinesparent.com/des-moines-summer-camp-2018/

Pearson Lakes Art Center has arts classes: http://lakesart.org/

Dickinson County Nature Center also great Science camps: http://dickinsoncountyconservationboard.com/nature-center/

Okoboji Sailing Center has sailing lesson and STEM based camps: http://www.okobojisailingcenter.org/

TechKnow (Spencer, IA) has coding/3D printing/CAD classes: https://www.techknow.io/

https://www.212steamlabs.com/summer-camps/ A list of camps

Shenandoah hosts the Wabash Arts Camp July 30-August 3.  contact: careyk@shenandoah.k12.ia.us

6th Grade STATE Math Bee

Six students from the 6th grade qualified for the State Math Bee which was held today at the Central Rivers AEA in Cedar Falls, IA.  Kaiden Glaspie and JD Huffman qualified individually and the following team placed 4th overall in the Eastern Regional to get their invitation: Blake Gates, Ryan Goldenstein, Corbin Naylor and Carson Bantz.  All students will be competing individually and also as a team.  The students did a great job of representing West Elementary as students and as responsible young adults.  
The team of Carson, Blake, Corbin and Ryan finished in 5th place out of the entire state, quite an accomplishment!  Congratulations to all the kids and their hard work they displayed with this challenging competition.

GEOCACHING

www.mapsoftheworld.com

 With the nice weather students have been exploring the world of geocaching.  To sum Geocaching up, it is an outdoor activity that requires you to use a GPS to locate items around the world.  There are 1000's of these little treasures around the state alone.  It was a great opportunity for kids to use technology and learn how a GPS system works throughout the entire planet.  This activity originally required a special purchase of a GPS unit, but all of today's smart phones have a GPS receiver already in them, making this an activity that virtually costs nothing to do.  Science, technology, teamwork, and exercise all come together for an outdoor adventure seeking out those hidden treasures.  Much more information can be found online at www.geocaching.com.

Each Geolocation includes a
special item to look for

Almost...but not quite!

Spring Noetic Math Challenge

April marks the annual Noetic Spring Math Challenge for elementary students.  This test is taken by over 30,000 kids across the country that excel in math.  The problems on the test focus on problem solving, real-life situations, and a variety of math concepts.  The test items are at or mostly above grade level to challenge the thoughts and minds of the students who take the test.  The test is so challenging for students, that if you get 10 out of 20 problems correct it often places you in the top 50% of everyone in the country.  It truly stretches the thinking of all students.  

The over all grade winners included: Taylor, Caleb, Cael, Talan, and Blake.  All the grade level winners had a score of 17 or above.  A special congratulations to Talan for a perfect score!

More information on the program HERE.

1st Graders Program Robots

First graders were recently challenged to challenge to program a mouse to find its way through a maze to some cheese.  The students used their knowledge of direction, programing, and sequencing during this activity, as well as working together as a team.  They started out with an easy program and then challenged each other with harder routes to the cheer   

It wasn't an easy task, as they were given very little direction as to how the mouse worked.  All teams did well and in the end the mouse did find the cheese!