Fall Learning Lab - Gifted Resource Council

Fall 2009 Learning Lab Classes

Download and print the Learning Lab application (PDF)
Download the Fall Learning Lab Brochure
Note: PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader and Plug-In for viewing and printing)

9:30 - 11:00

Double-digit Delights: Fun in the 10s - Instructor: Kathie Eckelkamp: Ages: 3-4
What’s more than nine and less than 21? The numbers we will name, compare, explore and ponder – 10-20! Using logical thinking and reasoning skills, we’ll have fun while we understand the meaning of the numbers (one ten and three ones make 13), create sets of numbers, and find ways to use numbers every day. Take our scavenger hunt to find your favorite numbers in this sequence. We’ll even take the numbers to Alaska and see how they apply! Math, science, art, reading, social studies, and drama activities. Join us on our number journey!
The Doctor’s In ... Dr. Seuss Of Course! - Instructor: Betty Arendes: Ages: 4-5
Ten apples and cats with hats, feet feet feet and more! Vamoose to the world of Dr. Seuss! Make a Dr. Seuss word family hat and a yummy-for-your-tummy "Cat in the Hat" snack. "With Ten Apples Up On Top," we'll graph apple colors, hunt for the "star house" inside an apple, and print with apples. Trace your feet and make them into clowns, then have a shoe race after reading "The Foot Book." It’s math, reading, language, science, art and FUN when Dr. Seuss is on the loose with us and several of his books!
Buggy about Bugs? - Instructor: Kristina White: Ages: 5-6
Does the creepy crawly turn you into an inquisitive investigator? Where do you find crickets and praying mantis? What do beetles and worms eat? Discover the characteristics and benefits to humans of bugs, snails, worms, grasshoppers, and more! How do they use their senses? Can you identify their body parts? We’ll make edible bugs and create models. Create your very own creepy crawly: Decide what it looks like, what it eats, how it moves, and everything else about it, based on the scientific facts we uncover about these ground-level creatures!
Weather – A Flurry of Activity - Instructor: Abby Lombardo: Grades: K-1
Witness the wild, wonderful world of weather! Watch the entire water cycle – evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection – as it happens in a bag! How old is the water in your sink? Make a tornado in a bottle and catch a cloud in a jar. Is it cumulus, stratus or cirrus? Is there a relationship between clouds and temperature? Build an anemometer and find out how it’s related to roosters on barns. How can an anemometer help you set up a wind farm? Weather is where it’s at!
Everything "Elephant" Is Extravagant! - Instructor: Erin Skelly: Grades: 1-2
Elephant ears are huge, but when do they use sounds to communicate that even humans cannot hear? Which elephants are endangered? Find out how much bigger an elephant tooth is than yours. Where are elephant toes? Explore physical characteristics characteristics, elephant communities and habitats, and dangers to these magnificent animals in the wild. Check out artwork by elephants, and examine the relationship between elephants and their trainer. We’ll go beyond Babar as we play elephant games and check out elephant foods. We’re all about elephants!
American Girls: 1764 – 1854 - Instructor: Phyllis Richter: Grades: 1-2
Hop on the wagon of learning and fun as we discover what life was like for Kaya, a Native American girl in 1764, Josephina, a Hispanic girl living in 1824 New Mexico, and Kirsten, a pioneer girl in Minnesota in 1854. Learn about the culture and lives of these girls by doing the things they did. Embroidering a hankie with Kirsten, making a beaded choker with Kaya, and planning a feast day with Josephina are just a few of the things we’ll do as we explore the lives and times of these American Girls. (This class is based on Mattel’s American Girl dolls and related materials.)
Checkmate! - Instructor: Stephen E. Randoll: Grades: 1-4
A formal introduction to chess for the novice or the amateur player. Learn how the pieces move and how to record your games, as well as how the pieces work together to produce checkmate. Learn basic principles of the game. More advanced students will be accommodated within the classroom.
Great Poems or Great Fun? Or Both? - Instructor: Megan Mills: Grades: 2-3
Giggled and guffawed at goofy poems? Great! We’ll play with the poetry of favorites like Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky and others, and find out why silly imagery makes us laugh. What themes do our favorite authors use to inspire us? Craft your own inventive verse, create a mobile, and ‘publish’ your own book. It’s laugh-out-loud fun in rhyme!
More Than Your Typical Stick Puppet! - Instructor: Liz Lombardo: Grades: 3-4
Take puppetry way beyond the sticks, socks and gloves that we know so well! Did you know that Vietnamese puppets perform in water? How many people does it take to make one Japanese Bunraku rod puppet move? What makes Punch – of England’s Punch and Judy fame – stand out as a puppet? What might be your favorite type of puppetry? Shadow puppetry from China? Marionettes from Italy? Explore several of these cultural styles and try your "hand" at making your very own puppets!
Codes, Ciphers and Espionage of World War II - Instructor: Katy Kriegshauser: Grades: 3-4
Secret codes, complex ciphers, special machinery, dangerous encounters with the enemy----this was the daring life of a World War II spy. What types of people became spies? Were Tokyo Rose and other women radio broadcasters announcing propaganda, treasonous messages or kindly reminders of American home life? Why were Navajo code talkers successful and why couldn’t the Japanese break their code? Who were some of the well-known American and German spies? Join us as we explore how World War II spies fought the war behind closed doors and changed our lives forever right under our noses!
Geometry in the Third Dimension - Instructor: Denice Smith: Grades: 4-5
Do your compass and straight edge leave you feeling flat? Despairing of drawing circles, triangles and squares? Graduate from 2-D to 3-D with origami! Use paper-folding techniques to create polyhedrons of geometric proportions. How is a truncated pyramid like a dead volcano? How many faces can go on a polyhedron? Make shapes, find patterns and take home a polyhedron every week. Some call it solid geometry but we call it fun with figures!
The Lightning Thief and Assorted Olympians - Instructor: Art Koenig: Grades: 4-5
Move over, Harry, Ron and Hermione. Join the next great adventure of epic proportions, as Percy Jackson discovers his parentage (the Greek god Poseidon), battles Kronos and the Titans, and tries to live a semi-normal teenage life with not-so-normal friends Annabeth (daughter of Athena) and Grover. Can a kid with ADHD and dyslexia make a mark in the world of Minotaurs, Medusa and Mt. Olympus, which is now located on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building? Explore Rick Riordan’s stories of Percy Jackson and the denizens of Camp Half-Blood. Uncover the mythological connections to yet another big three: Homer, Virgil and Ovid. Greek, Latin, trivia and connections to works both ancient and modern. Students should have read at least two books of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
Shape It, Mold It, Make It – From Image and Idea to 3-D Art - Instructor: Chandria Howard: Grades: 4-5
Wrap your hands around several art forms to design, mold, shape and finally display three-dimensional works of art! With an emphasis on design and craftsmanship, we’ll transfer your original drawings to metal foil sheets and create an embossed relief impression of your design. Then we’ll focus on color, texture and non-loom weaving techniques using materials such as tree twigs, raffia, yarn, jute or string. Finally, find your inspiration for a sculpted piece while combining creative problem solving with process. Find the craftsperson in you as we explore three-dimensional craft forms using fibers, metal and clay!
Chemistry for Kicks - Instructor: Laura McDonald: Grades: 5-6
Every day your world is shaped by chemical reactions. If you think slime is fun, you can thank the wonders of polymer chemistry. Lightning bugs glow because of chemical luminescence. You owe the food you eat to the chemical harvesting of the energy of the sun. We will explore this chemistry and more too. We will build an atom; study natural acid/base reactions; play chemical detective; make things glow and investigate much more, from crystals to the enzymatic activity of the potato.
Math Contest Extravaganza! - Instructor: Doug Hunt: Grades: 5-6
Are you a math junkie? Do you have what it takes to compete? Hone your math and problem-solving skills to razor-edge sharpness for top math competitions such as Mathcounts and Math Olympiads. View this class as weight training for your brain! Strengthen your math intuition. Flex your problem-solving muscles. Tackle topics such as number sense, algebra, number theory, sequences and series, combinatorics and probability, and geometry. Our emphasis is on the fundamental principles necessary for the efficient problem solving needed for success in math competitions.
Creative Writing - Instructor: Carol Haukap: Grades: 5-8
How can you make your story really good? What are the qualities of great pieces of literature? Learn to write with depth and strength. Explore aspects of the writing process in open-ended ways and then harvest, refine, and revise your raw material. View the best in literature and be inspired, as we analyze the works of recent award-winning authors such as Suzanne Collins "Hunger Games", Sherman Alexie "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian", and Ishmael Beah "Along Way Gone" along with classical works by authors such as Jack London, Charles Dickens and Harper Lee. Discover your own writer’s voice and follow in the footsteps of the greats!
NXT Generation Robotics - Instructor: Lisa Hummel: Grades: 6-8
NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers have put robots in the limelight through their exploration of Mars; lasting long beyond their design lifetime, they’ve carried out geological investigations under harsh environmental conditions for almost four years. Learn what it takes to make robots work as we design and build our own rovers using the LEGO Mindstorms NXT robotics kit, then program our rovers to navigate, respond to their environment, and pick up objects! Experienced students can be accommodated within the structure of the class.
Off Campus Class Moving & Shaking – An Introduction to Engineering - Instructors: Ruth Okamoto & Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert: Grades: 6-8
Are engineers movers and shakers? Work alongside real professors in their scientific laboratories and learn basic engineering principles: everything from water treatment to earthquake protection to neural tissue engineering! Class meets each week on the campus of Washington University in Jolley Hall. (Class size limited to 10, with priority registration for girls before September 25, 2009.)

Two Scholarships Available for Moving & Shaking – An Introduction to Engineering. Again this fall: Two girls (grades 6-8) can win a full scholarship for this class. Write a short essay (one page or less) explaining why you would be interested in learning more about engineering and why you should receive a scholarship.
Essay deadline: September 25, 2009; send it to the GRC office with your completed Learning Lab Registration.

11:10 - 12:40

The Doctor’s In ... Dr. Seuss Of Course! - Instructor: Betty Arendes: Ages: 3-4
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
Double-digit Delights: Fun in the 10s - Instructor: Kathie Eckelkamp: Ages: 4-5
Special Fee: $5
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
Buggy about Bugs? - Instructor: Kristina White: Grades: K-1
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
Everything "Elephant" Is Extravagant! - Instructor: Erin Skelly: Grades: K-1
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
Weather – A Flurry of Activity - Instructor: Abby Lombardo: Grades: 1-2
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
Get Your Hands on Science - Instructors: Dennis & Barbara Grzenczyk: Grades: 1-2
Roll up your sleeves and prepare to wade into some hands-on science fun. Perform experiments designed to demonstrate and explain basic scientific principles. Launch balloons across the room as we learn about Mr. Newton’s Third Law of Motion and how it helps us understand how rockets fly into outer space. Use a prism to make a rainbow by separating the colors of the rainbow out of white light and then mix colored goop and glue to create new colors of your own. Meet Eggbert, our science mascot, who will brave flames, heat, and cold to help us understand the nature of gases and the impact of energy on matter. Bring your own scientific questions you’d like to try to answer. And don’t forget to dress for mess because in this class, science isn’t always neat and tidy.
More Than Your Typical Stick Puppet! - Instructors: Liz Lombardo: Grades: 2-3
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
American Girls: 1764 – 1854 - Instructor: Phyllis Richter: Grades: 3-4
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
Geometry in the Third Dimension - Instructor: Denice Smith: Grades: 3-4
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
Chemistry for Kicks - Instructor: Laura McDonald: Grades: 3-4
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
How to Win Games without Losing Friends - Instructor: Carol Haukap: Grades: 3-5
Learn to walk the fine line between competition and cooperation, graceful winning without sore losing while playing fun, yet challenging games. Create strategies for playing DaVinci’s Challenge, Mastermind, Pente and Mille Bourne and traditional card games, among others. Develop confidence in your abilities while improving your sportsmanship skills. This class will give you proof that "It's not whether you win or lose; it's how you play the game!"
Great Poems or Great Fun? Or Both? - Instructor: Megan Mills: Grades: 4-5
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
NXT Generation Robotics - Instructor: Lisa Hummel: Grades: 4-5
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
Codes, Ciphers and Espionage of World War II - Instructor: Katy Kriegshauser: Grades: 5-6
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
Checkmate! - Instructor: Stephen E. Randoll: Grades: 5-8
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
The Lightning Thief and Assorted Olympians - Instructor: Art Koenig: Grades: 6-8
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
Shape It, Mold It, Make It – From Image and Idea to 3-D Art - Instructor: Chandria Howard: Grades: 6-8
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
Math Contest Extravaganza! - Instructor: Doug Hunt: Grades: 7-8
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description
Off Campus Class Moving & Shaking – An Introduction to Engineering - Instructors: Ruth Okamoto & Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert: Grades: 6-8
See 9:30 - 11:00 for description

Two Scholarships Available for Moving & Shaking – An Introduction to Engineering. Again this fall: Two girls (grades 6-8) can win a full scholarship for this class. Write a short essay (one page or less) explaining why you would be interested in learning more about engineering and why you should receive a scholarship.
Essay deadline: September 25, 2009; send it to the GRC office with your completed Learning Lab Registration.

For more information regarding any of these events, please call 314-962-5920 or e-mail us at: info@giftedresourcecouncil.org.