Saturday Course Descriptions
Advanced Rocketry Class
Instructor: Ron Pembleton
Grades 6-7-8
Want to propel your rocketry skills to a HIGHER level? It is preferred, but not required, that students have participated in previous Summer Odyssey Rocketry classes or similar activities in the past. Highlights will include more detailed physics investigations (emphasis will be on rocket propulsion and aerodynamics), which will conclude with building more advanced rockets. At the conclusion of the rocketry class, an optional field trip to Moffett Field (South Bay) will be held where students will launch rockets with other rocketteers from the Bay Area. This will be a great learning and networking opportunity for these budding scientists and engineers.
Animal Safari Class
Instructor: T.C. Moore
Grades 6-7-8
Ever wanted to go on a Safari? Take an Art Safari, where we will explore animals, their forms and movement. You will develop your understanding of how to draw and model animals with an emphasis on coat, colours and movement. Highlights will include constructing a phenakistiscope (http://youtu.be/z8rB9eZ9TKA), and a thaumatrope (http://youtu.be/yD0ovANHdqQ), to see your favorite animals move whenever you wish. This is a great opportunity for you to express your love for animals, as well as, increase your understanding of what makes them so fascinating.
Written and Illustrated by...
Instructor: Nancy Wilson
Grades 4-5-6
Do you dream of writing a book someday? Interested in using your drawing skills to illustrate your ideas? If so, you should know that your someday has just arrived! Join our publishing company and learn how to tap into both sides of your brain. Then use your new-found creative power to not only write but also illustrate an original book in a very short period of time. No pressure -- just lots of fun and excitement (and lots of writing and illustrating)!
The Art of Wonder Through the Magnifying Glass
Instructor: Beth Kraft
Grades 4-5
Ready for a journey into the world of wonder and boundless imagination? Want to take a closer look into familiar objects that surround us and uncover mysteries that you’ve not seen before? In this class, we will infuse art, science, and writing. Through close observation, questioning, and artistic expression students will develop higher order thinking skills, increase creativity, and build a deeper connection and empathy with the natural world. Using several different magnifying tools, we will increase the scale of objects and thus, increase the wonder. Students will use a variety of art mediums to creatively display the magic they discover. The artist, writer, thinker, and poet will emerge as students learn to express themselves through analogy, metaphor, and similes.
Tune Up!
Instructor: Libby Silvestri
Grades 4-5-6
Do song lyrics get stuck in your head? Do you find yourself humming and singing to yourself... and to others? Do you tap your toe or create a momentary percussion instrument out of random items? Do melodies and song lyrics seem like they are telling your story? Do you use music to express yourself more easily? Have you thought of writing a song but don’t know quite how to get started?
This workshop will focus on the basic structure of a song, teach you how to identify song genres and themes, explore what makes a song stick in your head, and what makes a song last over decades - even centuries!
While checking out terrific songs (both old and new) each session, we will cover songs to make you smile, to make you wonder, to maybe even make you cry, we will also look at jingles that make you want to go catch a meal at a fast food joint or buy a life insurance plan.
We will be learning songs, writing songs and performing them as well. We will also take a day to create a visual illustration of the lyrics to one of your favorite songs. Come get a good tune up to last you a lifetime and increase your musical and lyrical pleasure, appreciation and talents.
