BACKGROUND
Arts Alive is an after-school arts enrichment program that grew out of parents coming together with a shared interest in enhancing the arts at Happy Valley School. This volunteer run program depends on your support.
Each session is 11 weeks and is held on Friday afternoons from 12:50 p.m. - 2:20 p.m. and is for grades 1 - 6 only.
Classes are offered on a fee for service basis and efforts have been made to keep the fees as low as possible. Tuition is due at the time of registration. Tuition includes materials.
SCHOLARSHIPS & FREE TUITION FOR CLASS VOLUNTEERS
Scholarships are available to families in the free and reduced lunch program. Reduced tuition cost is available for one student per family please.
In addition, there will be one tuition-waived spot in selected classrooms available for any parent who commits to serving as an in-class aid (from 12:45-2:45 PM) for the duration of the 11-week course. In addition, you will need to provide pick-up supervision for that class.
PLAYGROUND AND SAFETY GUIDELINES
Our main objective is to create an inspiring and exciting environment where children engage with the arts in a more in-depth way than can be achieved during the school day. To achieve this, the students involved must be committed to learning about art. Please don’t use this program as mere childcare. Additionally, we must be able to provide a safe environment and this requires the full cooperation of every student enrolled in the Arts Alive program. All school rules do apply during the Arts Alive Program. If these rules are not followed, parents will be contacted and participation in the program will be jeopardized.
Fall 2018 CLASSES: Class Descriptions ad Instructor Bios
Lego Computer Animation (Grades 4 - 6)
Camera! Light! Legos! Learn to make a stop-motion movie using LEGO® bricks and mini figures. You'll be the writer, director and producer of your own Lego Short. Make background scenery, storyboards and gain experience using cameras and tripods. Hollywood can't be far away.
About the Instructor: Presented by Learn to Discover their passion is to bring high-quality technology education to students from pre-kindergarten through and beyond Grade 12. These students might be in public schools, private schools and/or home schools. Our main focus areas are STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), design skills, and art, and may be expanded to other areas as demand and market research dictates.
Sports Alive (Grades 1 – 3)
Sports Alive will focus on learning the FUNdamentals of a variety of new sports and old favorites (e.g badmitten, basketball, cricket), while promoting principles of good sportsmanship. Play some new games and practice your athletic skills in a safe and supportive environment.
About the Instructor: Seth Crumrine is a recent Master’s Graduate of the University of Rochester in English, with a focus in Film Preservation (Sports have always been a passion. His thesis examines the role of collection management in the Sports Hall of Fame). As the Head Referee for Excel Soccer from 2008 – 2014, he mentored kids from eleven years old and up on the basics of soccer refereeing and sportsmanship.
Dig it! Garden Club (Grades 1 - 6)
Dig it! kids will transform our school garden into a playful art space. We’ll work with paint, cloth, yarn, bamboo, ceramic, rock & wood to decorate, sew, weave, build and landscape. We’ll make scarecrows, hobbit houses, a bug hotel, pendant flags and nature art. We’ll also plant, harvest, cook (with the solar oven!) and enjoy the spring bounty of this creative living laboratory.
About the Instructor: Deborah Mcarthur has been teaching outdoor and environmental education for over 20 years. She holds a Bachelor degree in Biology, Masters in Environmental Studies and is credentialed in science education. Deborah has coordinated education programs in science centers, museums, and camps and designed curricula, exhibits, and interpretive panels. She is a lifelong homecrafter (cooking, knitting, weaving, sewing, painting, building) and an avid gardener, having taught Life Lab at outdoor science school, camps and at HVS. Her favorite place to teach is outdoors, getting feet muddy with multi-sensory, hands-on and collaborative activities. Mother of two Happy Valley kids, Deborah is excited to cultivate the student’s connection to this important part of their school.
Acrylic Painting (Grades 1 - 6)
Students will work on individual acrylic on canvas projects, learning drawing skills, composition skills and painting techniques. All supplies provided, no previous experience needed.
About the Instructor: Syndi McNett taught mini-courses from 1985 - 2007 at HVS and has been involved in Arts Alive! since its inception. She is a working artist and also teaches acrylic painting at Branciforte Middle School, in her studio, and in various outdoor settings in and around Santa Cruz. Her own work includes reverse glass painting on storefronts and murals.
Yearbook (Grades 5 - 6 Only)
Come be a part of the making of the Happy Valley School Yearbook! Students will be involved in all aspects of creating their own yearbook for the 2017/2018 year. We begin with laying out the pages of the book and creating a template. Then the students will be taking photos of HVS classes and activities. We will upload, edit and place the photos into the yearbook. In addition to layout skills, students will learn typography basics. Students will also design the cover for the book during this Arts Alive course. The students get a feel for producing and completing a project as a team that they feel proud of while creating great memories at HVS!
About the Instructor: Cindy Lepore Hart started the Yearbook course in 2003 and taught it most years until 2014. She has a BA in Psychology and 2 AA degrees in Digital Publishing and Web Media with Certificates in Motion Media, Digital Photography and Web Media. Cindy works as a freelance videographer and photographer in her business, Lepore Hart Design, and is also back at Happy Valley as an instructional aide, a position she held from 2005 to 2012. She is the parent of two Happy Valley graduates who are now in college.
Magic, Puzzles and Performance (Grades 4 - 6)
Amaze your family and friends with the Art of Magic - how do you draw a square with only 3 lines in it? Learn card tricks, close up magic, and how to mystify your audience with ordinary household objects. You will practice performance skills, character voices and comedy to entertain and amuse.
About the Instructor: Stan Grindstaff, MFA, is an international speaker trainer and lifetime credentialed drama teacher retired. Students at Alianza Charter School call him Mr. G - Magic Man for his popular K-8 program of Magic, Storytelling & Drama. He is a local performance coach, storyteller and magician (recently filmed by the hit reality show, First Look). He runs Mr. G's Magic Academy and, among 80 magicians worldwide, is the Santa Cruz licensed presenter of the Discover Magic curriculum for 8-12 year olds—a life-skill course camouflaged as learning magic tricks. See more at: magic4all.guru
Fall 2017 FEES
$200 per student, $100 per student on free and reduced lunch (only one reduced tuition per family, please). Please note that your registration is not considered complete until payment has been made.
$200 per student, $100 per student on free and reduced lunch (only one reduced tuition per family, please). Please note that your registration is not considered complete until payment has been made.
