Saturday
SATURDAY ENRICHMENT PROGRAM WINTER 2012!
You may register for Winter 2012 on December 5, 2011 at 8 am: Apply Here!
January 14th’s 1:30 and 2:30 classes were cancelled due to weather. The make-up session for the How to Count classes, Exploring Essays, and Geometry of Reflection will be Saturday, March 24.
Math and Writing Classes
Important Dates
DECEMBER 5: REGISTRATION BEGINS
JANUARY 14: CLASSES BEGIN
(NO CLASS SATURDAY FEBRUARY 18)
MARCH 17: LAST DAY OF CLASSES
The Robinson Center will be offering both mathematics and writing courses for young students in January. These classes are intended to provide intellectually ambitious students with challenge, inspiration, and fun, in a collaborative, supportive learning environment. The math classes are not intended to move students ahead in the standard curriculum but rather to explore areas of math not usually covered in the K12 classroom. Our writing classes focus on expanding students’ writing and editing skills but also on creative expression across genres.
Winter Quarter 2012 we are offering:
Grades K-1 and Parents
Nurturing the Math Instinct: A Parent-Child Adventure in Mathematics (Grades K-1 and Parents)
We are all born with the capacity to love mathematics. This class explores how to cultivate a child’s innate interest in mathematics by creating a culture of mathematics at home. Through puzzles and games that capture the quality of play in math, we’ll learn how to think creatively, support each other, and keep the spark of joy alive and well in our mathematical lives.
This class is designed to engage both kids and parents. Each child will register and attend with one parent, and the classes will be divided between discussions with the parents about how to encourage their child’s interest in mathematics, and time spent learning new games and puzzles that can be played at home.
Instructor: Katherine Cook
Time: 12:30-1:20 pm
Grades 2-3
Mathematical Strategy (Grades 2-3)
It’s fun to play, but more fun, as the saying goes, to win. But it’s fun to lose too, if you can use losing to figure out what the best strategy for a game should be. Win or lose, cracking the key to how a game works is the most fun of all.
Our subjects will range through games of chance (which gave rise to the modern study of probability) and games of skill. All of these games are mathematically relevant, and will serve as an opportunity to hone our logical precision, to begin building an intuitive understanding of probability and randomness, and to sniff out patterns wherever they lurk.
Prerequisites: A love of games is required.
Instructor: Daniel Finkel
Time: 12:30-1:20 pm
Grades 4-5
How to Count Your Way Out of Trouble: A Course Exploring the Art of Combinatorics (Grades 4-5)
In this course, we will take an exhilarating tour of the mathematical field of combinatorics, picking up some of the classic and more beautiful techniques used in all of math on the way. We’ll learn what pigeons have to do with anything, how getting dressed can be a game, and why knowing all your options will help you in a pinch. Counting is one of the most powerful techniques we have at our disposal, and in this class we’ll savor some of the most delicious ideas in mathematics–the Fibonacci numbers and Pascal’s triangle, for example–that arise as a result of just simple counting.
Times: Section A: Girls Only, 1:30-2:20 pm; Section B: 2:30-3:20 pm
Instructor: Katherine Cook
Imagination Lab for Creative Writers (Grades 4-5)
This class is for all writers who want to exercise their imaginations and experiment with words together. It will give you inspiration for getting started, tools for turning your best ideas into poems and stories, and help polishing your favorite pieces of writing. Some of our time will be spent writing independently, but we’ll also read, think, and talk with each other every step of the way. We’ll begin by using specific, concrete language to describe everything from people, places, and things to feelings and dreams, and then we’ll go wherever our imaginations take us.
Time: 12:30-1:20 pm
Instructor: Chelsea Jennings
Grades 6-8
Exploring with Essays (Grades 6-8)
In this class, you’ll use essays to explore ideas, topics, memories, and beliefs that are important to you. We’ll practice writing several different types of essays, including personal essays, narrative essays, persuasive essays, and book or movie reviews, and then we’ll work on revising your favorite one or two pieces of writing so they express your thoughts clearly and creatively. Along the way, we’ll think about how to use vivid words to make your writing come alive, how to best organize your thoughts, and how to write strong beginnings and endings so readers will want to keep reading (and be glad they did). You’ll leave the class with tools you can apply to your schoolwork as well as your own writing projects.
Time: 1:30 – 3:20 pm (100 minute class)
Instructor: Chelsea Jennings
Grades 8-10
The Geometry of Reflections (Grades 8-10)
Imagine a room made entirely of mirrors. A light bulb in the room turns on, and yet does not illuminate the entire room. How is this possible?
Thus begins our investigation of the geometry of reflections, a study that brings together such diverse topics as star polygons, billiard problems, conic sections, infinity theory, chaos theory and dynamics, modular arithmetic and number theory. This class will be a fun, problem-based excursion into this fascinating, rarely-seen subject.
Prerequisites: Some familiarity with algebra and geometry is recommended.
Time: 1:30 – 3:20 pm (100 minute class)
Instructor: Dan Finkel
Learn more about the classes, instructors, and tuition here. Registration for Winter 2012 will open on December 5, 2011 at 8 am. You will find the link to the online application here on that day.
Class are subject to cancellation due to low enrollment. A complete refund will be made if the class is canceled by the Robinson Center.
Limited financial assistance is now available for Saturday classes. Students who receive Free or Reduced Lunch in their school district may receive reduced tuition. Please find more information on the federal income eligibility guidelines for free and reduced price lunch here.
Cancelled Real Worlds / Imaginary Worlds (Grades 4-5)
In this class, we’ll learn how to take descriptions of small things to bring whole worlds to life. We’ll play games and read stories and poems that spark our imagination and sharpen our writing skills.
Time: 2:30-3:20 pm
Instructor: Talia Shalev
Cancelled The Power of Description (Grades 6-8)
In this class, you’ll develop your powers of description by using tools you already have: your words, your senses, and your imagination. To that end, we’ll investigate the world around us, experiment with different writing forms, and get inspired by reading. At the end of nine-weeks, you’ll have a portfolio of creative writing that you can add to, revise, and share – if you choose – with family and friends.
Time: 12:30 – 2:20 pm (100 minute class)
Instructor: Talia Shalev