Programming Close-Up: Saturday Drop-Ins

Starting up on Saturdays

Now that after-school is in full swing, our Saturday Drop-in hours have also begun! Aside from our weekday program running Mondays through Thursdays, we also offer "Drop-in" hours on Saturdays from 12-3pm for ALEC students and family members to hang out at the center. Drop-ins are meant to be a change of pace from the normal after-school program in that students can freely work on an activity. Additionally, they get to just hang out, play games, and use Tech once finished with the activity. Most activities are laid back are hands-on and fun to do on a Saturday afternoon.
Check out our plan for past and upcoming Drop-ins below!

I'll give you a hint: A=Z,
B=Y, C=X, and so on.
Good luck! 

Past Drop-Ins

Secret Codes (Sept 30)

Our last Drop-In was all about writing and cracking codes. We learned that if we take a secret message and apply a rule (or key) to it, we will create a message full of confusing words and letters that seem to make no sense. But if you use that same key, you can decode that jumble of words into the secret message again! We used a bunch of different code types to decipher many different messages. We started with simple keys like writing backwards, using numbers instead of the alphabet, and pairing each letter with the letter on the other side of the alphabet (A=Z, B=Y, etc.). Eventually we tried harder codes: a book cipher (we used Dr. Seuess's "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish), a decoder wheel, and pig pen (see below). Although challenging, these codes made writing messages fun and made us think differently about how we write.

The Decoder Wheel and Pig Pen Keys were some
of the hardest codes we cracked.
Try them out yourself!

The book cipher was really unique: the first number is
the page, the second is the line, and the third is the
word in that line.
Impossible if the recipient doesn't have the same book!
 

Upcoming Drop-Ins

ALEC Time Capsule

Since the school year has only just begun, we want to take time to remember how we started the year. Today, we will be documenting things about ourselves through lists, drawings, pictures, hand prints, and letters. We will decorate our very own ALEC time capsule that we will bury and only open at the end of the school year. Questions about our goals for this school year and next summer will make us think about this year as a whole as we take it on. Once we open it in May, we can look back at all that we achieved and the people we used to be!

Cooking: Salsa!

Mr. Neal sure loves to cook, so this won't be our last Saturday cooking session! For the first cooking Drop-in, we'll be throwing together salsa! We'll start with talking about salsa: what typically goes in salsa? What variations can we make? What flavors do we like? Afterwards, we will start to learn basic knife skills as we cut up tomatoes, peppers, onions, and more. Finally, we'll assemble several different salsas and try them out with a bunch of different kinds of dippers. Maybe there will even be enough to take home :)

Adventures in Reading

Similar to last year's Wednesday programming, Miss Laura from the Mt. Washington Public Library will be coming to ALEC every third Saturday of the month for Family Story Time! She will lead story time as well as activities having to do with reading. All ages are welcome so come with your family and read with us!

Halloween Activities

We HAVE to celebrate Halloween some way! Before our Family Fun night on October 30th, we'll celebrate Halloween here during a Saturday Drop-In: from Halloween snacks to masks and games, we'll all be busy getting ready for the holiday. If we're lucky, we'll even be able to decorate the center for the upcoming Family Fun Night. Everything we make here we can show off an Monday! Come by in a fun costume and join us!

As you can see, we have a lot planned for this month!  As you can tell, we love the idea of hands-on, fun activities for our Drop-Ins. The more we can get our kids moving and making something the better. We hope to see you at a Drop-In soon!