What's New for Brashear Kids

Now that January is behind us, programs and activities are going strong here at ALEC! Since the new year began, we've been introducing new programs and initiatives that we think will really round out every student's experience here with us. Check out the exciting changes below!

Monday Activities

Venture Outdoors: Becoming one with nature

Ethan poses on his cool

snowshoes

Like last semester, Venture Outdoors will be joining us again on Mondays to help us get outside! Instead of a general taste of the activities Venture Outdoors has to offer, this semester, we will be exploring nature around us with the help of the Parks Conservancy!

Students received nature journals that they use to take notes on nature in their neighborhood. They have explored Grandview Park on snowshoes, walked its trails, and listened for birds - they even saw a red-tailed hawk! Using materials such as animal print and bird identification charts, Brashear Kids will learn to look at their environment through a different lens each week.
We can't wait to see what we will discover next in our backyard!

Cayden and CJ liked walking in their snowshoes,

especially during the snowshoe race!

Personal Projects: Interest Projects driven by Brashear Kids

While the rest of the Brashear Kids are outside, a few of our students will stay at the center to work on Personal Projects. During the first weeks of January, we gave our students the opportunity to submit a Personal Project Proposal. If accepted, the students would work on these projects for the rest of the semester. Working with Miss Christa, they will develop a project plan which they will implement for the next few weeks. Meanwhile, they will expand on their project and develop a presentation to share with the rest of the Brashear Kids and parents to show their results.

Tameara wants to make slime for her project, but 

she first has to research what slime can be made out of

before she makes her own.

In addition to Tameara's idea above, other projects include illustration, nail designing and painting, crocheting booties, and creating a flip book.
We can't wait to see what becomes of these intense projects!

Tuesday Activities

Art: Brashear Coloring Book

Miss Maggie poses as subject for our Brashear Kids as

they attempt to draw her

Shifting from Crocheting, the Brashear Kids will now work on the basics of drawing and illustrating. For the showcase, our resident artists, Miss Maggie and Miss Christa, challenged the Brashear Kids to draw each other making different poses; sometimes they couldn't even look at their paper while they were drawing!

The rest of the semester will be spent drawing different types of subjects, such as people, food, and animals. Eventually, the group will pick the images they want to include in a Brashear Coloring Book. Together, they will outline each image, come up with a cover idea, and bind the book. Just looking at what has been drawn so far, the Brashear Kids Coloring Book should be a hit!

Y-Creator Space: Inventor's Club

Kiyanah and Erin use different supplies to 

come up with a good design for a back scratcher

This semester with Y-Creator Space, the Brashear Kids will have a significant amount of creative freedom. When Miss Julia and Mr. Doug come to the center, they present a problem or a challenge for our inventors to solve. For example, for the showcase, Miss Julia and Mr. Doug had incredibly itchy backs: it was our inventors' job to come up with a design for back scratchers that would solve the problem. Like all inventions, how the back scratcher looked and worked was up to the inventor; we saw a lot of creative ideas!

Moving forward, our Brashear inventors will come up with invention ideas. Specifically, each invention must have three things: a name, a function, and the ability to solve a problem. Combining these three requirements, our Brashear Kids will be inventing cool stuff in no time!

Zechariah works on his Wolverine-inspired

backscratcher

Mr. Malik! 

Last but certainly not least, we have a familiar face rejoining us as a third AmeriCorps member: Mr. Malik! Mr. Malik served as a tutor last year and is now a part time KEYS member with the Brashear Kids until the end of June. Check out his introduction below and get to know him!
http://brashearkids.blogspot.com/2018/02/introduction-hi.html

Stay tuned! 

The Brashear Kids are always doing something awesome, so come by the blog or check out Twitter to get a good look at what we do here. See you next time!