Activate offers full-day camps for incoming 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Each week has a different focus, which we call the workshop. 2024’s workshops were Graphic Design, Photography, Animation, Music Production, Printmaking, and Engineering. In addition to engaging workshops, campers also swim three times a week, have lots of indoor free time, and visit local parks. There is also an optional 45 minutes of literacy instruction in the morning.

Week One: 6/24/24 - 6/28/24

Cost: $400 or $450

Workshop: Graphic Design

Kids will work through a design process to create logos and other images using paper/pencil and digital tools. They will learn about the heat transfer vinyl process and print one of their images on a t-shirt. Other images will be printed on high-quality paper. Here are some projects from last year.

Literacy: Word Studies, Vowels & Consonants, Phonemes & Graphemes

The campers will study morphology Monday through Wednesday.

On Thursday, there will be a general introduction on the basics of phonology (the sounds in a language), and the minimal unit of phonology: the phoneme. Phonemes can be categorized in many ways. One way that we’ll categorize them is by vowels and consonants. Campers will study what makes a vowel a vowel and what makes a consonant a consonant. They’ll also get some exposure to IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), the symbols that are seen in dictionaries that indicate how to pronounce words.

On Friday, they’ll study graphemes and how they are different from letters. They’ll learn about digraphs (two letters that spell one phoneme, like <ea> and <sh>) and trigraphs (three letters that spell one phoneme like <igh> and <tch>.)

Week Two: 7/8/24 - 7/12/24

Cost: $400 or $450

Workshop: Photography

Campers will learn about digital photography with a focus on composition. They’ll learn to edit photos using the Pixelmator app. They’ll also create collages comprised of photos and other media. At the end of the week, campers will go home with several high-quality prints, one of which will be framed in a wood frame that they hand-oiled. Here are some photos from last summer.

Literacy: Word Studies, Content Words & Function Words

The campers will study morphology Monday through Wednesday.

On Thursday and Friday, the campers will study the subject of content (lexical) and function words. Content words are words that convey lots of meaning, like ‘happy’ and ‘book.’ Function words serve more of a grammatical purpose, such as ‘the’ and ‘of.’ Campers will learn about the differences between these two types of words, and they will learn about related spelling rules. For instance, content words always have at least three letters.

Week Three: 7/15/24 - 7/19/24

Cost: $400 or $450

Workshop: Animation

Campers will plan and shoot stop motion videos using the Stop Motion Studio App. Then they will learn about post-production and add titles, filters, sound effects, music, and voice-overs. At the end of the week, we’ll post their videos on our Youtube channel. Here are some animations from last year.

Literacy: Word Studies, Stress, and The Schwa

The campers will study morphology Monday through Wednesday.

On Thursday and Friday, the campers will learn about the schwa. The schwa is the most common phoneme (sound) in English. It’s the first sound in ‘ago.’ If you listen carefully, you’ll also hear it in ‘Activate,’  ‘vinyl,’ ‘campus,’ ‘solid,’ ‘the,’ ‘mountain,’ and ‘famous.’ To understand the schwa, one must understand word stress and syllable stress. Children will learn about the connection between the schwa, stress, and spelling.

Week Four: 7/22/24 - 7/26/24

Cost: $400 or $450

Workshop: Music Production

The campers will learn about electronic music composition using the Garage Band App. They’ll start with drums, then chords, and then a melody, effects, and more. They also learn how to use hardware synthesizers and drum machines in Activate’s Sound Space, and they’ll have some time for improvisational jams. At the end of the week, we’ll send parents a link to the camper’s music.

Literacy: Word Studies, The Purposes of Final <e>, and The Final <e> Suffix Rule

The campers will study morphology Monday through Wednesday.

On Thursday we’ll study final silent <e>. Most elementary-age kids know that a final <e> can make a vowel long, like in the word ‘take.’ However, in the words ‘love,’ ‘loose,’ and ‘blue,’ the final <e> serves other purposes.

On Friday, we’ll study the first of the three main rules to consider when adding a suffix to a word (technically a base or a stem). It involves replacing the final silent <e>.

like/ + ing → liking

Week Five: 7/29/24 - 8/2/24

Cost: $400 or $450

Workshop: Printmaking

We are bringing back our popular printmaking camp! Campers will use a variety of techniques to create prints, including using professional-grade lino blocks, inks, and carving tools. At the end of the week, campers will go home with several high-quality prints. Here are some prints from a previous summer.

Literacy: Word Studies, The <y> to <i> Suffix Rule, and The Doubling Suffix Rule

The campers will study morphology Monday through Wednesday.

On Thursday, campers will study the second suffixing rule, which involves toggling <y> to <i> when adding a suffix.

cry/(i) + ed → cried

On Friday, campers will study the third suffixing rule, which involves doubling final consonants when adding a vowel suffix.

swim(m) + ing → swimming

Week 6: 8/5/24 - 8/9/24

Cost: $400 or $450

Workshop: Engineering

Children will imagine, plan, create, test, improve, and share a variety of machines. Early in the week, the focus will be on non-motorized machines, like catapults and propeller cars. Later in the week, they will explore circuits and make motorized cars and other electronics.

Literacy: Word Studies, Homophones, and Homographs

The campers will study morphology Monday through Wednesday.

On Thursday and Friday, campers will study homophones, which are words that sound the same, like ‘there’ and ‘their,’ and they will study homographs, which are words that have the same spelling, like the word ‘bass’ in the following sentences: I caught a bass at the creek. I play bass guitar. They will also learn about the homophone principle, which explains that homophones will be spelled differently if a reasonable alternative spelling exists.