Summer is a perfect time to enjoy the great outdoors, and PHMS Discovery provides children with a structured, safe, and fun way to take on new challenges. Using the PHMS campus as their home base, these programs take advantage of the many resources in our local community, and classes are led by experienced professionals who make safety their number one priority.

Yoga

The Yoga program offers more than just poses: It blends traditional yoga and its benefits with new theories of multiple learning styles in a comprehensive, imaginative and playful approach to education. This Yoga program will present more than 20 carefully selected poses paired with special activities that stimulate children’s verbal, spatial and artistic skills. The poses are arranged in groups (Four-legged friends, Peace & Quiet, Moving & Grooving, and Shake Like Jelly, among others). This program includes routines to cover a multitude of common situations such as calming down, getting ready for a test or even riding in a car.

 Creative Movement/Drama

The main objective is to provide the student with a feel for music and motion. This will encourage the children to be free and let their natural movements take over. They will experience isolating specific body parts and responding to various styles of music.

Cooking

Students learn about what it takes to get food from the garden to the dinner table as they explore our many garden beds. Students harvest fresh produce and learn how to prepare healthy meals using fresh ingredients. They’ll enjoy the tasty fruits of their labors. Our daily cooking experiences will coordinate with the weekly themes so that during the week devoted to learning about camouflage the children will be making recipes that “hide” foods (such as zucchini bread) as well as recipes that use ingredients that the camouflage experts we are studying would eat (such as chameleon salad). The children are sure to enjoy the preparation as much as the final products.

Art, Ceramics & Other Media

This program is designed to flex the students’ imaginations, introduce them to art styles and techniques from throughout the globe, and get them comfortable using mediums they may or may not be familiar with.  While learning about art from different cultures, they will create artwork in markers, tempera paint, paper, collage (mixed media), and clay.  Students will also learn about the color wheel, geometric shapes, and making work in 2 and 3 dimensions. Students may choose to make pots from clay using two techniques as well as paint pottery plates or mugs or design mosaic tiles (for a per piece fee). The students will explore various media through projects relating to all of our summer themes.

Spanish

An increasing number of people in the world are utilizing Spanish as their first language, including many of our fellow citizens and those in some of our closest neighboring countries. Studies have shown that exposure to a second language prior to age 10 makes it much easier for the child to achieve proficiency. This Spanish program will use games and repetition to increase vocabulary and comprehension.

Music

The music program at Pincushion teaches the child self-expression and creativity through listening, performing, and responding. The curriculum is based on the National Standards for Music Education where the child will sing, play instruments, improvise, compose, read and notate music, and understand music in relation to history, culture, and disciplines outside the arts.

Lego Robotics

During this choice activity (children 6 years and up), the children will learn to build and program robotic creations using LEGO Mindstorms Robotics Invention System. They start by building simple robots using step-by-step guides, then program their innovations using RCX Code, a simple yet powerful programming language. Robotics teaches spacial and deductive skills through following diagrams and construction, and logic and sequencing skills through programming and design.

Cultural Discoveries

Take a week to travel the world! Students in the class take a close look at one country per day, exploring the music, songs, food, games, clothes, art, and language of the people who live there. Each week of this class will also include a field trip featuring a “cultural adventure.”

Description of Other Daily Activities:

Environmental Education

Exciting hands-on experiments await our young scientists! Students ask questions, make hypotheses, and test predictions to build their understanding of basic science concepts. They conduct tests focusing on environmental science and take a closer look at chemistry as they test the behavior of substances. Many of these lessons will occur in the Pincushion Hill Gardens. The mission of these gardens is to renew and sustain the essential connection between people, plants, and the earth by promoting environmental stewardship, the science of gardening, cross-curricular learning, and health and wellness in our school. One component of the environmental lessons will include nature journals.

The garden bustles with changes over the summer, and the children participating in the Summer Program are here to view its every change. The children will keep a daily nature journal, where they will record sights, smells, and thoughts about the garden. At the end of their week or the summer, they will bind their own journal to take home.

Language

Students in this class focus on building the basic skills of reading, writing, critical thinking, and speaking. They read high-interest selections from a range of genres, including short stories, graphic novels, poetry, prose, and classic works of literature. Through hands-on projects, writing activities, and group discussions, they practice comprehension and analysis and come to understand how an author can voice his or her worldview.

Math

PHMS summer math classes focus on the reinforcement of basic mathematical skills, including reasoning, problem solving, and computation. Student activities are designed to build a true understanding of mathematical concepts as opposed to rote memorization of problem solving sequences. Specific course topics will be determined based on the needs and interests of the students who enroll.

Practical Life (Development of Life Skills)

Practical life is the foundation of Montessori education. Practical life works help students gain control in the coordination of their movement, and encourages the students to gain independence and adapt to their society.

The Summer program at PHMS is designed to give children new experiences, allow them to make choices and learn while being active and having fun.