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College for Kids Winter 2012

Register online now!

Registration deadline is Friday, January 13.

Saturday mornings, Jan. 21 - Feb. 25, 9am-12pm

James Madison University, Memorial Hall, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Give your child a chance to expand their horizons! College for Kids is an enrichment program for middle school children in grades 5-8. Children will work with James Madison University faculty and graduate students, as well as experts from the community and surrounding area, to try new things, explore and discover talents they never knew they had!

Course Options for Winter 2012:

Around the World in 18 Hours - Digital Storytelling - Lego Robotics

Olympic Fencing - Steel Drums

Classes are small, and registration is required. Questions? Please call (540) 568-4253.

Registration is $125 per child and covers all six Saturdays.

Please register each child separately. Placement into individual courses will be done on a first-come, first-serve basis; please be sure to indicate first, second, and third choices for each child, as some programs may fill up quickly.

Course descriptions for Winter 2012:

Around the World in 18 Hours

Children will learn and use Esperanto (the international language) to make new friends with other language learners around the world and to study and report on countries from each continent. By the end of the course, children will have a digital portfolio including a multimedia autobiography, information about their new friends and the places they studied and they will have collected a series of badges showing their accomplishments.

Digital Storytelling

Do you have a personal story to share? Put your ideas on paper, bring relevant photos and other digital files, and get ready for fun! In this course we will learn scriptwriting, digital photography, audio recording, and the software to pull it all together. The final product will be one or more, 3 to 5 minute digital stories appropriate for sharing on the internet or DVD. Remember, stories should be meaningful to you, personally. 

Lego Robotics

Learn to design, build, and program Lego NXT Robots. You'll learn how the physics of torque, torsion and stress affect robot performance. Learn how to program all the sensors and motors, software loops and switches, and parallel program execution.  The class will end with a mini-competition based on a FIRST Lego League Challenge.

Olympic Fencing

Come learn the basics of Olympic-style sport fencing from JMU Fencing Club advisor, Will Brown. This class will cover the rich history of the sport; teach the current rules and terminology; and provide training in the fundamental equipment usage and physical techniques. Develop your mind, body, reflexes and discipline in a fun and exciting activity that could become a lifelong hobby. At the end of the course, there will be a tournament to determine the best new swashbuckler. 

Steel Drums

Through direct experience playing steel drums and hand percussion, learn foundational music skills such as: melody and scales, harmony and chords, rhythm, counting, timing, fitting into the various roles in an ensemble, and performance practice. Also learn: the history of the steel drum, how it grew out of the culture of the West Indies, Trinidad in particular; the construction, building and tuning processes used in creating the instruments. Some of the music learned will include traditional melodies of the Islands, well-known folk and children's songs of North America, and other surprises. 

College for Kids is sponsored by the James Madison University Office of Outreach & Engagement in partnership with Harrisonburg, Rockingham, and Page Public Schools.