PEP Time!
Question. What do bugs, robotics, chess, and laser cutting all have in common? These are just a few of the things that students are getting to learn about this year during the newly created Patriot Enrichment Period. Starting this year, 3rd through 6th graders go to Patriot Enrichment Period (PEP) during 5th period. This is in the middle of the day and with lunch absorbing part of the period, it doesn’t leave enough time for the core subjects. Mr. Lemburg quoted, “We are using this shortened period to build a foundation for a high abilities group. By using a wide variety of topics, this is giving all of our students the opportunity for enrichment time. It isn’t structured as a usual core class but core subjects can easily be incorporated.” Mrs. Kappel explained, “PEP was created as an enrichment time for kids to further explore areas and ideas that they wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to.”
With 50 students partaking in the Patriot Enrichment Period, staff wanted to ensure that every student had the opportunity to learn about the topics they were interested in. This meant that the eight involved staff members had to coordinate what topics to teach, who will teach them, how many students they have, how long to make each activity, and how to organize 50 students going in different directions. So they started the year off by sending out a survey to all of those students and asked them to check the topics they would be interested in learning about. This list included dinosaurs, babysitting, origami, bugs, cooking, woodworking, sewing, puzzles, rubik’s cube, chess, crafts, GarageBand, Go Pro videoing, cake decorating, rocketry, babysitting, sports trivia, paper mache, card games, and screen printing. From this list, groups were formed and PEP began a couple days into the school year.
So far the students of 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades have been able to become entomologists by searching, pinning, and researching bugs with Mrs. Kappel. Mrs. Cropp has coached students on creating their own book. They left her room with their own children’s alphabet book that they individually wrote and illustrated for the younger students to read. Those students that wanted to explore their creative side spent time with Mrs. Becker and Miss Mathis to produce crafts that they got to take home. Mrs. Sayers challenged her students to several different card games. They left her room at the end of the two weeks with their very own deck of cards to play at home with their family. Some have been able to work with Mr. Faltys and Mr. Bailey in the Industrial Tech room with the laser cutter. “Woodworking has been my favorite so far because I really like being able to learn how to work with tools,” Teagan Baumert said. Jase Indra also loved using the laser cutter.
If you were to walk into a classroom during PEP this week, you will find a couple unfamiliar faces. This week Mrs. Becker and Miss Mathis are hosting Colfax County 4-H extension educators, Julie Kreikemeier and Scott Reiner. They are teaching some of the students how to create, program, and maneuver their own robot. Mr. Lemburg is joining in to teach a group how to master the game of chess. In Mr. Becker’s room they are bringing PowerPoint alive on the laptops by exploring how to make a digital flipbook. Down in IT, Mr. Faltys and Mr. Bailey are introducing how to screen print and print with the 3D printer.
The feedback from the students has been overwhelmingly positive. Parents are sharing that PEP is often their child’s favorite part of the day. This time has seemed to reenergize the kids and it has also served as a motivator to fulfill their commitments in the regular classes so they don’t have to miss out on PEP time.
“As the year goes on, we predict that we will be altering and enhancing the outcome of each activity,” Mrs. Kappel stated. “We started with a baseline and we are putting our minds together and attending conferences on how to transform this into enrichment that is applicable to their life and the world around them,” Mr. Lemburg added. This encourages the call for community involvement. Clarkson is filled with professionals and resources for our students to gain knowledge from. Our youth may be able to see what our community members have to offer through instruction, a field trip or hands-on activities. This is the chance to enlighten them with your talents and knowledge. Whether you are 15 years old or 80, we all have talents and experiences to offer. These children are eager to learn from you! Please don’t be afraid to contact Mrs. Sayers, Mrs. Kappel or Mr. Lemburg with your ideas. It is a great day to be a Patriot!
By: Tami Sayers