Day 3 at Spring Break Camp

A few pictures from camp on Wednesday!

Volunteers sharing lunch

Press Pool taking a break for an engineering challenge. Can you drop an egg without having it break? Results vary.

Copper Cleanup in Fetch!

Experimenting with different liquids to clean pennies

Perfecting the dance routine

Learning their parts in William Shakespeare's Star Wars.

Day 2 at Spring Break Camp 2014

Another successful day at camp, we were lucky enough to be visited by two local reporters from The News Tribune. They visited our own Press Pool (fourth and fifth graders) to give some pointers about interviewing, taking interesting pictures, and asking follow-up questions.

Press Pool learns from the experts.

Taking a break for recess on a sunny day.

The Electric Company

Dance class

2014 Spring Break Camp!

Today was our first day of Spring Break Camp 2014, and we had a blast! Our press pool is busy interviewing students, teachers, and mentors, and our younger kids are enjoying Fetch!, the Electric Company, Star Wars, and playing games. Here are some pictures from today:

Write@253 is putting on a production of Shakespearean Star Wars with the K-3rd graders. Today was an introduction to Star Wars, Shakespeare, rhyming, and themes.

Working hard on observations of dance class, led by the DASH Center.

Success! Winning the the race with a wind-driven car made only of paper, straws, tape, paperclips, and life savers.

Cutting paper for "Under Pressure," an experiment from Fetch!

Learning some new words from the Electric Company

KBTC Receives Comcast Award

KBTC received a $30,000 award from Comcast's Internet Essentials Program last week, part of a larger grant to the Foundation for Tacoma Students in recognition of Tacoma's successful implementation of Internet Essentials. The award will be used to run three two-week Ready to Learn camps on Tacoma's East side, and fund a suite of iPads to use both at the camps and throughout Tacoma as part of KBTC's Mobile Media Lab.

Check out this article from Tacoma Weekly!

Mayor Marilyn Strickland and Deputy Mayor Victoria Woodards play PBS KIDS games with students from McCarver Elementary School.

Mobile Tech Lab Kicks Off

This Summer, KBTC has partnered with Metro Parks to bring PBS educational games outside. The Ready to Learn Mobile Tech Lab is in Wright Park Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 2:00 - 4:00 pm, June 17 - August 16. Students learn math and literacy skills as they play computer games staring their favorite PBS characters. They get sticker journals to track their adventures, record what they learn, and win prizes. Join us!

Spring Break Camp Ends with Bang

Last week was an exciting time at McCarver Elementary School. Over 50 students participated each day at Spring Break Camp. They learned how to make rockets out of a water bottles, made treasure maps, turned foam tubes into rocking roller coasters, and learned fun new dance moves. Thanks to all the students and families who participated. We had so much fun learning with you!

Check out these photos and read the 2013 Spring Break Camp Newspaper - written by our 4th and 5th grade journalists. Fun note - The Whirlipede and Skiffer made the paper! See page 6.

Creativity Continues at Camp

How do we describe what it's like at Spring Break Camp? Two words - creative energy! We found this note on the floor last night, after all the campers had gone home.

We suspect it was written by a 4th or 5th grader. Their special role at camp is to be camp reporters. They're interviewing younger students, writing articles, taking pictures, and publishing a camp newspaper that will be distributed on Friday. Wonder if the Monster, Whirlipede, and Skiffer will make it into the paper? Here's an inside look at what it's like to be a reporter.

2013 Spring Break Camp Kicks Off at McCarver Elementary School

This week is spring break camp for students in the Tacoma Housing Authority McCarver Elementary School Special Housing Program. Each day campers explore five themed workshops including; The Electric Company workshop based on the popular PBS KIDS series, a pirate workshop all about...you guessed it...pirates, computer workshop, dance class, and science activities based on the PBS KIDS shows Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman.  So far we've made treasure maps, learned new dance moves, and created chemical reactions. Take a look at the fun!