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Wednesday, Jun. 24, 2009

Enriched vacation: Houston students learn all kinds of things in two-week session

KATHLEEN — Clay Harden, a 10-year-old budding artist, has his own unique take on Grant Wood’s famous “American Gothic” painting.

The stoic farmer and wife standing in front of their modest frame home was updated by Clay and replaced with a stoic Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

This was serious stuff, however, as Clay was taking part in an art class as part of the annual two-week enrichment session at Mossy Creek Middle School. The session wrapped up last week with parents visiting classes to view their children’s efforts and talk with teachers.

Jan Jacobsen, director of gifted education and AP coordinator for Houston County schools, said Thursday about 400 students signed up for the classes this year, slightly lower than the 420 students last year.

The 33 classes covered topics and activities from archery to cheerleading, art to geology and science to chocolate, for example.

Catherine Heller, art teacher at Perry High School, said she gets her “elementary school fix” by teaching art for the two weeks.

“I used to teach art in elementary school,” Heller said. “I like this because the students are fun and they’re excited about learning.”

One aspect increasing the fun factor is the children get to sign up for classes they’re interested in, she said.

“They just dive in and learn more,” she said. “When I taught elementary school art I had students for 45 minutes once a week. Here, it’s an intense two hours for two weeks.”

Clay, the son of Stacey and Tanya Harden of Bonaire, said he’s always had an interest in art and has been drawing and painting since he was in pre-school.

“I signed up for the class because I thought I was good at art and wanted to learn more about how others do it,” Clay said. “I like to read about art, too.”

Students in Heller’s class learned about art history, different techniques and different artists.

“I thought the class was a great opportunity for him to explore what he can do,” said father Stacey.

Classmate Amelia Reilly, 11, daughter of Dawn Stuckey of Warner Robins, said she’s been an artist “ever since I could pick up a pencil.”

She said she enjoys painting landscapes and nature scenes, and especially liked learning more about artist Georgia O’Keeffe.

“I really like doing art and will stay with it,” Amelia said, adding that she plans to join the art club next school year when she goes to Feagin Mill Middle.

Learning through hands-on experience was a big draw for the 32 students in Jennifer Banks’ “Cool and Crazy Science” class.

“I try to make learning fun,” Banks said. “I love to hear them say, ‘Wow, that’s cool!’ when we do experiments.”

One experiment that was a sure crowd-pleaser was creating slime, she said, using water, borax and glue.

“That was our messiest day, but we had fun,” she said with a laugh.

During the regular school year, Banks is an honors teacher at Warner Robins Middle, and she said the younger students at the enrichment session appear to be more inquisitive because they’re less self-conscious.

One enthusiastic student was 11-year-old Pierce Kean, who’ll be in the sixth grade next year at Mossy Creek Middle.

“I liked doing cool stuff like making slime and rockets,” Pierce said, adding that science was his favorite subject.

He was showing his parents how he could easily push a straw through a raw potato, and talked excitedly about how the class made models of cell structures using cake and then got to consume the experiment.

Mother Nora Kean said the classes are part of his education, and the honors student had a lot of fun this year.

Fun was another draw for Suzanne Hardy’s class on chocolate.

“We talked about the history of chocolate, how it’s made, and made our own candy bars,” Hardy said.

Recipes were simple, such as using cream cheese and Oreo cookies to make truffles. “It’s simple, but so good,” she said.

Hardy, a Houston County High graduate, teaches first grade in Nashville, Tenn., during the school year. Teaching is becoming a family tradition as her mother, Rebecca Warren, is an honors language arts teacher at Feagin Mill Middle.

One honors teacher who had a rocking good time this session was Angie Herbel, the FOCUS teacher at Northside Elementary during the regular school year. Her class was titled “Geology Rocks!”

Mixed in with the fun were more serious subjects, such as laboratory safety, learning about the periodic table of elements, fossil history and the difference between minerals and rocks.

“We grew salt crystals, for example, and did what everybody came for — we made a volcano,” Herbel said. “This is my 10th year doing this, and I love my time with them. Kids love science and love to see how nature works. Sometimes they even amaze me and see stuff I miss.”

To contact writer Jake Jacobs call, 923-6199, extension 305.