SUMMER 2015 Coleman's Camp and Tutoring

(cross-posted with Smells Like Burning Army Men website)

Please read and pass along to anyone you feel might be interested!

Mr. Coleman, 2nd grade teacher at Prairie Elementary, will be offering two valuable learning opportunities during the 2015 Summer. One-on-One Tutoring and my Coleman’s Camp Enrichment Program are both underway. I meet with students at Corinth Library (81st and Mission Road). More detailed information is below:

Tutoring:

I meet with student in Individualized one-hour sessions to maintain present skills during the summer and to prepare for the upcoming school year by addressing current academic and motivational/self-esteem struggles.  Shawnee Mission curriculum and materials are used, along with district and research-based intervention materials, all correlating to content students will see in the upcoming school year.  Frequently we work through the daily (or distributive) work from the first quarter.  This strategy ensures student comprehension, confidence, and skills are bolstered as concepts introduced to the class during the start of the year are already well practiced by the tutored student.  With parent permission, I can also meet with each student's teacher to collect test data, information on strengths and struggles, and learning goals.  Some of the specific skills I can focus on include:

·         Reading (phonics, decoding, comprehension, accuracy, motivation)

·         Math (computation, problem solving, accuracy)

·         Study skills and organization

·         Test preparation (classroom tests, basic skills, state assessments)

·         Writing skills (handwriting, sentence, paragraph and paper writing)

SUMMER 2015 Schedule for One-on-One Tutoring (1 hour sessions):

Thursdays 10:00-3:00
Saturdays 1:00-5:00

Coleman’s Camp Enrichment Program:

Small groups of students meet as a specialized class to study, explore, and interact with their own learning process in highly individualized and personal ways.  The two-hour sessions aim toward mastery of grade-level curriculum taught in Shawnee Mission classrooms but also provide a pervasive environment and cross-pollination of wisdom, art, humor, music, and high quality endeavors.

Coleman’s Camp is an innovative tutoring and enrichment program utilizing a decade of classroom experience at nearly every grade level as well as training in administration, special education, and research-based practices to create a weekly enrichment and support camp for elementary-aged children.

SUMMER 2015 Schedule for Coleman's Camp (2 hour sessions):

            Thursdays 4:00-6:00

            Saturdays 10:00-12:00

More Information:

• http://www4.smsd.org/timcoleman/html32214.htm - Credentials, experience, and other district information
• http://www4.smsd.org/timcoleman/html22172.htm - all about Mr. Coleman

PLEASE E-MAIL for cost and availability.

What Can You Teach in 6 Seconds?

This video was the inspiration for some of our recent Coleman's Camp activities!

Photos of our efforts are on our shutterfy site - https://colemanscamp.shutterfly.com/

Coleman's Camp switches to two meetings a week!

Due to a variety of reasons I am going to combine the three weekly Coleman’s Camp sessions into two, on Thursdays and Saturdays.  Having Coleman’s Camp on Thursday and Saturdays will allow me to provide better activities and will round out the numbers well.  There are no age groupings on either the Thursday or Saturday sessions.  Sometimes the groups will do similar projects or activities while other times they will have different adventures, especially as so much of what we do is heavily influenced by the interests of the kids, things they are currently reading or learning about, social events, imaginative play, and enriching material I pick up along the way.  This will be helpful for me as well with my current living circumstances, beginning classes at Fort Hays, district trainings for new technology, and working to make time with the boys and my wife.  Thank you for keeping me as a part of your children’s lives!

ALSO!

I have posted many more pictures to my Coleman’s Camp Shutterfly page at https://colemanscamp.shutterfly.com/

If you have had a child (or children!) attend Coleman’s Camp please log in and take a look at our learning adventures!

FALL 2014 - Coleman's Camp and One-On-One Tutoring

(cross-posted with Smells Like Burning Army Men website)

Please read and pass along to anyone you feel might be interested!

Mr. Coleman, 2nd grade teacher at Prairie Elementary, will be offering two valuable learning opportunities during the 2014 Fall. One-on-One Tutoring and my Coleman’s Camp Enrichment Program will both begin Monday, August August 11th, and run to the winter break at the end of December. We meet at Corinth Library (81st and Mission Road). More detailed information is below:

One-on-One Tutoring:

I meet with student in Individualized one-hour sessions to maintain present skills during the summer and to prepare for the upcoming school year by addressing current academic and motivational/self-esteem struggles.  Shawnee Mission curriculum and materials are used, along with district and research-based intervention materials, all correlating to content students will see in the upcoming school year.  Frequently we work through the daily (or distributive) work from the first quarter.  This strategy ensures student comprehension, confidence, and skills are bolstered as concepts introduced to the class during the start of the year are already well practiced by the tutored student.  With parent permission, I can also meet with each student's teacher to collect test data, information on strengths and struggles, and learning goals.  Some of the specific skills I can focus on include:

·         Reading (phonics, decoding, comprehension, accuracy, motivation)

·         Math (computation, problem solving, accuracy)

·         Study skills and organization

·         Test preparation (classroom tests, basic skills, state assessments)

·         Writing skills (handwriting, sentence, paragraph and paper writing)

FALL 2014 Schedule for One-on-One Tutoring (1 hour sessions):

Saturdays 1:00-3:00

Coleman’s Camp Enrichment Program:

Small groups of students meet as a specialized class to study, explore, and interact with their own learning process in highly individualized and personal ways.  The two-hour sessions aim toward mastery of grade-level curriculum taught in Shawnee Mission classrooms but also provide a pervasive environment and cross-pollination of wisdom, art, humor, music, and high quality endeavors.

Coleman’s Camp is an innovative tutoring and enrichment program utilizing a decade of classroom experience at nearly every grade level as well as training in administration, special education, and research-based practices to create a weekly enrichment and support camp for elementary-aged children.

Each session of Coleman's Camp has age guidelines to help facilitate age-appropriate focus and maximized benefit of learning experiences.  The Tuesday and Thursday sessions have similar themes, activities, and curriculum.  As such, students attend either the Tuesday sessions or the Thursday sessions, but not both.  In some cases, special arrangements can be made with Mr. Coleman for older students to be Peer-Leaders (example: an older student who attends the Tuesday session returns Thursday to help lead groups, provide examples, or teach parts of the lessons).  Such special arrangements should be reserved for highly motivated students wanting to take on leadership roles and increased responsibility.

Additionally, the Saturday session will be different in form and scope from the Tuesday and Thursday sessions.  These Saturday sessions are called Coleman's Camp Studio and will be an experience where kids work for a number of consecutive weeks to complete one in-depth project at a time.  These studio projects will be built around the passions of the students enrolled, and will push their natural skills, problem solving ability, and creative efforts to produce unique artifacts of significance and quality.  Coleman's Camp Studio will be limited to 10 students.  Projects might include multimedia presentations, artwork, service projects, inventions, engineering studies, plays, et cetera.  There is no specific age guidelines for Saturdays, but an adventurous attitude and willingness to make mistakes, grow, and experiment are important.

FALL 2014 Schedule for Coleman's Camp (2 hour sessions):

            Tuesdays 4:30-6:30 (for kids going into 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade)

            Thursdays 4:00-6:00 (for kids going into Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade)

            Saturdays 10:00-12:00 (Coleman's Camp Studio, all ages)

More Information:

• http://www4.smsd.org/timcoleman/html32214.htm - Credentials, experience, and other district information
• http://www4.smsd.org/timcoleman/html22172.htm - all about Mr. Coleman

PLEASE E-MAIL for cost and availability.

Coleman's Camp SUMMER 2014 - Imaginative Play in Nature

• Students took to the surrounding green space of Corinth Library to enact storylines of alien invasion and jailbreaks.

Coleman's Camp SUMMER 2014 - Goop!

• Making Goop from liquid starch and Elmer's Glue.  An easy to make and a bizarre substance to handle.  Kids were able to review measurement, ratio, and polymers.  The white Elmer's glue is a polymer called polyvinyl acetate.  When students mixed in the liquid borax to the glue, the molecules of the borax bind up the glue "strands" so that the glue no longer flows freely. The properties of this new substance are unlike the original glue or borax. The "goop" behaves in an unusual way; it has some characteristics of a liquid and some characteristics of a solid. Goop may remind you of a well known commercial product called Silly Putty. 

Coleman's Camp SUMMER 2014 - Book Cover Based Perspective

• Students looked at artists who use perspective to fool the human eye, including matching well-known portraits with a new or "expanded" context outside of the frame.