4th & 5th Grade After-School Exploratories:
Our Spring Quarter session has ended.
Scroll down to view your child’s spring exploratory information!
Spring Virtual Exploratory descriptions are listed below!
- Exploratories will begin on Monday, March 22nd.
- Exploratories will meet 8 times.
- Exploratories are divided based on the grade that student(s) entered in the fall of the 2020-2021 school year.
- Registration must be completed and submitted online.
Click Here to Sign-In to Your Registration Account:
Click Below for our Downloadable Weekly Schedule!
Block C (4:15pm – 5:00pm)
(Click on the Tabs Below for Exploratory Information)
Yoga & Qigong with Miss Julie! (2nd-5th Grade) – Click here to view the flier!
*This exploratory has been cancelled. We apologize for this disappointing news. We hope that you’ll take a look at our remaining exploratory options for your child!
Each week children will learn traditional yoga poses and qigong* moves that build strength, coordination, balance, and flexibility, in addition to breathing practices that develop inner calm, mind-body awareness, concentration, confidence, compassion and patience – all tools that will last a lifetime! Children who practice yoga and qigong regularly are more relaxed, centered and steady.
*Qigong is an ancient Chinese mindful movement practice that integrates physical movements, breathing techniques and focused attention.
This exploratory has a 14 student maximum. If full, please consider joining the exploratory waitlist!
Cost: $120.00 (8 Classes): March 22, 29; April 12, 19, 26; May 3, 10, 17 (No Class: April 5)
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Woodworking – Chill Chair Project (2nd-5th Grade) – Click here to view the flier!
As the air starts to warm up again, let’s welcome the springtime sun with this session’s Chill Chair woodworking project! Rest your tube of sunscreen or your flip-flops in this inviting model-sized beach chair or grab your coins from the secret compartment inside of the wooden cooler when you hear the ice cream truck coming through your neighborhood on its first warm weather rounds!
At LogN Craft, we take pride in safely teaching your children woodworking skills such as following directions and hand-eye coordination that they can use and incorporate in their everyday lives. Just like in-person woodshop, you’ll use woodworking hand-tools and wood, guided virtually by our trained instructor over zoom, where you will learn how to safely use the saw, clamps, sandpaper, and glue to build your project. We lend you the tools and provide the wood pieces you’ll need! Register for woodshop today and show all your friends and family your very own Chill Chair – that you built!
This exploratory has a 12 student maximum. If full, please consider joining the exploratory waitlist!
Cost: $250.00 (8 Classes): March 22, 29; April 12, 19, 26; May 3, 10, 17 (No Class: April 5)
Creative Writing: Science Fiction & Fantasy! (3rd-5th Grade) – Click here to view the flier!
Sometimes nothing feels better than using writing and storytelling to escape into another world! Magic! Mystery! Adventure! Learning to build a world that’s completely different from your own takes imagination and skill, but it’s so fun! Let’s escape together! In this next creative writing class, students will be practicing the art of Fantasy and Science Fiction writing! We will also be exploring the skill of writing “Flash Fiction” where students will learn to create a very short story in class based on a prompt from the teacher. We’ll be thinking on our feet and diving head first into our imaginations! Join us for this super fun and adventurous 8-week class!
This exploratory has a 14 student maximum. If full, please consider joining the exploratory waitlist!
Cost: $125.00 (8 Classes): March 23, 30; April 13, 20, 27; May 4, 11, 18 (No Class: April 6)
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Art Studio: Portrait Art! (3rd-5th Grade) – Click here to view the flier!
People and faces are all around you, especially in art! In this class, you will work with a real-life portrait artist to learn all about how faces can be created and used in your very own works of art! Each class will explore the elements of art to help build and develop students’ confidence in their creative process; see how line, shape, texture, space, value, form, and color can be combined to produce wonderful portraits of yourself, friends, family, and more! Materials will be provided.
This exploratory has a 14 student maximum. If full, please consider joining the exploratory waitlist!
Cost: $120.00 + $20.00 Art Supplies Fee (for your very own art kit!) – (8 Classes): March 23, 30; April 13, 20, 27; May 4, 11, 18 (No Class: April 6)
Wednesday Daring the Dungeon! (3rd-5th Grade) – Click here to view the flier!
Become one of our intrepid storytellers and create a completely unique story of adventure and daring! You and your friends will use a role-playing game system to create your own characters and enter a story of wizards & warriors, astronauts & aliens, or a different fantasy realm of your creation. We can follow wherever our imaginations take us, even online! Virtually guided by our experienced instructor, Mr. Noah, students will learn how to imagine a character, how to work with other players to solve problems, and how to share the spotlight to collectively tell an amazing story that is enthralling for all participants. This is an exciting opportunity for kids to act out roles and do creative problem-solving in a fantasy world. (*Daring the Dungeon is also being offered as a Thursday Block C exploratory! Though they will follow a similar structure, the Wednesday & Thursday class storylines will be unique and different)
This exploratory has a 6 student maximum. If full, please consider joining the exploratory waitlist, or check out our Thursday Daring the Dungeon option!
Cost: $130.00 – (8 Classes): March 24, 31; April 14, 21, 28; May 5, 12, 19 (No Class: April 7)
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Chess Tournaments with Friends! (3rd-5th Grade) – Click here to view the flier!
Love playing chess and challenging your peers? Here’s your chance to enter exciting weekly tournaments across 8 whole weeks! Matches will be set up on ChessKid.com and monitored by Growing Outdoors staff. Before each tournament, we’ll meet on zoom to have a short refresher on some of the rules and strategies of chess. Then you’ll dive right into your chess matches online, playing against your friends in the Growing Outdoors Tournament Bowl! Each meeting is designed to maximize playing time with the added support of our staff helping each child develop their problem-solving and communication skills.
This exploratory has a 12 student maximum. If full, please consider joining the exploratory waitlist!
Cost: $85.00 – (8 Classes): March 24, 31; April 14, 21, 28; May 5, 12, 19 (No Class: April 7)
Computer Coding: Programming a Microcomputer with Micro:bits! (3rd-5th Grade) – Click here to view the flier!
*This exploratory requires access to a PC, Mac, or Chromebook computer (Tablets will not work for the exploratory)
Make it blink. Make it a musical instrument. Maybe even a robot? You can do it with a micro:Bit, and all through coding! Our new approach using micro:Bit starts with block-based scripts that make it fun and easy to build your creation. These are fun and engaging projects that will introduce students to programming their own microcomputer! This is an excellent introduction to engineering with electronics, and even better, you’ll get to keep the micro:Bit kit at the end of the course!
This exploratory has a 9 student maximum. If full, please consider joining the exploratory waitlist!
Cost: $170.00 + $20.00 for your very own micro:Bits kit! – (8 Classes): March 25; April 1, 15, 22, 29; May 6, 13, 20 (No Class: April 8)
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Thursday Daring the Dungeon! (3rd-5th Grade) – Click here to view the flier!
Become one of our intrepid storytellers and create a completely unique story of adventure and daring! You and your friends will use a role-playing game system to create your own characters and enter into a story of wizards & warriors, astronauts & aliens, or a different fantasy realm of your creation. We can follow wherever our imaginations take us, even online! Virtually guided by our experienced instructor, Mr. Noah, students will learn how to imagine a character, how to work with other players to solve problems, and how to share the spotlight to collectively tell an amazing story that is enthralling for all participants. This is an exciting opportunity for kids to act out roles and do creative problem-solving in a fantasy world. (*Daring the Dungeon is also being offered as a Wednesday Block C exploratory! Though they will follow a similar structure, the Wednesday & Thursday class storylines will be unique and different)
This exploratory has a 6 student maximum. If full, please consider joining the exploratory waitlist, or check out our Wednesday Daring the Dungeon option!
Cost: $130.00 – (8 Classes): March 25; April 1, 15, 22, 29; May 6, 13, 20 (No Class: April 8)
Click Here to Sign-In to Your Registration Account:
What is Growing Outdoors?
We are a local after-school enrichment program that partners with elementary schools in the Agoura/Oak Park/Thousand Oaks area to provide a variety of quality after-school enrichment programs that focus on the physical, intellectual, and emotional skills of students from Kindergarten through grade five. We do our best to offer a wide variety of class programs, which we call “exploratories,” because we know that each child is different, and it is our goal to find and offer programs that engage your student and make them want to explore more!
Though our exploratories have always taken place on campus and in person during the school year, with schools closed for the time being, we are excited to offer virtual programming after-school this fall! We have been hard at work since the end of last school year building curriculum and finding exploratories that translate well to virtual learning, and we hope you find something in our exploratory offerings that sparks your child’s interest!
Will my child be with their school classmates in their virtual programs?
Our virtual programs are open to all children who have entered Discovery Kindergarten (also known as Transitional Kindergarten) to Fifth grade for the 2020-2021 school year. This includes students from all of our partner schools, and also families from outside that sphere who may be joining us for the very first time! We value these opportunities to make new friends and work with new people, and we are excited to support your child’s growth as they strengthen old friendships and build new ones!
Can my Covid-19 School Closure Household Credit from spring 2020 be applied to the virtual programs?
Yes! If your household received credit for any cancelled Growing Outdoors Spring Trimester 2020 exploratory meetings that we were not able to move online, you may choose to apply your credit to our virtual programs, or hold on to it for future school-year programming with Growing Outdoors. Just follow the instructions once you reach the payment option section of your registration, and we will do the rest to ensure that your credit is applied!
Click here to read our March 31st letter to families regarding household credits
Why does the online program use Zoom as the virtual platform?
By using Zoom, Growing Outdoors can set up links that we only make available to registered families at the email address that you have provided to us. Zoom also allows us to control who can enter the exploratory meetings, ensuring that our meetings are safe and only attended by those who have registered to join us.
What do I do if my child has to miss an exploratory day?
Please call us as early as possible (before 10:00am is preferable!) at (818) 889-8383. The Growing Outdoors adminstrative staff will be creating daily attendance sheets for each exploratory, so it would be helpful to have that information as early as possible.
Why does registration close before the first day of each exploratory?
Growing Outdoors wants to provide the best possible after-school enrichment program to your family. Therefore, we need time to prepare our instructors prior to the first day of each exploratory.
Why are the exploratories priced differently?
The price of all of our exploratories is based on number of class meetings, staffing needs, and specialized instructor costs. By basing it on these factors, you can rest assured that you are getting what you pay for!