Afternoon Electives    Spring 2023

Join real-life local farmers, Joshua and Diana from Rainbow Peaks Farm, to learn all about farming plants and animals. In this class, students will get to interact with livestock as the class helps prepare Gathered Oak to welcome livestock of our own to the farm. Students will learn about seed starting, veggie growing, growing fodder for animals, vermiculture, composting, and much more. This class will be very hands-on and will help students learn how farming allows us to be self-sufficient. Come learn from the best and be a part of them helping us grow our farm!

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Teacher: Joshua and Diana of Rainbow Peaks Farm

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Cost: $360 per semester (this is an 8-week course that will also include 8 weeks of Wilderness Explorers)

The outdoor world has much to offer those who are up for the adventure. In this class, we will meet some of the world's most inspiring wilderness explorers and adventurers and learn the skills they needed to survive and thrive in nature. Come learn about John Muir, the "Father of the National Parks"; Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic Explorer; Matthew Henson, the first to discover the North Pole; and so many more! Each week, the students will also learn essential skills needed to enjoy the outdoors, such as fire-building, shelter-making, and navigation. This class will give students the confidence and motivation to venture into the wilderness and the techniques needed to enjoy it.

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Teacher: Nick Kinnier

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Cost: $360 per semester (this is an 8-week course that will also include 8 weeks of Young Farmers United)

This elective will bring stories read together at home to life through discussion, games, crafts, and food to foster a joy for and love of reading. We'll be reading a mix of classic and contemporary books and organizing optional "beyond book club" meetups for a few of them. Books will be read at home either by the student themselves or by a parent (kids do not need to be able to read on their own). At the end of each book, we will have a celebration in class!

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Teacher: Jessica Manuel

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Cost: $360 per semester

Great storytelling is born from a free and active imagination. One of the best ways for children to explore theirs is in the form of improvisational theater. This elective will introduce students to the foundations of theater through movement, vocal exercises, and improvisation. Improv teaches confidence, creativity, and how to be comfortable with uncertainty. Students will create their own stories, characters, and plots, collaborating with each other to explore the most fun and zany parts of their imagination, all within a creative and supportive environment. 

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Teacher: Courtney Balaker

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Cost: $360 per semester

Homesteading is a hands-on and messy class, learning how to be more sustainable and resourceful on our farm and at home. We will be in the garden planting and harvesting, in the "kitchen" cooking, and around the table creating. Students will be introduced to "old-fashioned" techniques that will allow us to slow down and appreciate the beauty and hard work in the process.

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Teacher: Kaitlyn Wargo

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Cost: $360 per semester

This elective will explore EARTH and how we can make positive changes for our planet! Join us as we learn all about bees and other pollinators and create a pollinator garden right here at Gathered Oak. We'll also learn all about the oceans and the rainforests and how important they are to our world. Students in this class will work together to organize community events like a clothing drive and a beach cleanup day (our last one was a huge success and so much fun!) Through hands-on, interactive activities, students will build worldly awareness that choices, decisions, and how they choose to live today and the rest of their lives will impact the world around them, both locally and globally.​

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Teacher: Nicole Rossi

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Cost: $360 per semester

Storybook Art will help students become more aware of book illustrations by experiencing hands-on art techniques and projects. The kids will be encouraged to read and re-read their favorite books with new awareness and enjoyment. They will have the opportunity to create individual and self-authored stories expressed through their choice of artistic style, such as drawing, painting, assemblage, sewing, and construction. Reading books takes on a new meaning for kids when created with art in everyday life.​

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Teacher: Kaitlyn Wargo

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Cost: $360 per semester

Lego Storytelling is a unique and creative experience that gives students the opportunity to create with LEGOs as they use their imagination to develop and create characters and storylines. Students will grow their language and comprehension through the process of story development and their creative and critical thinking skills as they work to create stories, scenes, objects, and creatures.  Weekly building challenges will give students the opportunity to work both independently and collaboratively as they all become "Master Builders".

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Teacher: Nicole Rossi

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Cost: $360 per semester