Ages 4 – 5  9:30 – 11:00

Back by popular demand with all new challenges, like Teetering Towers, Mouse Houses, and Constructed Portraits! This super-fun building class lets our youngest learners explore a variety of high-interest, open-ended building sets.

Children’s literature is a springboard for their designs in this play-based building class, with a strong emphasis on supportive social-emotional growth and understanding, including productive struggles that center on embracing mistakes and ‘failing forward.’

Instructor: Stephanie Elliott

Grades K – 1  9:30 – 11:00
Ages 5 & 6   11:15 – 12:45

Challenge yourself with STEM! This hands-on class will have you designing, building, testing and experimenting with a variety of materials. We’ll look at air dynamics, water buoyancy, qualities of light and more! You’ll create different mazes, test shapes, and build bridges. Design and build a boat! The floor is lava – can you build a platform to keep your stuffies safe?? STEM challenges will be based on a different story each week.

Instructor: Beth Crites

Grades 2 – 3   9:30 – 11:00
Grades K – 1   11:15 – 12:45

Be amazed at the unseen wonders just beneath our feet! How do tectonic plates float on top of molten rock? Explore the formation of mountains, volcanoes and ocean trenches. Investigate caves, and create/excavate your own fossils. Learn about the rock cycle and construct a geode and unique rock of your own. Geology rocks!

Instructor: Kara Viviano

Grades 3 – 8 9:30 – 11:00  (Advanced)
Grades K – 3   11:15 – 12:45 (Beginner)

Beginner: If your child is just learning chess (or wants to learn!), this class is the perfect place to start. Learn the basics of chess, how to begin the game, strategies such as pins and forks, how to queen a pawn and how to checkmate with Queen and King or Rook and King at the end of the game, all while playing and having fun.

Advanced: Learn advanced concepts in chess, including openings to produce swift checkmating attacks or the win of material, learn how to plan ahead in chess and create positions where tactical themes can be used, all while playing and having fun.

Benefits of the game for all levels: Problem-solving skills, coping with the consequences of your decisions, and good sports behavior.

Instructor: Stephen Randoll

Grades 4 – 5   9:30 – 11:00
Grades 2 – 3  11:15 – 12:45

Let’s play games! Actively develop your critical thinking and problem-solving skills through playing various board games. We’ll use games like Book Us, Set, Mancala (and more!) to practice strategic decision-making, analyze potential outcomes, and adapt to changing conditions within the game. Board games also develop patience, turn taking, teamwork, following rules and good sportsmanship! Get in the game!

Instructor: Michelle Joyce

Grades 2 – 4 (Advanced)  9:30 – 11:00
Grades 2 – 4 (Beginner)   11:15 – 12:45

Beginning: Do you like experimenting with science and seeing what will happen? Have you ever wondered how a lightbulb works or why a battery has a plus side and a negative? Uncover the basics of electricity, explore how to create different types of circuits, and learn about switches. We’ll even discover surprising objects that will complete and power a circuit.

Advanced: Go even further! Explore complex circuits, resistance and fuses. Learn how to draw accurate circuit symbols. If the class meets learning goals quickly, you’ll also explore electric motors and maybe even design your own electric experiments! Advanced students should have taken the Everyday Electricity class in the fall or have studied an electricity unit in school.

Instructor: Tracy Bednarick-Humes

Grades 3 – 4  9:30 – 11:00
Grades 5 – 8  11:15 – 12:45

GRC has some brand-new LEGO Spike Prime kits (with expansions) that we’re excited to get started with. Get your building and coding on with these colorful new kits. You’ll use the engineering design process to meet a different challenge each week, then use that knowledge to create your own build. The 3rd-4th grade class will focus on inventions, and the 5th – 8th class will focus on life hacks. Both should be a fun introduction to our new coding kits.

Instructor: Hannah Noack-Ruebling

Grades 3 – 8  9:30 – 11:00 (Beginner)
Graded 3 – 8  11:15 – 12:45  (Advanced)

LAST CHANCE! If you’re a fan of the amazing Mindstorms robots, this may be your last chance to take a class. The software for these runs on an OLD operating system, so while the kits are still good, we’re phasing out classes because the laptops we use with them are becoming irreparable.

Beginner: Learn the basics of LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robots! Consider a real-world problem, create your hypothesis, program your solution and test your results! Build a rover-type robot to handle some basic tasks and experiment with other features of the kits. Problem-solving skills and creativity using robotics technology prove that the possibilities are endless.

Advanced: If you’ve taken at least a beginning Mindstorms class, go further! Learn more and work on harder challenges, based on your skill level. Build and program working robots which respond to your commands as well as information from their environments. Working with a partner, you can even design your own robot from scratch! You’ll learn to control your creation using multiple sensors, various moving parts, and complex programs that allow the robot to assess its environment and make decisions.

Instructor: Lisa Hummel

Grades 3 – 5  9:30 – 11:00

Do you love to read fantasy, mystery, history, and adventure? Have you thought of writing something yourself? Learn tricks of the trade and develop your own stories. How do you use a ‘hook’ in different genres to captivate and intrigue your readers? Create some fun book styles, like a fantasy pop-up page and a hidden message book. Explore a variety of writing styles that will stimulate your imagination. We’ll share our stories in a class book – you’ll go home a ‘published’ author by the end of our session!d share all the hard work!

Instructor: Emily Thiele

Grades 3 – 5  11:15 – 12:45

It’s cold! This is the perfect time to bundle up and work on some creative winter-themed art and craft projects. You’ll start your winter wonderland with some fun painting, including working with salt, pinecones and rocks. You’ll make your own birdfeeder – perfect for feeding feathered friends during the cold. Come enjoy doing art with mixed media and take home some great winter projects!

Instructor: Angela Rhodes

Grades 3 – 5   9:30 – 11:00

Using engineering design methods, we’re going to try and build disaster-proof structures! How about a building that can withstand an earthquake? St. Louis is surrounded by rivers – let’s try our hands at a flood barrier. You’ll also build a hurricane-resistant home, a seawall barrier to protect from a tsunami, and a landslide-resistant slope. You’ll need all your structural and environmental engineering skills to tackle these tough challenges!

Instructor: Lisa Pascoe

Grades 3  -8  9:30 – 11:00

Are you a master code breaker? Would you like to be? Experiment with different kinds of codes – like the Caesar Cipher, Hieroglyphics, Binary Codes, and Morse Code – and try your hand at each of them! You’ll get a mini-history of each code and how it was used – and by whom. Then you can create your own code! Your problem-solving skills will be challenged as you unlock the captivating world of cryptography.

Instructor: Angela Rhodes

Grades 4 – 8  11:15 – 12:45

So, you know about Hogwarts, Dumbledore, Hagrid and Weasleys. You can debate the merits of the Firebolt over the Nimbus Two Thousand and One in a crucial Quidditch match. You know Harry Potter. But have you ever wondered about words like trifle, hippogriff, Patronus and “Expelliarmus!”, or why Harry’s life and adventures interest so many children and adults? Now you can get answers! GRC’s Harry Potter Connection will use a unique mixture of trivia, costume, drama and simulations to explore the mysteries of J.K. Rowling’s books. See how she employs myth, English culture, ancient lore and languages to weave together the fascinating tales of the education of everyone’s favorite student wizard. Note: Students should have read at least two of the Harry Potter books.

Instructor: Emily Thiele

Grades 3 – 8  9:30 – 11:00  Advanced
Grades 3 – 8  11:15 – 12:45  Beginning

Back by popular demand!
Are you passionate about podcasts and love discussing a variety of topics? Beginners, learn what it takes to produce your own podcast, from scripts to shareable productions. We’ll investigate a variety of tools and technology for our creative process.

Advanced, keep working on your project from last fall—or start a new one! (Or if you have some previous experience, the advanced class is right for you.)

All will practice performing and discover how to generate enough content for a series. Additionally, we’ll cover how to find content that respects copyright laws and doesn’t infringe on others’ ideas. Whether you want to sign up solo or bring a cohost, join us for a fun and engaging journey into digital storytelling!

Instructor: Chuck Baker