The March snack menu is now up as well as the April Vacation Camp Registration Form.
Once our club activity calendar for Session 3 has been finalized I will also be posting it up on the site as well!
I hope having these forms at your fingertips is helpful! 
We hope you all had a fantastic February Vacation! Whether you spent it lying on the beach, lying on your couch, or hanging out with us at Vacation Camp, I’m sure you all enjoyed a little time off from school!
I spent the week at the Afterschool’s Februrary Vacation Camp and we had a blast! I saw a few familiar faces from East Somerville there. Ana Luna, Anna S., Anton, Roberto, Amanda, and Christopher, all had a great time between the exciting field trips and fun-filled camp activities! I had a great time as well.
Maybe you can join us for April Vacation Camp which registration will be open for from March 5th to March 13th! Register as soon as possible though, because those spots fill up quickly.
As we get back into the swing of things here at afterschool, I can’t help but notice that we are coming up on the end of Session 2 very soon! This means a few things which we should all keep in mind…
I look forward to finishing out this session in a positive and upbeat way. The days are getting longer and the weather is getting even nicer so I expect that we will be able to spend some more time outside, which is good for everyone!
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! We had a fun-filled day here at afterschool today. Everyone was extra nice to one another and shared valentines with their afterschool friends and teachers.
Happy Valentine's Day
Each one of the students recieved a valentine friendship wish bracelet from the teachers. When it is tied on, they make a wish, and then when the bracelet falls off on it’s own the wish is supposed to come true! Hopefully all of the kids wishes do come true!
Rock Climbing at MetroRock
Today in afterschool, we sent a few of the older students off to rock climbing at MetroRock in Everett. Each week the kids get on a van with some students from the Argenziano school and take a ride on over to the indoor climbing gym. They learn the basics of knot tying, putting on and securing their harnesses, and also how to properly and safely climb the boulders and rock walls.
MetroRock
After the students push themselves to their limits on the walls, they can practice their footing on the boulders, without the harnesses. The boulders are smaller rocks that have some neat angles and force the students into tough positions that they must menuver in order to get to the top. The kids do not use harnesses and ropes with these rocks but instead use big mats to fall on if they lose thier footing.
MetroRock
Once the kids have each climbed, they will sometimes play some rope swinging games or climbing games with eachother or other students at the climbing gym. The purpose of the games are to enhance the students abilities by strengthening thier core muscles and perfecting their balance.
Rock Climbing is one of our most popular clubs in afterschool and all the students that attend have great things to say about it!
If you’d like to try rock climbing outside of afterschool check out the Metro Rock website and see how you can take classes or go for fun!
The title of this post, “NahKang Weh Yu”, is the philosophy of the Soo Bahk Do Martial Arts school that comes to teach our students every Thursday. The philosophy tranlates to “Strong Inside, Gentle Outside”, which is the principle that the instructor, Master PJ Styer, teaches our students.
ESCS Soo Bahk Do
Each week, Master teaches the students a few different fighting stances which they repeat several times throughout the class for memory. With every movement and stance a word is said to emphasize the movement. The words are Korean and the students practice saying them and learn what they mean.
Soo Bahk Do- Korean Martial Arts
At the end of each class, the students demonstrate what they have learned that day. This includes all stances, words, and movements that they had gone over during class.
One of the most important aspects of this martial arts club is that respect for ones self, one another, and Master is required. One of the ways that the students are taught the value of respect is by addressing the instructor as “Sir”. Respect is something that is taken very seriously in Soo Bahk Do and the students have definitely recognized that.
We look forward to seeing what else the students learn and hopefully they will be able to show us at the end of the session potluck!
Check out the video below to see our students in action!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjyH-uCuimQ&feature=g-upl&context=G24bee18AUAAAAAAAAAA
If you are interested in trying Soo Bahk Do out in the future check out our instructor and his studio Boston Classical Soo Bhak Do at http://www.bcsbd.com/
Session Two of the ESCS afterschool program is in full swing right now as we enter into February! We have plenty of awesome things going on right now in clubs and the kids are learning a lot.
I’m going to use February as a month to feature each one of our clubs. I will try to get pictures of each club “in action”, so that parents can catch a glimpse of what our students are learning while they are learning it!
Anamol Playing Dodgeball
On Monday, in “Sports Spectacular”, the kids learned the importance of being safe while playing, what can be, a dangerous game. Dodgeball can be a lot of fun but if you aren’t paying attention while playing, one of your friends and teammates can get hurt. All of the students made sure that any balls they threw were aimed downward so nobody got hit in the head. They also made sure that all the balls they used were the softer foam ones. The club started off with the instructor going over the rules of the game and making sure everyone understood before they started playing. The students were broken up into teams and both sides played a fierce game! Mohammed even joined in on the fun!
Dodgeball
Sports Spectacular club gives students the opportunity to learn fun new games and sports that they might not learn in gym class. Each week they play a new sport or re-play one that they have really enjoyed in the past. Some of the games that they play are kickball, dodgeball, basketball, and soccer. The students also get a chance to run some relay races and compete in obstacle courses! If you enjoy running around and learning fun new games and sports then Sports Spectacular is the club for you!
Tune in tomorrow for a new club and some more pictures!
Welcome to our new ESCS Afterschool blog and website! Our aim is to have this website be an additional resource for families and the afterschool program to connect. We have so much information to offer and it can be difficult for us to get it out to you via email without flooding your inboxes! Hopefully, this site will serve as a helpful tool for you and your student.
To the right of the page you will find several links to pages with a whole bunch of (what I hope is) useful information and documents. We also have pictures of the kids located here which will bring you to our private Flickr.com account. Now, if there are pictures that you would like to have of your child you may order them directly from the website or copy and save them to your home computer!
I am really looking forward to finding out all of the things this website has to offer. If you have any suggestions or questions about what you would like to see on the site, or how to navigate to a specific place, please leave a comment on this post and I would be happy to help!
Thank you,
Courtney and the ESCS Afterschool Team
A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to have a wonderful potluck with all of our students, families, and staff here at ESCS! At the end of every session we set aside this time to celebrate the achievements of our students and show off all of our hard work from the session.
We hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did and thank you for all of your continued support!
Here is a small clip from our evening of the students singing “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.
Session 1 Afterschool Potluck Performance
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