Summer 2023 Enrichment & Academic Camps
- Geology Camp for Girls (Grades K-3) — waitlist
- STEAM Storytimes (Grades 1-2)
- Messy Makers Creations (Grades 2-5)
- Food Fun (Grades 2-5)
- The Science of Baking (Grades 3-4)
- STEAM Camp (Grades 3-4)
- Writing Workshop (Grades 3-8)
- Video Game Development (Grades 4-5)
- Gardening Camp (Grades 4-6)
- Oral Traditions: The Art of Storytelling (Grades 4-8)
- Living Creatures: Science for Girls (Grades 4-8)
- Digital Music Production (Grades 6-8)
- Orton-Gillingham Language Arts (Grades 1-8)
- Writing Skills Maintenance Course (Grades 6-8)
- Summer Math Maintenance Course (Grades 6-8)
Please register your child for programs marked for the grade they will be going into in fall 2023. Register now »
Costs:
- Full Day Camp (9am-3pm): $345 per week
- Half Day Camp (Mornings 9am-12pm): $225 per week
- Hangout Zone (Afternoons 12-3pm after a morning specialty camp): $150 per week
Geology Camp for Girls
Grades K-3
July 10-14 | Mornings 9-12 — waitlist
Do you know why crystals sparkle in the light and make rainbows? Or what gives gems their colors? We’ll explore some amazing details of all sorts of rocks, gems, crystals, and fossils and wherever our inquiring minds take us with art and science projects — including some nature collections of our own. Taught by Dr. Kathryn Kavanagh from UMass Dartmouth. (Friends Academy is an inclusive community — nonbinary campers are welcome.)
STEAM Storytimes
Grades 1-2
July 31-August 4 | Mornings 9-12
This camp will introduce STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) concepts through storytelling. Each day campers will participate in STEAM activities and challenges based on storybooks, fairy tales, fables, and familiar children’s literature such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Three Billy Goats Gruff, etc. Campers will delight in reading versions of familiar stories, identifying a problem or challenge within the story, and designing a solution using the following steps: ASK, IMAGINE, PLAN, CREATE, and IMPROVE!
Messy Makers Creations
Grades 2-5
June 26-30 | Mornings 9-12
In this camp, we will explore the messy side of science by mixing household ingredients to create things like erupting volcanoes, slime, cloud dough, puffy paint, moon sand, and oobleck, just to name a few. Students will have opportunities to make predictions about, experiment with, and then shape and mold their creations.
The Science of Baking
Grades 3-4
July 3-7 | Mornings 9-12
Do love baking? Have you ever thought you followed a recipe, but it didn’t turn out right? Are you curious about how science and baking are connected? If you said yes to any of these questions, you should join us for The Science of Baking! We will examine the difference between various flours and sweeteners, baking soda and baking powder, change in temperature and cook times, all while creating some yummy treats.
STEAM Camp
Grades 3-4
July 24-28 | Mornings 9-12
STEAM is an approach to learning that utilizes aspects of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics to guide and promote inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking. In this fun and exciting camp, we will explore ways to solve problems with creative STEAM-based solutions.
Each day, campers will be presented with a challenge. They will brainstorm, imagine, and plan for each solution. Then they will create and experiment with their designs. Finally, campers will have the opportunity to make changes to improve their original design. Participation in these daily challenges will result in campers who’ve engaged in experiential learning, persisted in problem solving, and worked through the creative process, while taking thoughtful risks and having fun!
Writing Workshop
Grades 3-8
June 26-30 | Mornings 9-12
During Writing Workshop, children will learn about all aspects of the writing process, as well as the traits that make for good writing using quality literature as examples. Children will learn in a workshop environment, exploring memoirs, historical fiction, fantasy, realistic fiction, poetry, and more. Each student will have an opportunity to illustrate their work and celebrate with an Author’s Tea at the end of the session.
Video Game Development
Grades 4-5
July 31-August 4 | Mornings 9-12
We’re partnering with experts from Concorde Education to provide campers with an introduction and exploration of video game development. Participants will learn the front end and back end of mobile game app development as they create games in Blockly with MIT App Inventor and gain an understanding of game design. This class will be taught by Concorde Education instructors. (If you don’t have your own laptop or Chromebook to bring to camp, you may borrow one from Friends Academy.)
Gardening Camp
Grades 4-6
July 31-August 4 | Mornings 9-12
A chance to get dirty as campers learn to grow and harvest food in our school garden. There will be digging, planting, weeding, seeding, and a ton of fun opportunities to learn the fundamentals of growing your own food. Each year, Friends Academy donates thousands of pounds of fresh produce to local food pantries. The time campers put into the garden will be vital to providing our community with delicious and nutritious food!
Oral Traditions: The Art of Storytelling
Grades 4-8
July 31-August 4 | Mornings 9-12
Using folktales and fairytales, myths and legends supplied by the instructor, students will explore the ancient art of oral tradition and cultures from around the globe. Through interactive games and writing they will learn how to effectively use their voice, facial expressions, and gestures to bring a story a story to life! Storytelling provides a rich environment for different learning styles, increases concentration, and generates interactive and cooperative learning. It uncovers hidden talents and simultaneously develops oral (and written) expression. Most of all, it is fun! At the end of our time together students will perform the stories for their parents and other campers.
Living Creatures: Science for Girls
Grades 4-8
July 17-21 | Full Day 9-3
From molecules to microbes to mice and mammoths, this camp is a seriously fun study of all creatures great and small. Taught by Dr. Kathryn Kavanagh from UMass Dartmouth, girls will have their minds opened by intriguing animal studies, hands-on projects, and many artistic activities to reinforce concepts. Highlights include mammal and bird study, extracting your own DNA, and the famous fish dissection! Campers will visit some research labs in action at UMass Dartmouth and talk to the scientists about their studies.
Parents and friends are invited to a presentation on Friday, July 21 at 2pm, when the girls will share their knowledge and projects from the week. (Friends Academy is an inclusive community — nonbinary campers are welcome.)
Digital Music Production
Grades 6-8
July 24-28 | Mornings 9-12
We’re partnering with experts from Concorde Education to teach campers the skills required to be a modern music producer. This music class teaches campers the basics of recording, mixing, and editing with a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Campers will also learn how to share finished songs and instrumentals online so that others can download or stream finished music. Basic music theory will help develop and organize musical ideas. (If you don’t have your own laptop or Chromebook to bring to camp, you may borrow one from Friends Academy.)
Orton-Gillingham Language Arts
Grades 1-8
June 26-August 4 | Mornings 9-12
Through this six-week course, students are exposed to systematic, phonetically based, multisensory instruction to facilitate decoding the English language. These techniques are scientifically proven to assist struggling learners to succeed with reading, writing, and spelling. The multisensory programs involve active participation in order to enhance learning and memory. To reinforce associations, these methods simultaneously engage the visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic senses. In addition to Orton-Gillingham instruction, students also receive support through the implementation of Read Naturally and Lexia, computer-based programs designed to target and enhance reading fluency, comprehension, and decoding. Multiple classes will be run to accommodate different grades and reading levels (grades 1-2, grades 3-5, and grades 6-8).
It is important that we ensure your child receives the best support that they need. Therefore, we screen whether Orton-Gillingham is the best fit for them. If you think this camp is right for your child, please start by completing this form.
Cost: $2,540 (6-week course)
Writing Skills Maintenance Course
Grades 6-8
June 26-July 14 | Mornings 9-12
The Writing Skills Maintenance Course is designed to improve students’ sentence structure and the organization of their compositions. Students are assigned a variety of writing tasks to improve their writing stamina, confidence, and executive functioning skills. Since writing about reading is an essential skill in middle school and beyond, short films and a class read aloud provide students with opportunities to practice demonstrating their comprehension through discussion and writing assignments.
Specific areas of instruction may include the following topics:
- Daily quick writes or journal prompts
- 5 Step Writing Process
- Summary writing
- Essay response
- Thesis development
- Crafting hooks and introductory paragraphs
- Sentence expansion techniques
- Writing about reading
- Proofreading and editing skills
- Narrative writing
It is important that we ensure your child receives the best support that they need. Therefore, we screen whether this camp is the best fit for them. If you think this camp is right for your child, please start by completing this form.
Cost: $1,270 (3-week course)
Summer Math Maintenance Course
Grades 6-8
July 17-August 4 | Mornings 9-12
The Summer Math Maintenance course is designed to address the needs of middle school students with language-based learning differences and/or dyscalculia. The highly structured and supportive environment of this class allows students to review previously learned skills and frontload new strategies for math prior to entering school in the fall. Informal diagnostic testing, weekly assessments, and daily warm-up exercises are utilized to gauge individual student progress.
Over the course of three weeks, students will have reviewed the following skill areas:
- Basic operations, including PEMDAS (Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction)
- Conversion of fractions and decimals
- Understanding percent notation and learning to express a part of a whole as a fraction or percent
- Problem solving, including picture drawing strategies and understanding the language of word problems
- Integers (performing basic operations including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division)
- Evaluating variable expressions (variables, expressions, equations)
- Introduction to solving one-step equations
It is important that we ensure your child receives the best support that they need. Therefore, we screen whether this camp is the best fit for them. If you think this camp is right for your child, please start by completing this form.
Cost: $1,270 (3-week course)