FALL 2018 AFTER SCHOOL CLASSES
SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2018
SPOTLIGHT: IMPROV TV
Mondays, 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Ages 8 - 14 | September - December 2018
Hilarious improvisation and acting for everyone. With Sharece Johnson and Sheridan Alexander.
This creative after school club focused on the art and comedy of improvisation. Every week we played improv and trust-building games: acting our way through different scenarios and hilarious prompts, practicing tongue-twisters, leading each other in blindfolds. We learned the techniques of improvisation: learning spatial awareness, and how to position our bodies on the stage; how to use imaginary objects; how to build a scene around a conflict; how to find an ending. And we experimented with characters and costume, having fun dressing up as different selves. We spent most of our time laughing!
outdoor adventures
Tuesdays, 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Ages 8 - 14 | September - October 2018
Exploring the rivers, woods, and wild spaces around us. With Kevin Bose and Emmanuel Carr-Hinds.
In Hudson we’re surrounded by nature, but a lot of us spend our time only in the city! This weekly outdoor after school program was about exploration and adventure. We spent time hiking in the Greenport Conservation Area, fishing on the Hudson River, running around in a corn maze, going apple-picking, and finding and catching bugs. We learned to use Field Guides to learn about our favorite animals. And we played everywhere we went: pretending to be predator and prey in our favorite game, “Wolves and Deer”; playing an awareness game that mimics sneaking up on deer; playing “Firekeeper,” a game about stealing and protecting wood. We also practiced making our own fires with tinder bundles, flint, and steel.
STITCH N’ RUN: FASHION STUDIO
Wednesdays, 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Ages 8 - 14 | September - November 2018
Working with geometry to create our own fashion lines. With Ngonda Badila.
In our introductory Fashion Studio, we practiced the art of manipulating fabric for design. We learned new techniques: threading a needle, hand-sewing and machine sewing, shirring and gathering, embroidery, and tie dying. We put these techniques into practice a we designed pieces of clothing and made fringe bags from scratch: picking a pattern, cutting, pressing, and sewing their piece together. Throughout the class we focused on freedom of expression, thorugh colors and styles: we talked about identity, being inspired by people we see, and exploring/creating our own styles. The class ended with a fashion show, to share our creations!
HAIR ART STUDIO
Wednesdays, 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Ages 8 - 14 | November - December 2018
Learning to make hair styles for ourselves and our friends. With Ngonda Badila.
Our after school Hair Art studio was a journey through our own hair stories, and an introduction to hair types, styles and techniques.
We learned about hair diversity and all the different types of hair, learning about porosity (how much moisture our hair can manage), density (how much space our hair takes up), and curl types and patterns. We developed more positive language to talk about the different kinds of hair -- connecting hair to our identities, and developing more in-depth and personal relationships with our own hair biologies and styles. We made our own hair gel out of plant-based oils, essential oils, and flax seeds -- creating formulas to represent our own hair stories.
We also learned skills and techniques: we learned about two braiding potations (inward weaving and outward weaving); ways to style hair with braid positions (like box braids), two-strand twist, bobby-pin curls, and paper bag curls. Some advanced students practiced “cornrowing,” a term derived from African American slaves indicating agriculture, planting, and labor; (the actual style comes from Africa).
Our final project was to demonstrate two hair styles we each learned in class, two hair decors, and the tools needed to create each hair design. In future classes we’ll go deeper into Indigenous African and Native American forms of braiding and weaving hair, and learn to make our own reusable hair curling tools.
GAME DESIGN
Thursdays, 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Ages 8 - 14 | September - December 2018
Have you ever wanted to design your own games? With David Eustace and Zebi Williams.
We turned Kite’s Nest into an after school game café! Each week students spent the first part of class signing games out from the Kite’s Nest game library, and using worksheets to describe the technology, aesthetic, story and mechanics of each game. Is the game strategy driven, does it center around luck, or does it require a player’s physical agility? Students rated these table-top games, taking note of what they might want incorporate into their own games design. By studying the games in our classroom, we asked: What makes a good game, and what makes a bad one? We created our own table-top games and prototypes in various ways. Some students were inspired by games they had played in the past -- others were inspired by objects they found in the space, like cotton balls and rubber snakes, and built from there. Like any good creative studio, some days we were prolific, creating one game after another; on other days, we spent time talking and laughing while decorating our game prototypes. In between play-testing and designing our own games, we also had fun playing field games outdoors, and our own version of “Family Feud”.
PAPER ARTS
Tuesdays, 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Ages 8-14 | November - December 2018
Constructing paper sculptures, costumes, crafts and more. With Pamela Badila.
Did you know you can turn paper into…. almost anything? In this after school arts class, students worked with artist and storytelling Pamela Badila to explore the infinite possibilities of paper. We learned the tricks of origami and traditional Japanese paper-folding, making oragami paper cranes, boxes, and ninja stars. We made pick-up sticks, and learned to transform paper into flowers.
SPACE 2.0
Fridays, 4:00pm - 7:00pm | Ages 13+ | September - December 2018
A weekly space by and for Hudson teenagers. With Sharece Johnson.
Space 2.0 is a space for teenagers in Hudson to have as their own. It’s a place where teens can explore their own interests, share meals together, go on field trips, and develop the skills to be leaders within their own lives and communities. In fall 2018 we partnered with WiseBodies for an in-depth conversation about sexual harassment in the context of allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. We also learned about history: We watched “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till,” and wrote poetry to explore and express our reactions, emotions and experiences in response to the film. We watched the film “LA 92,” to learn about the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, and about the stories of Rodney King and Latasha Harlins. We engaged in local politics: helping with voter registration efforts in the lead-up to the midterm elections, and showing up at a Common Council meeting to learn about local governance. We helped out at with the after school Roots & Rebels Garden Club, going pumpkin-picking and supporting the program’s younger kids as teen mentors. We also spent time just being teens: hanging out at the park, listening to music, acting ridiculous, and playing games like Jeopardy. We even hosted our own Murder Mystery Dinner Party!
ROOTS & REBELS GARDEN CLUB
Fridays, 3:30pm - 5:00pm | All ages | September - October 2018
Getting our hands dirty in the River City Garden. With Kristen Jones and Kaya Weidman, with help from the Space 2.0 teens.
Dozens of kids joined us every Friday for the Roots and Rebels Garden Club. On chilly days at the garden, we had tea parties: making herbal hot teas on the grill. We made dozens of creative projects: using flowers, herbs and vegetables to make perfumy potions; creating our own aromatherapy face steam with garden herbs; making suncatchers with petals and rain sticks with old seeds. We dug for worms, ran from snakes, played outside, and went on adventures through magical maze-like garden tunnels. We tried new things, like eating nasturtium flowers and pink apples, learning to pickle carrots and to make our own salsa. We had our own garden halloween costume party, where we carved pumpkins, painted each others’ faces, made s’mores on the campfire, and cracked into a Halloween piñata! And we teamed up with the Hudson Youth Center and Promise Neighborhood for an epic field trip to Samascott Orchards, where we got a hayride tour of the farm, picked pumpkins and apples, and got rewarded for our hard work with apple cider donuts. At the end of the season we learned how to “put the garden to bed” for the winter, removing this year’s plants from our raised bed, and planting garlic.
