MOSAIC 2010

Summer MOSAIC 2010

Coppell Gifted Association is excited to again offer LOCAL summer enrichment courses as a service to students in Coppell entering grades 4-8 in the fall of 2010 with proceeds to be used for teacher training in gifted education! 

MOSAIC (Marvelous Opportunities Scheduled as Individual Courses)

June 7–11, 2010 from 9a-noon
August 2-6, 2010 from 9a-noon
Location: Coppell Middle School East
For more information or to register, please email mosaic@coppellgifted.org. 

When registering, please provide: 

• student name
• grade in fall 2010
• course choice(s) – up to two per week, and class time(s).

 Please note, the following courses are full in August:
Creative Writing – 9am
Debate – 9am
Rocketry – 9am
Web Design – 9am and 10:30am

Also: Grossology and Team Twilight will not be offered in August. 

• A Murder Mystery(please note the 9am course in June is full)

The name is Kim, Kim Pelt, and MOSAIC’s Local PD Homicide Detective. All amateur sleuths welcome. However, at MOSAIC, you will NOT experience a CLUE like game, but an Integrative live action adventure. YOU will discover in your adventure a 21st century homicide case. We will analyze and determine hidden evidence, and you may even be a suspect in your own murder mystery. Join us in as I am currently working on a case that you ONLY you can help to solve. 

• Baseball Statistics and the Art of Obfuscation

 It has been said that there are 3 types of lies. To paraphrase Benjamin Disraeli there are, “Lies, Despicable Lies, and Statistics”. Despite this, statistics lie at the heart of most sports, especially baseball. Critical decisions are often made based upon statistics, even though what they tell us can be confusing or even misleading at times. What do they all really mean anyway? Explore the numbers in baseball with us as we play Fantasy Baseball for a week and use those very same statistics to make our decisions and try to guide our teams to victory! 

• Building and Structures

 Participants will work with K’NEX, a dynamic, open-ended spatial building system, to construct buildings and structures. They will be engaged in the hands-on exploration of objects, math concepts and scientific phenomena. Students will be encouraged to apply an organized, logical strategy as they design, build and problem-solve. 

• Calligraphy

In this class students will study the age-old art of hand lettering. They will learn a few different alphabets over the course of the week, as well as techniques for how to keep lines straight and how to create borders around their calligraphy. We will use our calligraphy to make decorative boxes that may become treasured momentos as a final project. Hand lettering is an art. Calling all artists! 

• Chess

Chess class covers the moves of chess, including castling, en passant, and pawn promotion. As students master chess rules, they learn and practice basic checkmates, such as the two-rook mate. Students read and write chess using algebraic chess notation. Experienced chess players teach others and solve advanced chess puzzles. For the last 30 minutes of the Monday through Thursday classes, students play chess against one another in a tournament setting. For the last hour on Friday, Dr. Root will play all the students (and their parent helpers) in a simultaneous exhibition. 

• Costume Design

Participants will design and construct a costume using recyclable items and materials. These delightful expressions of each person’s personality will be creatively constructed and decorated. Students will develop wonderful characters based on their unique costumes and will even perform in a fashion show. A hands-on dramatic experience – perfect for those who love the performing arts! 

• Creative Writing

Take a journey with language and create a writer’s portfolio. Discover why Ernest Hemingway spent entire career endeavoring to write the perfect sentence. This young author’s course is designed to sharpen the pen through a “Show Don’t Tell” writer’s workshop. Students will explore their experiences through new eyes and produce multiple pieces of writing. In addition, each student will contribute his or her best final draft to a class project using Photostory 3. Looking for passionate writers!! 

• Debate: Roaring with Rhetoric and Reasoning (please note the 9am course in June and August are full)

Texting helps make and keep friends. Texting is a dangerous time waster. Playstation and Wii are great for creativity and exercise. Playstation and Wii are ruining kids’ health. Take a stand, speak your mind, argue for something you believe in. This course will give you fundamentals of argumentation, challenge you to formulate positions, and examine the underlying premises of your claims. You’ll get introduced to formal methods of competitive debate through a lens of examining some basic concepts (e.g. belief, bias, certainty, explanation, interpretation, truth) from the International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge course. 

• Engineering

(please note the 10:30am course in June is full)

Engineers are problem solvers – possessing one of the most sought after skill sets in the modern world. Enjoy building things? Enjoy solving problems? If so, then THIS is the right course. Students will use LEGO’s to explore the world of engineering. They will use creativity and ingenuity to design their own solutions to problems. If a student is not sure about engineering but wants to learn more, this is a great course to take. 

• Grossology

Based on the writings of Sylvia Branzei and Jack Keely, experience where nutrients like to travel, which organs do they visit, what do they do once they get there. How does what you eat affect what you can do? Observe roles as you create and evaluate The Chemical Balancing Act. Uncover evidence while investigating food “myths”. Get ready to talk about bodily functions and what really goes on when you eat. 

• Introduction to Philosophy: The Foundation of Critical Thinking

What does it mean to be fair? What is time? How do you know who your friends are? Can something logical ever not make sense? Can you think about nothing at all? These are some classic philosophical questions that can seem as relevant today as they did hundreds of years ago. This course will acquaint students with the wonders of philosophy and include fun activities which help students understand not only philosophy but also understand themselves better. 

• Kitchen CSI

Why did those cookies come out wrong? Does the salt really matter? Become a forensic food scientist! Apply scientific concepts and processes as you discover best practices with foods and equipment. Observe and evaluate which details made a difference in food preparation. You may even get to eat what you make, if you dare. 

• Money

Join Capital Clique on its FUN adventure learning about money and how to make it work for you! Capital Clique is the up and coming exclusive club for young minds that want to learn the secrets of money. The program is highly interactive and energetic so you have fun while learning the importance of saving and investing NOW. The games, competitions, role-playing and group activities keep you involved and active while learning an important skill. Some of the topics we cover include goals and the importance of goal setting, how we make money, how we spend money wisely, how we keep track of money and how our money can make us money through investing and much more! We invite you to become part of Capital Clique!! 

• Puppetry

Design and create puppets, props, and sets, rehearse the play using the puppet stage, and perform a live puppet show. Creativity and excitement will flow as students are exposed to the wonderful world of puppetry! So many types of puppets and so much fun! 

• Rocketry(please note the 9am course is full)

Participants will launch their knowledge of flight by building and launching their own rockets! This is a scientific learning opportunity, meaning students will learn and build upon the instruction provided and their experiences. They will experiment with propulsion by launching and recovering their personally built rocket!   

• Team Twilight

Are you Team Edward? Team Jacob? Team Twilight encompasses all that and more! In this exciting fun-filled class, you will engage in discussion, debate, writing, music, role-playing, games, and even an awards ceremony all in the spirit of our favorite vampires. Participants must have finished reading the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Students will really “sink their teeth” into this stimulating reunion of Twilight fanatics. (This course is open to 7-9th graders)   

• Video Game Design  (please note the 9am and 10:30am courses are full)

Do you like to play video games? Ever wonder how they are made? This course provides students with a fun interactive look at the world of video game design and development. Students enrolled in this camp will learn the basics of video game design and produce several different interactive video games to share with their friends and family. This course is perfect for students who are in to gaming and want to create their own interactive gaming experience. (This course has a $20 laptop and software materials fee)   

• Web Design (please note the 9am and 10:30am courses are full)

Interested in future web design and development? Want to impress your friends with your own website? This course is an in-depth look at the world of web design and development. Students enrolled in this session will learn how to build their own web site from start to finish using Adobe’s award winning suite of products. Students will have access to their websites and hosting for up to one year. (This course has a $20 laptop and software materials fee)

See MOSAIC schedule to select course times appropriate for your child’s grade.   

Price: CGA Members – $90 for each course or $155 for two courses scheduled for the same student in one week.
Non-CGA Members – $105 for each course or $185 for two courses scheduled for the same student in one week.   

Schedule:

Courses:

click for information about our amazing Instructors.   

for Summer 2009 MOSAIC