Hello friends! So, as you probably know last Saturday we held our first ever pop up class! For those who don’t know, this was a two-hour class laid out similarly to how our WonderHere learning sessions will be structured. Our main goal was simply to show parents and students that learning can still be fun 🙂 Saturday was a major milestone for us. The last four and a half months have been preparatory: setting up our business structure, branding, financial planning, marketing – all of which have provided an incredibly fun learning experience! But Saturday we were finally able to be in our element. It was the first time that we were able to be WonderHere teachers. Actually, we were more like WonderHere learning facilitators, because the activities we planned allowed for the kids to be in charge of their own learning!
This class was centered on the theme “The Three Little Pigs.” Now at first thought, that might sound a little basic, but at WonderHere we’re all about taking simple themes and kicking them up a couple of notches! We began the class by simultaneously reading the classic “Three Little Pigs” tale and Jon Scieszka’s The True Story of the Three Little Pigs… the wolf’s account of how he was framed! It was fun alternating between the two tales, hearing how the pigs’ perspectives contrasted with the wolf’s (Alexander T. Wolf, to be exact!). We then charted the kids’ “wonders”… we made a list of any curiosity, question, or comment that the stories sparked in their minds. Some kids wondered about which account was really true, others wondered about the science behind the tumbling houses. It just so happens that our activities were geared towards those very questions!
We then broke out into two groups: younger learners (generally grades K-2, or ages 5-8) and more advanced learners (generally grades 3-6, or ages 9-12). At WonderHere, one of our core beliefs is that parents should be in the driver’s seat of their child’s education. After all, parents are the ones who know their kids best! So those age groups are just a suggestion. For example, there was one little girl in attendance who was in 2nd grade, however it was clear that she was better suited for the advanced activities. Why limit a child by their age or grade level if their abilities tell a different story?
The younger learners got the chance to creatively retell the story by making puppets. After they created puppets that depicted each character in “The Three Little Pigs”, we took the show to our very own puppet stage where the students took turns portraying the characters of their choice for our parent audience. We practiced summarizing and retelling the key details of the story, and the kids didn’t even notice learning was happening… that’s the best kind of learning! The advanced learners had the opportunity to be the jury on Alexander T. Wolf’s trial… deciding whether he was innocent or guilty! We marked off a section of the room with crime scene tape, and behind the tape was all of the evidence that could help the jury make their decision. We had expert articles, plaintiff’s accounts, defendant’s accounts, and crime scene photos. The kids walked around to each evidence station taking notes and working together to draw conclusions based on evidence. They eventually came to a unanimous decision… Wolf was guilty! They said the evidence was overwhelmingly against him.
After our literary activities, we transitioned to our S.T.E.M activity (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). The goal for both the younger and advanced learners was the same: construct a 3D house that could withstand the Big Bad Wolf’s huffs and puffs (in this case, the Big Bad Wolf was a hair dryer!). The younger learners had set materials – Twizzlers bites and tooth picks. The structures they built were truly impressive! Some of them chose to make very simple but efficient buildings with 4 basic walls. Other kids set in their mind to build multi-leveled buildings.. some two and three floors. Others took on a more creative avenue and made teepee looking structures or buildings with fences to keep the wolf out! With trial and error ALL of the kid’s houses were able to withstand our wolf’s (blow dryer’s) huffs and puffs.
The advanced learners had an entire table full of materials they could choose from, but each material had a set price and they had a budget of $60. This is where those real world math skills come in handy! They could only collect building items that amounted to a cost within their fixed budget. Watching them work out their math and actually enjoy it was such a blast to be apart of. They made some pretty remarkable structures, as well and they all withstood the Big Bad Wolf’s huffs and puffs!
While our amazing WonderHere helpers (THANK YOU, by the way!) were finishing testing out the kids’ structures, we got to sit and chat with parents about the experience. There was a lot of excitement! We were able to share our heart and vision, answer questions, and talk services and pricing. We even had parents pre-register! Woo! 🙂
All in all this first pop up class couldn’t possibly have gone any better! Kids had fun, parents enjoyed watching their kids have fun, and we enjoyed making learning fun. Just to think… this is the kind of learning that will take place every day at WonderHere. We cannot wait!
We know many of you wanted to come but were unable to, so we really hope you’ll be able to make it to our April Pop Up Class! And be prepared… it’s going to be out of this world! 🙂
See you soon!
