Starting soon at many of the HVS Elementary Schools!
Lakewood Elementary, Mondays, Jan 22 - Mar4 & Apr 15 - May 20
Johnson Elementary, Fridays, Jan 12 - Mar 15 & Apr 12 - May 24
Heritage Elementary, Tuesdays, Jan 16 - Mar 5 & Apr 23 - May 28
Kurtz Elementary, Thursdays, Jan 18 - Feb 29 & Apr 11 - May 16
courses that do not meet the minimum numbers of enrollees may be cancelled
Lakewood Elementary, Mondays, Jan 22 - Mar4 & Apr 15 - May 20
Johnson Elementary, Fridays, Jan 12 - Mar 15 & Apr 12 - May 24
Heritage Elementary, Tuesdays, Jan 16 - Mar 5 & Apr 23 - May 28
Kurtz Elementary, Thursdays, Jan 18 - Feb 29 & Apr 11 - May 16
courses that do not meet the minimum numbers of enrollees may be cancelled
To register for our 2024 winter courses on the HVS website, click here
We need parent volunteers! scroll below to register - volunteers receive a 50% rebate on tuition at the end of the program. We need 1 parent for each 12 students registered.
Courses for Grades 3-5
(Italics indicates activities the students get to take home)
session #2: winter 2024
“Light and Power” -- a 6 week program of physics fun
Students will explore sound waves, light waves, and electricity, each for 2 weeks. Sound activities will have students using vibrating balloons, slinkies, and rubber bands to understand the wave properties of sound, and follow that up with squonkies and a trampoline to “amplify” the fun (pun intended!). Finally students will use whistles and flashlights to compare sound and light in their use for communication. Light activities provide an opportunity to make rainbows, bend light beams, and try an obstacle course for light beams using mirrors! Students will take “charge” when learning about electricity, using magic wands as well as their own power to light lightbulbs and “spark” their curiosity!
session #3: spring 2024
“It’s Alive” – a 6 week adventure through nature.
Hands-on activities encourage students to engage in the daily tasks of being a plant, such as by making a bookmark using capillary action and by building a variety of “fruits” to carry seeds. Students will visit with some live insects, including Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches (and if parents permit, they may adopt a male to take home) and then get a chance to build their own bug from crafty parts to fit a specific niche of their choosing. Students can choose between animals communication activities, a plant vs insect battle royale, or evidence of microorganisms as the week 5 topic. It all wraps up with a fossil museum!
session #4: fall 2025
“Kitchen Science” will include 3-4 weeks of food chemistry plus 2-3 weeks of thermodynamics (how we keep hot things hot and cold things cold).
Students will begin by investigating dairy (making butter and cottage cheese) to learn about liquids, sugars, fats, and proteins. From their we’ll use eggs to understand emulsions (making mayonnaise or salad dressing) and gels (making fried eggs) which will lead us to jello. We can then compare the stabilizing action of proteins to the thickening power of starches by experimenting with corn starch and learning to use iodine to detect the presence of starches. Students will explore chemical and biological leavening with baking soda, baking powder and yeast, using them to inflate balloons (students will create a magic mug cake mix to take home).
For thermodynamics, students will experiment with heat loss/gain by placing hot water or ice in a set of containers lined with different insulating materials, to understand how temperature changes; in between data recording we will discuss examples or how animals and devices may help prevent heat loss as inspiration for designing our own boxes. We’ll finish up by testing the best insulating boxes the students have built; and make ice cream while we wait!
session #5: winter 2026
“We’re Cheering for Engineering!” – 3 weeks of simple and compound machines; 3 weeks of egg-citing building.
Starting with simple machines, students will play with ramps, wheels/pulleys, wedges, screws, and levers, and then build a lever of their own. They will apply their knowledge in a compound machine scavenger hunt. They will experiment with the specific behavior of friction and angles with ramps and arm length for levers in preparation for the egg-citing build. Students will spend 2-3 weeks to construct a ramp / cylinder container combo to roll the egg across the room without it breaking.
session #6: 2026-2027
"Your Own Home Science Project" lessons in experimental design
Weeks 1 & 2. Experiments stem from observation followed by inquiry. We will do a variety of hands-on activities in order to find ones that spark student interest. Students can make requests during week 1 as to what we explore in week 2.
Weeks 3 & 4. Practice with hypotheses and introduction to the scientific method - independent and dependent variable, controls, data, graphing results. Week 3 will use my projects to get students started; for week 4 they will request their own, or may bring in ideas from home.
Week 5. Students can bring "rough drafts" of their home projects in for presentation and final touches (If there is a large group, this may be used for Science Fair part 1)
Week 6 mini Science Fair. Students will set up their projects for an invited panel of judges to review and provide feedback. A variety of certificates will be awarded to reward creativity, accuracy, presentation, ingenuity, and imagination!
session #1: returning 2026-2027
“Fact of the Matter” -- Students will spend 3 weeks investigating liquids, then 3 weeks on gasses
Liquid activities will explore cohesions and surface tension, Brownian motion, density, miscibility, and colloids. Hands-on projects will include zip boats, magic milk, gak, density columns, and Cartesian divers. Gas activities will demonstrate that gas has matter, creates pressure, and can act on other objects, often in quite a dynamic fashion. Hands-on explorations will involve balloons, candles, Alka-Seltzer “rockets,” soda can crushing and restoration, plus a grande finale in week 6. The students will keep and take home many of their experiments.
session #2: winter 2024
“Light and Power” -- a 6 week program of physics fun
Students will explore sound waves, light waves, and electricity, each for 2 weeks. Sound activities will have students using vibrating balloons, slinkies, and rubber bands to understand the wave properties of sound, and follow that up with squonkies and a trampoline to “amplify” the fun (pun intended!). Finally students will use whistles and flashlights to compare sound and light in their use for communication. Light activities provide an opportunity to make rainbows, bend light beams, and try an obstacle course for light beams using mirrors! Students will take “charge” when learning about electricity, using magic wands as well as their own power to light lightbulbs and “spark” their curiosity!
session #3: spring 2024
“It’s Alive” – a 6 week adventure through nature.
Hands-on activities encourage students to engage in the daily tasks of being a plant, such as by making a bookmark using capillary action and by building a variety of “fruits” to carry seeds. Students will visit with some live insects, including Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches (and if parents permit, they may adopt a male to take home) and then get a chance to build their own bug from crafty parts to fit a specific niche of their choosing. Students can choose between animals communication activities, a plant vs insect battle royale, or evidence of microorganisms as the week 5 topic. It all wraps up with a fossil museum!
session #4: fall 2025
“Kitchen Science” will include 3-4 weeks of food chemistry plus 2-3 weeks of thermodynamics (how we keep hot things hot and cold things cold).
Students will begin by investigating dairy (making butter and cottage cheese) to learn about liquids, sugars, fats, and proteins. From their we’ll use eggs to understand emulsions (making mayonnaise or salad dressing) and gels (making fried eggs) which will lead us to jello. We can then compare the stabilizing action of proteins to the thickening power of starches by experimenting with corn starch and learning to use iodine to detect the presence of starches. Students will explore chemical and biological leavening with baking soda, baking powder and yeast, using them to inflate balloons (students will create a magic mug cake mix to take home).
For thermodynamics, students will experiment with heat loss/gain by placing hot water or ice in a set of containers lined with different insulating materials, to understand how temperature changes; in between data recording we will discuss examples or how animals and devices may help prevent heat loss as inspiration for designing our own boxes. We’ll finish up by testing the best insulating boxes the students have built; and make ice cream while we wait!
session #5: winter 2026
“We’re Cheering for Engineering!” – 3 weeks of simple and compound machines; 3 weeks of egg-citing building.
Starting with simple machines, students will play with ramps, wheels/pulleys, wedges, screws, and levers, and then build a lever of their own. They will apply their knowledge in a compound machine scavenger hunt. They will experiment with the specific behavior of friction and angles with ramps and arm length for levers in preparation for the egg-citing build. Students will spend 2-3 weeks to construct a ramp / cylinder container combo to roll the egg across the room without it breaking.
session #6: 2026-2027
"Your Own Home Science Project" lessons in experimental design
Weeks 1 & 2. Experiments stem from observation followed by inquiry. We will do a variety of hands-on activities in order to find ones that spark student interest. Students can make requests during week 1 as to what we explore in week 2.
Weeks 3 & 4. Practice with hypotheses and introduction to the scientific method - independent and dependent variable, controls, data, graphing results. Week 3 will use my projects to get students started; for week 4 they will request their own, or may bring in ideas from home.
Week 5. Students can bring "rough drafts" of their home projects in for presentation and final touches (If there is a large group, this may be used for Science Fair part 1)
Week 6 mini Science Fair. Students will set up their projects for an invited panel of judges to review and provide feedback. A variety of certificates will be awarded to reward creativity, accuracy, presentation, ingenuity, and imagination!
session #1: returning 2026-2027
“Fact of the Matter” -- Students will spend 3 weeks investigating liquids, then 3 weeks on gasses
Liquid activities will explore cohesions and surface tension, Brownian motion, density, miscibility, and colloids. Hands-on projects will include zip boats, magic milk, gak, density columns, and Cartesian divers. Gas activities will demonstrate that gas has matter, creates pressure, and can act on other objects, often in quite a dynamic fashion. Hands-on explorations will involve balloons, candles, Alka-Seltzer “rockets,” soda can crushing and restoration, plus a grande finale in week 6. The students will keep and take home many of their experiments.
Parents will be selected first come/first served based on class size and their availability.