TRAVELS THE SILK ROAD
Submitted by Self Development Staff Self Development Academies (SDA) is proud to announce our very popular, The Silk Road Summer Day Camp Program. The program offers enrichment in the mornings and field trips and swimming in the afternoons. The program will be offered at both the SDA Mesa and Phoenix campuses.
The program will provide accelerated enrichment, as well as address learning loss during the pandemic through the use of a fun, hands-on program designed with the student’s needs in mind.
The summer camp also provides kids with the opportunity to participate in summer activities such as swimming sessions at one of the area pools and field trips to places like the Natural Science Museum. Self Development does a phenomenal job at making learning fun but also encouraging children to learn without them realizing how much they’re learning and growing.
Self Development Summer Program has helped bridge some of the gaps in learning from the fallout after COVID and has done amazing things for children’s development in all aspects — physical, mental, and emotional.
The program has been developed by the leaders of the SDA network of schools and Self Development Preschool, which has served the Mesa community for over 30 years. SDA-Mesa, the founding K-8 charter school, has been in operation for over 20 years, has been consistently nationally ranked, and has won numerous awards.
The programs at both campuses are open to students who are entering kindergarten to eighth grade in the upcoming 2023-24 school year. Current SDA students, as well as students interested in attending SDA, are encouraged to sign up.
During the program, the students will have the opportunity to travel to Sumer, Egypt, Greece, and other lands along the Silk Road.
The program will be multifaceted as students participate in multiple subjects all focused on areas visited along the trade routes of the Silk Road. As the students travel through time, they will participate in hands-on activities centered around ancient folklore and the origin of knowledge in math, art, engineering, music, and astronomy. The students will learn new material and participate in new knowledge-based projects throughout the program. The program will focus on math, language arts, and enrichment activities such as socialemotional learning and public speaking.
DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM
SDA focuses on hands-on, in-person learning. The Summer Program’s activities will allow the students to use their knowledge in a fun and creative way to recreate and explain ancient discoveries, as well as create works of art. Many of the art designs will incorporate math concepts, patterns, and geography that lead to the students creating jewelry, tapestries, and other objects through their designs.
The culminating activities will be a STEM-based project related to a civilization along the Silk Road. The projects will include using math and science to devise methods to move large stones, how to erect large buildings, and ship building to name just a few of the possible projects the students will participate in.
Students will also participate in presentations of their art to fellow classmates and their families utilizing the art they create throughout the summer. The students will set up a museum with the items created during the camp and create presentations based on what they have learned about the ancient civilizations along the Silk Road. This will allow them to use what they learn about ancient civilizations in a fun, interactive way.
The program for the Mesa campus will run Monday through Friday. The program will begin May 30 and run through July 14 from 8 a.m. to noon. Extended day programs are offered in the afternoons including swimming, field trips, and other fun activities. The half-day program will be free to all participants. For extended care following the program, SDP will be offering an extended program with additional activities for a fee.
If you are interested in enrolling your student in SDA-Mesa’s summer day camp facilitated by Self Development Preschool, please contact Vernetta Madsen at (480) 396-3522