After School Programs Flourish in West Orange

We are already in November! They say time flies by when we are busy and we have been pretty busy at the after school programs. Since September, each site has had a magician visit, DJ dance parties, The fire department visit, a Shoprite nutritionist come every month to make healthy snacks with our kids, Gale Richter run workshops on anti-bullying and drug prevention, numerous sports competitions, and things are only going to move faster!

Coming Up Soon:
Thanksgiving Parties on Wednesday, November 26
Police Departments Visit in December
Robotics TBD
DJ Dance Parties (Balloon Races)- Join us!
December Holiday Parties

Camp Carnival!

2014 Summer Camp Pictures

DJ Music Party at the Summer Camp

This is the first full week of the the first session of the West Orange Summer camp!  It's been a HOT week but the kids have been doing some really cool things.  On Wednesday,  Program Supervisor for the BGCWO (John Peterson) ran a DJ Music Party for grades 3, 5, 6, and 7. Next Tuesday we will be back to include grades k, 1, 2, and 4 so don't feel left out.  Here are some clips of the event.

West Orange Town Summer Camp Trip Schedule

FunPlex on Thursday July 3rd, the entire camp from 1pm to 4pm
Turtle Back Zoo Wednesday July 9th (100 kids- ask camp supervisor) From  9:30am to 1:30pm
Turtle Back Zoo Wednesday July 10th (100 kids- ask camp supervisor) From  9:30am to 1:30pm
Eagle Rock Bowling  Monday July 14th (70 kids - ask camp supervisor) 12:50pm to 3:30pm
Eagle Rock Bowling Wednesday July 16th (70 kids - ask camp supervisor) 12:50pm to 3:30pm 
Eagle Rock Bowling Thursday July 17th (70 kids - ask camp supervisors) 12:50pm to 3:30pm
Tomahawk Lake - TBD

Site Carnivals Ending The Year

The Washington, Hazel, Gregory, and Pleasantdale After-School Programs all ended the year with a bang!  Each site planned and facilitated their own site carnivals on the last day of school.  Most of the sites had Food, Games, Prizes, Photobooth, Face Painter, and tons of fun. Instead of explaining what they did, check out the video below!


The West Orange Community House and Boys & Girls Club After-School Program.
Providing a safe, fun, and enriching place for kids!

Kids Becoming Aware: Smart Moves

Gale Richter has been facilitating "Smart Moves" workshops at our after school programs for the past few years.   What is "Smart Moves"?    The program uses a team approach involving club staff, peer leaders, parents, and community representatives. More than simply emphasizing a "Say No" message, the program teaches young people ages 6 to 15 how to say no by involving them in discussion and role-playing, practicing resistance and refusal skills, developing assertiveness, strengthening decision-making skills and analyzing media and peer influence. The ultimate goal: to promote abstinence from substance abuse through the practice of responsible behavior.

April Showers & May Flowers

The last few months have been pretty busy.  During our half days in March we invited back Arts for Kids Inc. to provide our programs with fun workshops for Black History Month.   Minds In Motion's Inc LLC (German Galindo) also returned to run follow up robotics workshops.  This time, our students competed in robot vs. robot strength matches.  To top off those long half days, we threw pizza parties at each site.

Things are getting much better for all of us now that the weather is cooperating.  Warmer temperatures allow for our kids and the staff to get outside to breathe and stretch out!  Speaking about warmer temperatures, our CAMP flyers were sent to all the schools this week.  If anyone needs information about the West Orange Community House Summer Camp, they can visit www.bgcwo.org.

The programs are running strong.   We are stocked with sports/gym stuff,  we have our arts & crafts supplies, and our board games still (surprisingly) have most of their pieces.   In addition to these components we are running Powerful Boys & Girls Club programs to help our kids develop into mature and confident young people.  Our site leaders facilitate "Power Hour" every day from 3:30pm to 4:30pm to assist and encourage our students to complete their homework. Every week LaChell Miller, Shoprite Nutritionist, visits our programs to discuss "Healthy Habits" and make healthy snacks with the kids.   Gale Richter has been visiting our programs this Spring discussing components of "Smart Moves".  Her classes are vital, tackling issues like bullying, drug awareness, and low-self confidence.    
  
 

GREGORY After-School Program Highlights

Gregory After-School Program Highlights   

They say, “time flies when you are having fun” and they weren’t kidding. Here are some of the Special Activities/Visitors from September through January.  

• WO Police and Fire Department visited in October and November (safety talk)
• Planted Flower Bulbs with our Americorp Member Helen Garcia
• Celebrated Latin Heritage month with Arts For Kids Inc.
• Created Healthy Snacks with Shoprite Nutritionist, Lachell Miller (monthly)
• Danced in the DJ Dance/Fitness programs with DJ/MC John Peterson
• Built and Raced ROBOTS with Minds In Motion of NJ LLC (Robotics) in December
• Students Performed in the very entertaining December Talent Show

Coming Up!

February 14th at 1:30pm:  Arts For Kids Inc. visits to help celebrate

African American Heritage Month

February 14th at 3:30pm:  Valentines arts & crafts project

February 20th at 4:15pm: DJ Dance Fitness Party (group dances and relays) YMCA, CHA CHA, MACARENA, ELECTRIC SLIDE, CUPID SHUFFLE, etc.  Parents are Welcome to join the fun!

Enrichment Classes Running:

Play Practice for The Wizard of OZ:  Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 4:30 to 5:30

(The Performance is Friday, May 16th)

Dancing With Dawn (Cardio Workout) - Tuesday and Thursday at 4:30 - 5:30

Parents are welcome!

All Sports with Paul Kirsch:  Monday through Thursday 4:00 to 6:00

(Gym Games/basketball/football)

Daily available activities: Power Hour (homework club), arts & crafts supplies, board games/legos, quiet time/space for those who still need to complete homework or read, etc.

for more information visit: www.bgcwo.org

Winter Activities and Acknowledgements

I am proud to work with such great staff!  Winters are always the roughest season to manage a program, but our staff has been doing a great job ensuring our kids are safe and having fun in the after-school programs.  When it's warm enough to go outside, (and after homework is complete) our staff brings our members outside to loosen up from being inside all day.  Lately, with sub-zero temperatures, our students must stay inside and we all have to work together to continue to ensure our kids have an optimal experience in our program.

You can check each site's calendar at www.bgcwo.org and see the fun daily activities posted by our site leaders.  You will also notice SPECIALS throughout each month.  In December we invited Minds In Motion NJ LLC into all of our programs to facilitate "Robotics"  workshops.  You will also see pictures of me DJ'ing/MC'ing the DJ Dance Fitness Parties.  The Gregory After School Program stepped it up a notch and hosted a December Talent show with a full house coming to watch it!

Special Acknowledgements: 

We want to thank West Orange Unico for donating new educational toys and games to our children at Washington Elementary School during the Holiday Season.  As you can see in the pictures above, they went so far as to beautifully wrap each gift and tag each gift in the interest of age and gender.  The children really appreciated your kind hearts!