2015 -16 Programming at the West Orange Community House BGC

It's been quite a year! If you didn't know, The West Orange Community House Boys & Girls Club operates 5 after-school programs within West Orange serving at the Washington, Hazel, Gregory, Pleasantdale, and Mount Pleasant Elementary Schools.    

Our daily programming at each site entails Homework Hour, Snack Time, Board Games, Arts/Crafts, and Gym Games facilitated mostly by certified PE Teachers.   Each site offers enrichment activities which are planned and programmed by the site staff.   Some of the programs include; Fun Foods, Special Arts/Craft Projects, Public Speaking, Robotics, Board Game Tournaments, DJ Dance Fitness, and Bucket Percussion!

We are currently facilitating an Asthma Awareness Program called "BEAM" (Breathe Easier with Asthma Management) made possible by the partnership between the BGCNJ and Horizon! 75 of our children will be educated on this prevalent disease.  Another important piece of this program involves educating asthmatic children how to better manage their asthma.  

If you have any questions about our program, feel free to email us at bgcwestorange@gmail.com or visit our website at www.bgcwo.org

Special Visitors Coming Up!

DJ Dance and Musical Races:  John Peterson

Gregory School: March 19th
Pleasantdale Elementary: March 23
Hazel Elementary March 24th
Washington Elementary:  April 1st


Minds In Motion: 

Monday,  March 30th	Tuesday,  March 31st	Wednesday, April 1st
1:30pm Gregory (45 kids) Chemical Creations	1:30pm Pleasantdale (45 kids) Chemical Creations	1:30pm Hazel (45 kids) Robotics
	3:00pm Washington (45 kids) Chemical Creations	3:00pm Gregory (40 kids) Chemical Creations

Gregory After-School Enrichment

After-Care Enrichment Registration

The West Orange Community House is proud to offer an Enrichment Program which will provide different opportunities for our children to continue to learn and grow! Children will meet once a week, starting (the week of) February 2, 2015 from 4:00pm-5:00pm for a six week session.   Each class can occupy 8 to 12 participants.  If the minimum registration is not reached, that particular class will not run.  This is…..FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE.

Building Fun: with Ms. Alyssa

Mondays (Grades 3-5)- Work with a new type of material each week (EX: Straw connectors, clay, paper, wooden sticks, Legos, and food) and build your own small creative structures. 

All Sports: with Mr. Tommy

Tuesdays (Grades: K-2)- Students will be introduced to new sports skills each week and apply those skills to a live game each session.

Thursdays (Grades: 3-5) - Students will be introduced to a new sport and learn important fundamental skills each week.  Competitive games are played during each session.

Arts ~n~ Crafts: with Ms. Alyssa

Thursdays (Grades K-2)- Explore your creative side and work on different art projects each week. (EX: Perler beads, fashion headbands, paper airplanes, key chains, jewelry, puppets, and shell crafts)

Connect Four and More with Ms. LuAnne & Mr. Jerry

Tuesdays (Grades 3-5)- Learn new strategies for Connect Four and other logic games, tournaments will be held as well!

Wednesdays (Grades K-2)- Enjoy some good old-fashioned fun by playing different board games and working in groups with friends.

Book Club with Ms. Brandi

Mondays (K-2) - Explore a new book theme every week!

Wednesdays (3-5) – Explore and discuss a selection of educational and fun books each week!

Trek Across America with Ms. Dawn

Fridays (K-5) – Build your physical endurance while trekking across America one step at a time!   Win Prizes for reaching certain milestones!

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!

Fall 2013 The After School Programs

It's been a while since I posted here but we have been pretty busy since school began.  First off, I can't believe it is already November!  I believe the last time I posted here it was 85 degrees outside, and now....brrrrrr... it's chilly out!  We are just heating up here at the After-school Programs at Gregory, Hazel, Washington, and Pleasantdale.

Since we began on September 9th, we have added various special activities and have invited very special visitors.   This is all on top of our basic programming staples which include; homework time (Power Hour), board games, gym activities, sport competitions, and arts & crafts.

As you can see, we were privileged to have the West Orange Fire Department AND West Orange Police Department visit to discuss various safety topics! In acknowledgement of Spanish Heritage month we asked West Orange's "Arts For Kids" to come and run special Latin music/dance workshops.   We are also working with a couple of members of Americorp, and together, we are coordinating community service projects.  Their first project was to plant over 150 flower blubs at Pleasantdale Elementary School and Gregory Elementary School.

Special Thanks to our wonderful associates and friends for helping our programs flourish;
Michele Thompson at Gregory Elementary School, Joanne Pollara at Pleasantdale, Ed Acevedo at Hazel Elementary, and Marie DeMaio at Washington School.

Coming Up:
Thanksgiving Activities and Parties
Late Fall Talent Shows
Holiday Parties
Magic Shows with Great Scott
Robotics with Minds In Motion
Basketball Site vs. Site Competition in March

Summer 2013

 

While the West Orange After School Programs take a break, the West Orange Community House and Boys & Girls Club keeps on movin' with the Summer Camp. Our camp has filled up to maximum capacity with a long waiting list.  The camp boasts generous hours from 7:30am to 6pm, weekly trips, pool trips, and many many daily activities.  The kids are having a blast and we still have the rest of the summer to keep on playing!

While the kids are playing, parents have already begun inquiring about our before and after school programs for the 2013-14 school year.  Registration will be fully available on July 15th online.   Again, we will be running the programs at Gregory, Hazel, Washington, Pleasantdale, and Mount Pleasant!  We will also be at the Edison and Liberty Middle Schools.  For further information, you'll have to visit our website at http://www.bgcwo.org.

We ran some excellent programs in the 2012-13 school year, and the upcoming year will be no different.  We are even talking about adding a few additional enrichment activities to each site to enhance the experience for our members.  If you have any questions and would like to talk to us, give us a call at the West Orange Community House at 973-736-1282 x19.  See you soon!

DJ Dance Parties in The After-School Programs

Held at the Washington, Gregory, Hazel, and Pleasantdale Elementary Schools

Youth Program Supervisor, John Peterson facilitates a DJ Dance Party every year for each after-school program.  Recognizing the need for our children to get and stay healthy, he turns fitness into FUN!

He brings his DJ Speaker,  iPad DJ'ing gear, and this year invited DJ (and program specialist from Washington School) Jean Marc Chery.   The theme of this year's visit was a balloon theme.  The kids had a blast relaying and popping the balloons.

Once the balloons were popped, MC Peterson and DJ Jean Marc Chery led group dances including the Cha Cha Slide, Chicken Dance, The YMCA, and more.  Our staff, school faculty, and even the parents couldn't resist the urge to Shake It Up!  Next time, we'll plan on formally inviting parents and staff to join in on the fitness and fun!

BGCA's Million Members, Million Hours

BGCA's (The Boys & Girls Club of America) Year of Service initiatives provide Club members with opportunities to engage in service, practice leadership skills and effect change in Clubs and communities. For the past few years, our Year of Service initiatives have been limited to seven signature service events. In 2013, the BGCA is introducing year-round opportunities for members to engage in service – no matter what day of the year it is.

The overarching goal for our Movement is for one million members to give one million hours of service – a goal that can be stated as simply as "Million Members, Million Hours." This goal can easily be achieved if you consider that in any given year, all members can give at least one hour of their time.

To help Clubs engage all members in at least one hour of service, BGCA has created new "One Member, One Hour" Activities. These are activities that can easily be conducted throughout the Club, reinforcing the idea that character, leadership and service can be taught across Club programming, not just in small-group settings or programs as has historically been the case.

Our program in West Orange has pledged 200 hours.  Each child will have an opportunity to serve by writing letters to the members of our Armed Forces!  BGCA offers many other ideas to participate in the Million Member, Million Hour initiative and we look forward to adding more hours after the completion of this volunteer project on May 7th.  

May 13th UPDATE: 

Here are some letters from the kids to our troops!

Black History Month Performers

Thank you Arts For Kids Inc. for coming into our after-school programs last Friday!   Our children learned about African American Heritage by participating in a variety of musical and lyrical activities.  See more below!



Pleasantdale Enrichment in The Program

Not sure if you are aware but the Pleasantdale After-School program operates above and beyond your typical after school program.   Many generic after-school programs operate more as glorified babysitting services.   They may offer board games, free play, and assistance with homework , but we offer much more than that for your children.  The West Orange Community House and Boys & Girls Club is proud that our staff has broken the mold of the after-school program paradigm and has shifted it into an safe and enriching environment, and this program at no extra cost!

Do you know what we have been doing in the program recently?  Besides our standard games, art,  and sport activities we run our own Enrichment Activity Classes!   On Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:45pm to 4:45pm the kids participate in our Special Arts & Class Enrichment Class with Mrs. Niki Seibert (Certified Art Teacher).  On Mondays  from 4:00pm to 5:00pm the kids participate in out FUN FOODS enrichment class with Katlyn Brennan (Program Supervisor).  Wednesdays are Board Game Tournament Days, and Wednesdays and Fridays, the children alternate throughout the program in Our ALL SPORTS Enrichment class with Mr. Paul Kirsch (certified Phys Ed. Teacher in West Orange)!  For more about the schedule , visit the website at www.bgcwo.org.

If you haven’t noticed, we have also had monthly pizza parties and fun visitors, like Great Scott the Magician!  We have also and still plan on having anti-drugs and bullying workshops,  Art Contests, DJ Dance Aerobic Parties,  Robotics sessions, and so much more this year!    Like I said before, this is not your typical after-school program, it’s an After-School Experience! 

Master-Piece

January 18th was our first inter-site Art Gallery/Contest-- "Master-Piece"!  Each site and almost every child was immersed in some type of art project. Using modeling clay, cardboard, craft sticks, all kind of paper, glueing, and coloring supplies, the kids created some fantastic pieces!    Washington School , Hazel School, Pleasantdale, and Gregory School all delivered with some great work, however there could only be one piece of art chosen as the "Master-Piece".
 The Winner Is!! 

Piece name:  Turtle on The Bongos

Artists: Kianna Rodriguez and Risa Kampel  

 Here are some pictures of our students working in their "Medium".