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Date: May 23, 2003
Author: Pamela Emery
Contact: Tom Wickersham

SPACES STILL AVAILABLE IN SUMMER CAMP

Looking for some summer fun for your children? You'll be pleased to learn there are still spaces remaining in Explorit Science Center's Summer Science Classes.

Summer is a time for exploration and discovery. Undoubtedly, many of your fond childhood memories include the unique experiences you had in informal educational settings - when you took the time to fiddle with things, created unique inventions, used your imagination, observed nature, or played with friends.

Many of the same kinds of activities you recall from your childhood are available for your children at Explorit this summer. Explorit has added more sections by offering additional classes at Birch Lane Elementary.

There are still spaces available in many of the weeklong Summer Science Classes. "This is due to the fact," says Explorit's program director Jessica Ruskin, "that Explorit has nearly doubled the number of classes we're offering and has extended our day to meet the needs of working families."

Due to the expanded summer schedule, you may still be able to find an opening in a class that will peak your child's interest. "Solving Science Mysteries," the ever-popular forensics class, still has morning and full-day openings for grades 1 to 2. A similar full-day class for grades 3 to 5 "Science Detectives" also has a few openings remaining.

Other classes that have current openings include full day classes "Chemistry Kitchen," "Blast Off," "Creeping and Crawling," and "Zoom into Engineering" for grades 1 to 2 and "Animals Around Us" and "Exciting Engineering" for grades 3 through 5.

Morning classes are 9:00 am to 12:30 pm and day long classes are 9:00 am to 5:30 pm for children in grades 1 through 5.

A full day of science can be a lot for anyone, but Explorit understands the needs of working families. "Explorit is aware that the full days can be long days, especially for the younger students," Ruskin noted. For those programs, the afternoons will be relaxed so the needs of each age group will be met.

The afternoon will be free flowing, full of guided discovery and game playing, along with down time to establish friendships with classmates. The students themselves will help guide the evolution of the science taught in the afternoons, from one day to the next.

One summer, a group of students worked on building long-lasting tunnels in the sand area behind the center. Another year, the students became extremely interested in simple machines and tried to build a working contraption that used all six kinds of simple machines. The nice thing about the afternoon program is it allows students to investigate topics that they are interested in, while being introduced to concepts they may never have thought about before.

For more information about Explorit's summer classes, take a look at Explorit's Web site www.explorit.org or call the Explorit office. Using the Internet is a simple way of determining the dates, times, prices and availability of a particular program. Also, do not hesitate to call and be put on the waiting list for a class. As summer schedules change, the perfect opening may just pop up.

Who knows what experiences your children will remember as adults or what experiences will impact their lives. Perhaps Explorit can help create some of those unforgettable moments.
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Explorit Science Center is at 3141 5th Street in East Davis. The current exhibition is "What's the Buzz? Insects around Us," which continues through June 8. Public hours are Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday from 1 to 4:30 p.m., and Tuesday through Friday from 2 to 4:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.explorit.org or call Explorit at (530) 756-0191.