by: Ted Hamm
Welcome Back IDEAS Academy!
Each year begins with a focus on intentionally building our community atIDEAS Academy. We do this by devoting time to getting to know one another as people with stories, as learners with goals, and as supporters we need to take on the challenges of an academic program that values creativity and innovation. As we did at the beginning of the 2014 - 2015 school year, we will be spending the first two days of school at Camp Anokijig. We will use this space to get know advisory groups, reflecting on individual growth and needs, and experiencing the creative process. The schedule is as follows:
Thursday, September 1st - Camp Anokijig
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7:45am All students arrive at IDEAS Academy (Meet in Cafeteria)
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7:55am All students bussed to Camp Anokijig
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Gathering & Advisory Development
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Lunch (Provided by Camp Anokijig)
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Advisory Development & Reflection
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2:30am Students in grades 9 and 10 bussed back to IDEASAcademy
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2:30am Students in grades 11 and 12 remain at Camp Anokijig
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Camp Anokijig Free Period
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Leadership Development
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Dinner (Provided by Camp Anokijig)
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Leadership Development
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Campfire & Werewolf
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11:00pm Sleep!
Juniors and Seniors will spend the night at Camp Anokijig so that we can provide our olders with a focused opportunity to develop and hone leadership skills for the upcoming school year and beyond. While every student has a role in setting the tone for the school year, it is important for olders to organize their past experiences and help model our habits.
Friday, September 2nd - Camp Anokijig
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7:45am Students in grades 9 and 10 arrive at IDEAS Academy (Meet in Cafeteria)
(Breakfast for grades 11 and 12 provided by Camp Anokijig) -
7:55 Students in grades 9 and 10 bussed to Camp Anokijig
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Whole school introduction to mini-project day
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Ideation, research, creation with Advisory
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Lunch (Provided by Camp Anokijig)
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Rehearse and present mini-projects
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2:30pm All students bussed back to IDEAS Academy
Permission slips are required for all students. If you did not complete one at registration, please stop in the office to do so prior to the first day of school. Or print out the following documents and bring them with signatures on the first day of school. > Grades 9 and 10, > Grades 11 and 12
The permission slips above also include a list of items that students should bring to Camp Anokijig with them. If you do not have items on the list, please do not hesitate to contact any of our staff members this week. If you are not sure who to contact, please email Kimberly at kjohnson@etudegroup.org or call Jenn at 920-459-0950. We do have extra items we can share. (Please note that technology and traditional school supplies will note be needed until the following week when we are at IDEAS Academy.)
Tuesday, September 6th through Friday, September 9th - IDEAS Academy
Our second week of school will build on our time at Camp Anokijig, continuing to strengthen community and engage in the core practices of the school. We will still begin our days at 7:55am and end at 3:06pm (2:00pm on Wednesday), but we have organized the days differently. Half of each day this week will be dedicated to collaborative mini-projects, extending practice with the creative process and developing ideas forIDEAS Project Block projects. We will also focus on school culture and introductions to academic classes. We will follow a regular daily schedule starting on September 12th. Please see the overviews of each day below:
September 6th
- Advisory (Advisory Rooms)
- Mini Project IDEATION (Project Rooms)
- Closed Lunch (Cafeteria)
- Advisory (Advisory Rooms)
- Academic Blocks 5, 6, 7, 8 (Academic Classrooms)
- Advisory (Advisory Rooms)
September 7th
- Restorative Practices (Assigned Rooms)
- Town Hall (Drama Room)
- Advisory - Chromebook Distribution (Advisory Rooms)
- Closed Lunch (Cafeteria or Mini Project Groups)
- Entrance Interviews (Project Rooms)
- Mini Project RESEARCH (Project Rooms)
September 8th
- Mini Project CREATION (Project Rooms)
- Closed Lunch (Cafeteria or Mini Project Groups)
- Advisory (Advisory Rooms)
- Block 5 (Academic Classrooms)
- Block 7 (Academic Classrooms)
September 9th
- Mini Project PRESENTATIONS (Project Rooms)
- Closed Lunch (Closed Lunch)
- Advisory (Advisory Rooms)
- Block 6 (Academic Classrooms)
- Block 8 (Academic Classrooms)
by: Beth Carreno
MAKER Break at Sheboygan Summer Music Series
MAKER Break, the creative makerspace program developed by The Étude Group’s IDEAS Academy and The ARTery of the John Michael Kohler Art Center, was a featured program at the August 11th Levitt Amp Sheboygan Summer Music Series.
by: Beth Carreno
Announcing MAKER BREAK: A Summer Makerspace Program
We are excited to announce a free summer makerspace program developed by IDEAS Academy[ideas/] and The ARTery of The John Michael Kohler Arts Center. MAKER BREAK is a series of summer workshops and sessions that explore a wide range of making practices and activities. Participants can explore everything from circuitry and mic building at IDEAS Academy to knotsmanship and screenprinting in The ARTery.
by: Beth Carreno
The Mystical World of Roald Dahl at IDEAS Academy
Everyone who has walked through the halls of IDEAS and Mosaic in recent weeks has noticed a giant peach, the huge copy of Matilda, and a small chocolate factory. These set pieces have had many people wondering how they would be used. That question was answered on Tuesday night when Diane Jones presented her Exhibition of Learning in the John Michael Kohler Art Center Matrix on Tuesday, May 24th.
by: Sarah Williams, Étude Studios Writing Intern
IDEAS Spring Exhibitions of Learning Begin
The lights dim, pencils are poised at the ready over feedback sheets, and a hush falls over the crowd. It’s EoL season, and IDEAS Academy students are ready to present their work from the last semester and provide feedback to their peers. Because of the number of EOLS this semester, the event now spans from Monday through Thursday, with Monday being added into the schedule to showcase student films.
by: Kayla Guelig
Junior at IDEAS Academy Will Attend the TEACH Pre-College Program
Kayla Guelig, a junior at IDEAS Academy recently wrote a blog about her experiences tutoring kindergarten students through the SASD Youth-Tutoring-Youth Program (YTY). YTY supports students’ exploration of their future goals and helps them with post-secondary planning. In this follow-up blog, Kayla discusses the pre-college TEACH program that she will be attending in summer 2016.
by: Tad Phippen Wente, College Readiness Coordinator
IDEAS Spring College Readiness sprouted a range of opportunity
Recent weeks have been so busy I haven’t even had time to write about all that’s been happening in College Readiness at IDEAS Academy. Even as seniors wrap up their college admissions and scholarship materials, our school continues to work with them, and all of our students, to help them prepare and be ready for their futures. Here are some of the highlights.
by: Beth Carreno
IDEAS Academy Welcomes UWM Dancers
Dani Kuepper, Senior Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts, and her students recently visited IDEAS Academy to work with our dancers during their project block. Using the idea of “secrets” as inspiration for developing a dance, students worked on solo development with a variety of body movements. Ms. Kuepper then had IDEAS students work with UWM partners to integrate their movements into duet dances and create more challenging choreography.
by: Tad Phippen Wente, Creative Writing Teacher
Swamplandia! community read reaches students
Joining the recent Lakeland College Community Book Read featuring Karen Russell’s Swamplandia! gave me a chance to dabble with text and blackout poetry, which I brought back for students to try. Gina Covelli, Community Relations Manager, and Jodie Liedke, Assistant Professor of Composition, shared copies of pages from the novel. We read through, then circled words that stood out. Blacking out all the rest with heavy strokes of Sharpie produced a poem that maybe reinterpreted the pages or maybe spoke to the reader about some other observation. It reminded me of finding the carving within a great block of old wood: you carve away until the subject is revealed. One of my students, Jackson, remarked that using pages of fiction was a much more rewarding experience for blackout poetry, the word choices so much more beautiful than those of nonfiction articles.
by: Beth Carreno
The Étude Group's Maker Movement
There is a lot of talk in education these days about “makerspaces.” It seems to be a new buzz word. The reality is that while it may be a new concept for some in the education community, it’s one of the foundations for The Étude Group. While the concepts of making and creating are not new for us, our role in sharing this concept at a greater level with the community is.
