Stories of the Forest After School Program
Overview
Monday - Thursday throughout the school year, following the Cairo-Durham school district calendar
Families may register for the full week, or for individual weekly days
3 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Open to children ages 4 - 12
Wheelhouse may be added as a drop-off location for bussing through the school district
Our after school program will highlight visual and performing arts in a nature-based setting. Add the skills of learning language arts, self-control, emotional embodiment, and social interactions to your child’s “Wheelhouse” with our afterschool enrichment program featuring story immersion through play-based exploration!
Curriculum
Each day of the week will spotlight a different creative discipline. Students may register for 1-4 days per week.
Weekly Schedule
Mondays: Creative Writing & Story Craft
Tuesdays: Theater Arts
Wednesdays: Music & Sound Explorations
Thursdays: Visual Arts & Movement
***Please note: there is no after school program on Fridays.
This program will offer a comfortable, home-like atmosphere for playful end-of-day explorations of an open-ended sound and narrative “forest performance project” that emerges from the collective play of the classroom community. “Performances” will be recorded and shared internally with families of the classroom.
Our gentle afternoon rhythm will include outdoor play (including frequent walks in our nine acres of forest), frequent snacks (please send two small snacks with your child!), a time for listening to and creating stories and songs, and an art activity based on our daily story theme.
Unit Curriculum
Please note that our curriculum runs in a 3-week cycle, but we welcome anyone, any time!
Every three weeks, a small library of books around themes from the Unit Storybook will be presented. For two weeks, friends will engage in creative, open-ended play while exploring these stories. Our final week we will prepare a presentation to share (either) a narrative of our play OR to perform a play of the narrative!
Week 1: Exploration of Story
Monday: What is the story?
Tuesday: Play the story
Wednesday: Story listening
Thursday: Visual story
Week 2: Exploration of Story Method
Monday: Walking Story
Tuesday: Story Theater
Wednesday: Music Story
Thursday: Dancing/Movement Story
Week 3: Presenting and Archiving
Monday: Review the exploration and prepare capsule for archival
Tuesday: Record a performance
Wednesday: Debrief/Plan for next project
Thursday: Wrap Party! & Archive project
Tuition
Class Fees & Our Sliding Scale Approach
We believe that access to education should be open to all, regardless of financial resources. As a result, many of our community programs are free of charge. For other programs, we charge a sliding scale fee to cover our costs. You may self-select your sliding scale fee upon registration. We provide income brackets as a guideline, but we also understand that each family’s situation is different. As you select your sliding scale fee, we ask you to be mindful of the fact that the long-term sustainability of our programs depends on our community members stretching a bit to contribute what they can, while also being realistic about what they need.
Fee Guidelines (please self-select your rate after reviewing these suggested guidelines. Yes, you really just pick the amount you can pay!)
Tier 1 - Subsidized Rate: Recommended for households with annual income below $40,000
Tier 2 - Standard Rate: Recommended for households with annual income between $40,000 - $90,000
Tier 3 - Sponsor Rate: Recommended for households with annual income above $90,000
2024 - 2025 Rates
Tier 1: $16/day
Tier 2: $22/day
Tier 3: $28/day