Course Descriptions

Mona Lisa Smile

• Entering grades 2-3-4

Calling all artists, scientists and inventors as we guide you on a  journey into the lives and creative minds of innovators such as Leonardo da Vinci, the original Renaissance man. In this class we will be infusing art, science, nature and imagination into an adventure that will open up the senses and challenge students to see the world through new eyes.

Students will explore inventions and expand upon ideas of their own. Through hands-on projects and the use of a variety of art mediums, students will learn about Visuvian man, Fibonacci patterns and numbers in nature, the illusive
Mobius strip, and much more.  Come with a colorful palate, sketch pad,and a paint brush in hand ready to play, explore, and discover new worlds.

• Instructors: Beth Kraft and Libby Silvestri

Beth Kraft is a veteran teacher in the Novato Unified School District and an advocate of students with special talents and abilities. Beth background in teaching science with art has been a mainstay in her approach to teaching young children. Using the training she received at the Exploratorium, Beth continues to enrich the concepts she teaches using a project-based model of instruction.

In her third year with the Summer Odyssey program, Beth team-teaches with Libby Silvestri, blending the interests and talents of both instructors to Mona Lisa Smiles.

Libby Hass Silvestri comes to Dominican's Summer Odyssey as a penguin alum from the credential program with 17 years of teaching experience. She holds two credentials,  a single subject in English and a multiple subject credential. Having taught six years in the first and second grades, Silvestri currently teaches fourth grade at Lu Sutton Elementary School in Novato.

A Marin native, she attended St. Isabella's School, Marin Catholic High School, Saint Mary's College in Moraga, graduating with a major in English and a minor in Business.
She and her husband have three children, and being a GATE parent herself,  has provided her with a heightened awareness of GATE student needs and parental perspectives. Her love of music comes in handy both in the classroom and on stage as Libby is a professional vocalist and musician.

Showtime!

• Entering grades 3-4-5 

Do you love to act?  This is your chance to shine!  You'll learn all aspects of putting on a play as we take a script from the page to the stage.  Learn how to audition well, how to memorize your lines easily, how to project and how to bring a scene to life.  In addition to rehearsing scenes, we'll be busy making props and pulling together costumes.  On our final day, your friends and family will gather in the audience.  When the curtain goes up, it's showtime!

• Instructor: Nancy Wilson

Nancy Wilson returns to Summer Odyssey this year with new ideas to enhance this performing arts course for youngsters. In just a two-week time period, Nancy is able to evaluate the talents of these young performers and develop their skills to produce an outstanding production of a play performed on-stage at Angelico Hall at Dominican.

The experience she brings to these productions is incredible, and well-received by the audience on performance days. Nancy currently teaches in the Larkspur School District and is responsible for their annual performing arts presentations.

The Art of Problem Solving

• Entering grades 4-5-6

Do you love a creative math challenge? We challenge you to use your brain power and your creativity to problem solve by creating spiro-graphs, building models, manipulating tiles, experiencing pointillism, playing games, solving puzzles, and drawing geometric designs. These brain stretching activities will allow you to experience math like you have never experienced it before. Bring your skills of persuasion to explain how and why these puzzles work, after having stumped your friends and family!
Warning: this is not your everyday math class!

• Instructor: Ruth Leader

Ruth Leader is a veteran teacher in the Ross Valley School District and one of the key Summer Odyssey instructors. Her passion for teaching young children to stretch their understanding of math is evidenced in the variety of challenges she presents to the Summer Odyssey participants.

Ruth’s hands-on, inquiry-based approach allows for the students to tackle new problems with enthusiasm while developing strong peer-relations with classmates.  The variety of experiences the students take with them following the two weeks of intensive study are noteworthy.

The Wonders and Magic of Spanish

• Entering grades 3-4-5

Interested in the world around you? Are you fascinated by the history of foreign language? Learn Spanish as we explore the origins of many customs and traditions celebrated throughout the world. We will learn Spanish and the history of the Spanish language through songs, stories, games, food, art activities, and cultural celebrations. In learning Spanish, we will make connections with other cultural traditions to appreciate the diversity of our world.

• Instructor: Norma Guerra-Shaner

Norma Guerra-Shaner shares her passion for the Spanish language and culture with students in a very creative, and entertaining manner. Students will be immersed in all of the components of learning a new language and culture through a hands-on approach that utilizes project-based learning.

Norma has spent a lifetime teaching students in the Larkspur School District to embrace a foreign language opportunity with enthusiasm and creativity, including many aspects of the Spanish culture we enjoy living in California.

Yes…It IS Rocket Science

• Entering grades 5-6-7

How would you like to build and launch a real rocket? From paper airplanes to plastic bottle rockets, you will learn the principles of flight and put them into action. When you’ve got it, you’ll construct your own solid-fuel rockets from Estes kits and send them into space. You’ll learn how to determine just how high your rocket could go, and the best way to bring it back. This class is always a real blast!

Instructor: Ron Pembleton

Ron Pembleton comes to the Summer Odyssey program from Kent Middle School, in Kentfield. He has been teaching middle school physical science for fourteen years.

His first year teaching was at Vandenburg Middle School, the west coast rocket base for the U.S. Air Force.  Having witnessed several rocket launches on the base, Ron enjoys teaching rocketry to future astronauts and engineers. He has received numerous education innovator grants and awards over the years, including most recently 
an "A+ for Energy" grant from BP Oil, which allowed Ron and his students to build Rube Goldberg simple machines using solar energy as a power source. He refers to teaching about rocket science as “a real blast”.

You Be the Judge!

• Entering grades 6-7-8-9

How would you like to be lead counsel in the Big Bad Wolf’s criminal trial? Did he eat the bacon or was he framed? Would you like to be the judge? Learn how a real criminal trial operates as we take famous “characters” to court. In this exciting simulation, students will form teams for both the prosecution and defense, act as presiding judges, witnesses and defendants, and serve on juries. Prosecutors and the defense will learn how to offer evidence and how to shape a good argument. Judges and jury will determine how to listen critically for the truth, and everyone will have loads of fun.

• Instructor: Kate McDougall

Kate McDougall has been teaching middle school since 1974, for the Novato Unified School District, in the areas of social studies, English, and theater.  She has been teaching gifted learners for 16 years, and is now teacher liaison for the GATE program.  She has taught for the Summer Odyssey since its early years.  Currently, she teaches in the Education Department for Dominican University.  When asked about teaching adolescents, she says, "Their willingness to try new ways to show what they know is what keeps me going.  I love them for their exuberance."

Writing for the Silver Screen

• Entering grades 6-7-8-9

Itching to become a famous screen writer? Are you interested in creating memorable characters and realistic dialogue? What makes certain scripts superior and others forgettable? Discover why some movies grab you from the opening scene, while others are so boring you demand a refund. Learn about dramatic structure, screenplay paradigm, and script format. Discover how to analyze both classic and contemporary films from a screenwriter’s point of view. Who knows, this class may be the launching pad for your Hollywood screenwriting career.  Note: As part of the class we will view many scenes and scene sequences from a wide variety of G, PG and PG-13 movies.

• Instructor: Peter Gavin

Peter Gavin has taught grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 in California and Vermont since 1985.  In 1991 – 1992 Peter taught at a primary school in Belfast, Northern Ireland while on a Fulbright Teaching Exchange.  Currently he teaches 8th grade English at Kent Middle School, where he has been happily employed since 1996.  In 2001 he received a national teaching award from River of Words (riverofwords.org), an organization co-founded by former United States Poet Laureate and 2008 Pulitzer Award Winner for Poetry, Robert Hass.  Peter loves being in the classroom, helping to mold life-long learners out of his students.  He is a lover of film and believes every good movie starts with a well written and well conceived screenplay.  Peter lives in San Rafael with his lovely wife, a fabulous four year-old English Springer Spaniel named Miles and three orange tabbies.

Print Like Picasso!

• Entering grades 7-8-9

Ever want to create art in the style of an artistic genius?  Have you ever wondered how Picasso created many of his famous prints?  You will learn the basics of printmaking, starting with mono prints, color, and positive and negative space.  Then you will learn how to plan and execute a linoleum reduction print.  By the end, you will have artwork that you will be proud to display.

• Instructor: Jennifer Hirt

Jennifer Hirt has taught elementary art in the Akron (Ohio) Public Schools for four years before moving to California. Her specialties as an artist include printmaking, ceramics, and photography. She earned a BA in Art History and a Master’s Degree in Art Education from Case Western Reserve University. After a few years of being a nanny, she attended the University of San Francisco and received my credential in Special Education. Currently, she is in her second year of teaching in the Larkspur School District and fifth year teaching in California.