The design process is a valuable approach to so many tasks – it uses all parts of our mind, puts our hands to work, and reveals unexpected solutions. So much happens when we take an idea, build it and test it out. The real benefit of this approach is that it is so much fun to do!

Before each project we ask: What type of person are we designing for? How old is she and what does she like to do? What materials do we have and how can we use them?

We take thinking out of the head and into sketches and models. The instructor offers some key parameters and teaches simple but effective tools in sketching and model-making. Girls are encouraged to experiment widely in the form and function of their toys, then channel their explorations into surprising results.

Some favorite projects include pop-ups, games, small-scale environments, characters, costuming, toy-for-a-friend, and packaging and display. This is such a popular class, we are offering two sections: take either or both without repeat. For girls who took it last summer, note this on your registration.

Sure, graphic novels are so popular today that many classic story series are being re-issued as graphic novels. And who can resist the dynamism that illustrations and dialog bubbles bring to the story? Comics and graphic novels are also perfect examples of carefully crafted storyboards – a critical tool in identifying the main elements and plot points in a story.

In this class, we sketch, collage and illustrate while also learning about how stories are crafted, what makes a plot move along, who makes compelling characters and when to add details in words or illustrations.

There is no specific skill-set or experience required! Each girl brings her own ideas and sketching style and the instructor helps her find the most compelling parts of her style and build on them.

For the budding novelist, Zine Scene and Story Arts complement each other. Zine Scene focuses on writing and on the roles involved in making a magazine, incorporating collaboration and group work. Our Story Arts projects are largely individual efforts, and girls focus on illustration and storytelling.

Do you turn your kitchen into your personal lab? Is the science experiment book your favorite book on the
shelf? Do you invent ways to make things fizz, pop, refract or defy the laws of gravity?

This theme is for girls who love to explore, investigate and experiment in science. Our instructor puts your experimentation skills to test! We make our laboratory indoors and out. We investigate electricity, chemistry, light, sound, energy and more.

Our goal is for girls to experiment in science intensively and freely, without worrying about a right answer. We use a range of materials, and investigate everyday events, large and small. Science surrounds us, and understanding this is the basis of enjoying it.

Girls keep a science journal to track experiments, make predictions and record outcomes. At the end of the week, they present their favorite experiments for students and parents in their science exhibition.

For lots of great home experiments and a nice site, check out www.stevespanglerscience.com.

This theme ties a love of animals to a larger understanding of animals’ relationships to each other and their environment. Animal lovers get a more focused picture of types of species and the dichotomous key, behavioral traits, symbiotic relationships, and intricate relationships with ecosystems. Girls learn how animals rely on their natural habitats and how their habitats rely on them.

Using what they learn about species and traits, girls create their own animals and turn the classroom into an environment for their creatures. Guest visitors and excursions add to the week’s events.

Love to build or never tried it? Come see what fun it is! Our goal is to find the value in learning from what works – and especially, what doesn’t work – to make our projects stronger and better. In our Building Workshop, we think with our hands. We build; it falls; we learn; we build it better – it works!

We start the week with small, quick projects like “Break and Make,” disassembling salvaged items and reassembling the parts into new objects. Then we dive into larger, collaborative projects that may include a clubhouse, geodesic dome (pictured here!) or something more abstract.

Girls learn about patterning, project-planning, fastenings, materials, and strength and structure. It is safely guided by an experienced instructor.

Last summer, our girls produced Curious Jane Magazine during their non-theme periods. The project was so popular (and girls always wanted to spend more time on it) that we’ve dedicated a course to it. For girls who are interested in anything to do with (maga)zines – in print or online – join the Zine Scene!

Girls collaborate to develop an innovative theme for their issue, and they take on all roles in its production: layout and creative direction, photography and illustration, interviewing, writing, fact-checking and publishing.

No matter her job on the staff, each girl contributes at least two written pieces – fiction and non-fiction. The instructor helps girls improve their writing skills by learning to identify the audience, best resources, and any unique or surprising approaches as a basis for researching and crafting their works.

Girls learn to broaden their own ideas and support those of others, especially when responding critically. The instructor pushes them to come up with something more creative by working together than each individual could produce on her own. Of course, they take home their very own magazine!

Poly Prep’s Dyker Heights campus is an oasis in the city – with lawns, waddling animals, lush trees and a large pond! Here, at CJ Outdoors, girls become science detectives, indoors and out. Pondology is our special focus for Lab Science here.

Girls learn about and explore the waterside ecosystem first-hand. They collect water samples, pond organisms and plant life and test these in the lab. They make connections about the structure of ecosystems and learn how pond life ebbs, flows and sustains itself. Girls also make predictions about local effects of environmental change, pollution and restoration efforts, and test their ideas through lab activities.

Take Lab Science to the next level with Pondology! This is offered at our Poly Prep location only; to register, choose the Poly Prep location, then Lab Science.

Aerodynamics! Propulsion! Gravitational force! Join us in blasting off with this great twist on our Building Workshop at CJ Outdoors – Poly Prep only!

Girls learn the basics of rocket science as well as Newton’s Laws of Motion in fun, project-based activities. We spend the cooler morning hours outdoors, working on our rocket projects. In hot afternoons, we move inside to continue with rocket-related activities and try our hands at a wide variety of building projects.

Rocket construction and launches complete this week of boundless possibilities!

Rocket Science is the special focus of our Building Workshop for Curious Jane Outdoors (Poly Prep). To register, simply choose Poly Prep for your location and then Building Workshop for your theme.