For 200 of the students at May Watts Elementary School in Naperville, the day just isn’t long enough. They stay for an extra hour after school to learn everything from poetry to tumbling in the Watts After-School Enrichment Classes.
First through 5th graders in the school of 900 this spring could choose from 11 after-school classes offered for one hour twice a week by the school’s PTA, said PTA president Nicki Sangdahl.
“People love it. It’s very well received,” Sangdahl said of the 4-year-old program. “Initially we didn’t know what was going to come out of it, but when you look at the classes available, there’s something there for everybody.”
Spring classes include “Roses Are Red, Poetry is Cool,” “Tumbling,” “Mind Challenge,” “3-D is Fun,” “Squirt Painting,” “Science Fun” and “Dino Park Tycoon,” a computer class where children plan and manage a dinosaur park.
The program is coordinated and funded by the PTA, but classes are taught by May Watts teachers and by parent volunteers with previous teaching experience. In the past, they’ve taught cooking, French and Spanish.
“We want to be able to complement what the school is doing for our children at this level. As it turns out, there’s such a variety that they can really delve into things and find out what they like and what they don’t,” Sangdahl said. “Students also enjoy seeing their teachers in a different structure, like teaching them how to tumble or to cook.”
