Summer Programs Teach And Entertain Students

By Eliza Hallabeck

The quiet hallways and seemingly vacant classrooms at Head O’ Meadow on Tuesday, July 7, gave no signs of eager and learning students, until the beat and sound of “Footloose” could be heard from the Newtown Continuing Education’s SMART 2009 Intro to Dance & Musical Theater program just inside the school’s cafetorium.

 The SMART programs, which run in two sessions, offer just some of the summer programs within Newtown this summer. The Newtown Parks & Recreation summer programs have also been teaching and entertaining students since school got out in June.

Rising seventh grader Jackie Winkler stood on the stage for her chance to sing on during a karaoke-style singing portion of the Intro to Dance & Musical Theater program, but Jackie and the other singers during the day needed no help with words from a prompter like normal karaoke. Jackie, who said she has been singing “pretty much my whole life,” sang “Who Knew” by Pink on the stage in the Head O’ Meadow cafetorium before the group began learning “Footloose.”

“Singing kind of expresses my feelings,” said Jackie after her performance, “and, I don’t know, it makes me really happy when I do it.”

Catherine Shaw, a rising fourth grader at Middle Gate, performed “Dream” by Hannah Montana, and said she heard about the program from her mother.

Joan Nelson-Nolte and Michelle Nolte-DeLuca with Larnel Dance Company teach both the Into to Dance & Musical Theater for grades kindergarten through second, and the same class for grades three through six this summer.

“They entertain me,” said Ms Nelson-Nolte, who said activities for the students included singing, dancing, and writing their own plays with the help of a bag of props.

At Newtown Middle School, Park & Recreation Sewing Camp student Ally Tolson worked on a blanket for herself along with other members, Angella Kousidis, Grace Herrick, Cate Herrick and Amelia Schill, who worked on their own blankets, on Thursday, July 9. Ally said she enjoys sewing, because “you can make cool stuff with it.”

“It’s pretty cool that you can take one piece of fabric and make something awesome,” said Ally.

Mary Villa with Newtown Curtains LLC said she has been offering the Sewing Camp through Parks & Recreation for the past couple of years. Ms Villa said she begins the course by teaching the students sewing safety, what a sewing machine does and then moves on to teaching them about buttons and different fabrics.

“I found out it is much easier to sew with a sewing machine,” Angella said.

Ms Villa said she encourages the students to sew by explaining to beginners that sewing, like the first day of school, can be different and scary at first, but it gets easier.

“I think it is very cool to teach kids to begin with something new,” said Ms Villa, “and I think there is something special about teaching kids something they can use forever.”

A week later, and a room away, Parks & Recreation Cooking Class students, under the tutelage of Sharon Martovich and her assistant Cami Blackwell, made mini-lasagnas and pretended to have their own television cooking show. The nine students in the class took turns pretending to be a director and two chiefs.

Other SMART programs offered by the Newtown Continuing Education this summer include Introduction to Computer Programming Using Scratch, Weaving, and Jewelry Design. For further information on the SMART programs contact the Continuing Education Office at 426-1787.

For a full list of the summer programs offered by the Newtown Parks & Recreation, go to www.newtown-ct.gov/Public_Documents/NewtownCT_Park/summer2009.pdf.