On Mondays our cohort is focused on giving students opportunities to build their imagination and creativity. We know that not every student is drawn to creative or imaginative activities, so we designed this cohort to help all students build their imagination muscles even if they are reluctant. We will give them tools to make steps that fit them as they explore and discover their own creativity.
*Some of the learning experiences we have planned for the Make Believe Monday Cohort are:
Kinder-GARDEN Cohort: Students will help to create and lead the Kinder-GARDER cohort learning experience.
Mentor Monday: Students will be partnered with an adult to develop a friendship where they will learn together throughout the semester. You can learn more about Mentor Monday here.
American Sign Language: Throughout the semester we will be working to learn ASL together. We will have a few stand alone ASL learning experiences, but will also work to weave our learning into the different learning experiences on Monday.
Care Club: This will happen about once a month. Students will work on creating care packages to deliver to different people in our community. You can read more about our Care Club here.
Creative Writing Track: This will take place each Monday and is designed to engage students who love writing as well as those who cannot read or write. The purpose of this track is to help students develop their imagination and creativity and begin to fall in love with writing. We have activities for students at all levels that will help them to take the next step in their writing development. All students will work on writing a short story throughout the semester. We will publish a book of the short stories at the end of the school year.
Maker Monday: Students will work throughout the semester to dream, design and create a product that they will sell at our November Arrow Kids Market. We will help the students to walk through the process of moving from a concept or dream to creating a product, considering the cost of making it and determining how much to sell it for. We will have tools, ideas and even some supplies available to help students be successful.
Math Monday: Our Make Believe Monday is the perfect place to help kids fall in love with math in a playful way. We will have Monster Math learning experiences to help younger students have fun learning basic math. Cohort students will help to plan and run these learning experiences. Another way we will engage the students and their imagination is through our Arrow Kids Market. This semester we will be holding two Arrow Kids Market days. Students will have fun creating a real life market to practice their math skills. The first market will be focused on learning %, students will bring items to sell and will need to mark them on sale. (This will be similar to a garage sale, using items that they have already... don't worry we will make sure that they get parents permission before selling anything!) This market will teach students how to put items on sale a learn percentages. (10%, 25%, 50% off etc...) Our second market will be the Maker's Market. Students will use items that students have worked on during Maker Monday's to sell at this market.
Music Monday: We will enjoy discovering fun ways to learn about music and ways to learn from music.
In December we will kick off Holiday School: This will be a time to enjoy the holiday season together and all the fun ways we can learn together while enjoying this special time of year. Students will study and learn about their family heritage and how the holidays were celebrated over the years and share 'science fair style' at our Traditions Fair.
*(The dates of each learning experience are to be determined, we will publish them as soon as possible. The list below is to help families know what we will be covering during our Monday Cohort.)
One of the values that runs through all we do is helping the students develop lasting friendships. We want to encourage students in developing friendships with the other students as well as the adults. All students who participate in our cohorts will be given an Arrow Kids Academy Post office box. Students will be encouraged to write each other letters to get to know one another as well as to practice their writing skills.
Students who participate in our Make Believe Monday Cohort will automatically be registered for all of our Monday learning experiences. The cost of this cohort includes all supplies needed for all the learning experiences on Monday. Students will get a journal that will correspond with their track to record their learning this fall. The cost for the Make Believe Monday Cohort is $150/semester + the one time $25 cohort application fee. Families who are Arrow Kids Members save 50%. You can learn more about our memberships here. The commitment is from 10-3:00pm.
We will meet September 11th, 18th, 25th
October 2nd, 16th, 23rd, 30th
November 6th, 13th, 27th
December 4th, 11th, 18th
October 9th and November 20th we will not meet in person but will meet via Zoom for the Creative Writing Track. These dates are part of our rest week, you can learn more about why we plan regular rest time in our schedule in this blog post.
To participate in our Make Believe Monday Cohort, please fill out the cohort application. After the application is completed, we will schedule an interview. The purpose of the interview is to discuss the track that your student(s) will want to focus on this fall and to make sure that the cohort will be a good fit for your family.
Make Believe Monday Frequently Asked Questions:
Why do we ask for an application fee?
Over the years we have had a large number of families register for learning experiences and cohorts, but for one reason or another they don't follow through. We spend a lot of time chasing down those who register, buy supplies and prepare for these families who may have never intended to commit to learning with us. The application fee is our way of asking families to commit to joining us by applying for our cohorts. If you are applying for more than one cohort, you only need to pay for 1 application fee. This is a one time fee for the 2023-24 school year.
Can we join the Make Believe Monday Cohort just for the fall or spring semester?
Yes, you do not have to have participated in the Make Believe Monday cohort this fall in order to join us this spring. We have families register one semester at a time to give families a chance to adjust their schedules as needed. We understand that life can change and want to make sure families can make the adjustments they need. We do however ask that you commit to joining us for the complete semester. One of our main goals is to help the students create friendships and this is difficult if families are not consistent in their attendance.
Do I need to attend with my student?
Our Arrow Kids Academy learning experiences and cohorts are interactive and we ask parents to stay and be involved with their child's learning.
I have a younger child who will be attending with me, do I need to register them as a student?
We ask that you register everyone who will be attending. If you have a younger student who will attend with you, we recommend that you register them as a toddler so that we have enough supplies for them to join us with the activities we do. Our goal is to learn together so we work to make activities successful for all ages.
Are there scholarships available to help lower the cost of participating in the cohorts?
We never want finances to keep families from joining us. We know that it can be a burden on families especially those with multiple children so we want to work with you to help make it possible. We offer 50% off all our learning experiences and cohorts to Arrow Kids Family members. You can learn more about our memberships here. If you are in need of financial support beyond the membership discount, please complete this request form and we will be in contact to see how we can help make it possible for your family to be a part of the Arrow Kids Cohort.
*(The dates of each learning experience are to be determined, we will publish them as soon as possible. The list below is to help families know what we will be covering during our Monday Cohort.)