Month: May 2020

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Minecraft! Minecraft! Minecraft!

The kids are playing a lot of Minecraft these-a-days and I don’t really blame them. It is engaging and creative and sometimes quite challenging for the brain. They learn spatial reasoning and problem solving.

But it is also, very often a social game. We wanted to encourage the social nature of Minecraft while respecting the need to be physically distant. With that we’ve got four separate weekly meetups planned for June.

Each of these meetups includes access to a shared server for the entire month, a weekly two-hour supervised voice chat, and access to a Google Classroom for sharing ideas or planning additional time online together.

Minecraft Creative Bedrock

This class is held on Tuesdays from 3pm-5pm and is meant for kiddos who play Minecraft on a tablet. Get together and build amazing things and show them off to each other!

Minecraft Redstone (Java)

This class is held Mondays from 1pm -3pm and is a place for kiddos to collaborate and show off their amazing Redstone creations and other automations. It will also include weekly video tutorials to teach and inspire. This class uses the computer edition of Minecraft.

Minecraft Survival Java

This class is held on Thursdays from 3pm-5pm and requires the computer edition of Minecraft. Survival is what it is all about. In this groups kids will truly have to mine for their materials and craft their tools. This group is collaborative and kids work really hard to keep their village safe while showing off their style.

Minecraft Survival Bedrock

This class is held on Wednesdays from 1pm-3pm and requires Minecraft on a tablet (no consoles). Just like our Java version, kiddos will collaborate to conquer their world and defeat monsters.

Bonus! Minecraft for Little People

Because sometimes it is hard when your older siblings get to have all the fun! This class is specifically meant for the 4 and 5 year old set. We’ll play twice a week for an hour at a time. Kiddos will need Minecraft on a tablet. As of this post, the class is almost full, but we’ll make another section if you tell Lis you are interested.

Extra Bonus! Learning Python with Minecraft

In this class kiddos will learn how to program in Python. When they run their scripts they’ll see the results on our Minecraft server! Lis will create YouTube tutorials for different concepts. We’ll discuss ideas in the Google Classroom. Once a week we’ll get together to show off and inspire each other.

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Camp and Covid

Heading into summer with covid still in the air I see two reasonable options for how we could proceed.

  • We could cancel our camps so as to best facilitate and encourage social distancing. This is the stance PEEC has taken and we respect them for that.
  • We can acknowledge that some parents are still trying to work from home and others need to actually go to their workplaces and need childcare even if it is less than ideal and we can provide that childcare as safely as possible. This is the path we will be taking.

The decision to continue to offer summer camp this summer is not a light one and it will come with some changes to our plans.

  • We will no longer be offering individual weeks of camp. We want to reduce the number of camper everyone comes into contact with as much as possible.
  • We *will* be offering half-day camp for the whole month.
  • We *will* be spending our entire mornings through lunch outside. This means half-day campers will be outside all day.
  • We *may* not use public transportation and instead have different base camps each day of the week.
  • We *will* do a lot of hiking. We *will* play with robots, even if it is under a shade tent.
  • We *will* be limiting camp in June to just five families. If there is enough interest in the half-day camp, we may offer a second session with a different teacher, but no more than five families will be in any group and those groups will remain separate.
  • Geocaching! We’ll find a few and maybe even create some!
  • I’m in the process of putting a few BreakoutEDU activities together. Maybe we’ll have a massive scavenger hunt to solve one of our boxes.

Our camp is for any kiddo entering elementary school next year. Campers must be able to take care of their own personal needs and be able to hike a couple of miles a day.

According to the current plan by the governor we should be able to open half-day camp on May 15th. We’re taking names for this camp, so please contact us if you are interested.

We’re also working on being deemed essential, so that if things close back down we can keep offering camp for essential workers. If we need to close or you are not an essential worker, we’ll offer refunds for any missed weeks of camp.

Please talk to us about any concerns you may have and we will work with you.

Sign up for camp here: https://lasteamlab.com/event/summer-camp-june/