What is Panda Club? Panda Club is an after school enrichment program for ESS students. The program is offered throughout the school year and is run by the school PTA. This year, we’ve changed our Panda Club enrollment process to a lottery system.
What is changing?
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Due to the pandemic, to be safe, and to allow for social distancing, we are offering fewer classes this year. No sports classes will be offered this session.
Instead, we are offering eight great classes in engineering, art, theater and Spanish led by experienced teachers from Big Learning, CREATE Arts, and Roundhouse Theater.
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To ensure everyone has fair access to the spots available, Panda Club placements will be done via a lottery system.
How will the lottery work? :
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Registration for the lottery opens Wednesday, September 9. Sign up online or submit a form to your child’s teacher.
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Registration for the lottery closes Wednesday September 22nd.
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You will be notified about lottery results by Monday September 27th. You will have the choice to accept or decline the placement.
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Placement is not guaranteed. Each student will be placed in a maximum of one class. We cannot guarantee that siblings will both be given a placement. Nor can we guarantee sibling placements on the same day.
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For those students who are selected for Panda Club in the lottery, we will ask you to register for the class via the vendor’s system the week of September 27th
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Classes will begin the week of October 4th
What about scholarships?: Anyone who requires a scholarship can request one when registering for the lottery. Requesting a scholarship will not impact your lottery chances.
Please contact the Panda Club Committee at pandaclubs@esspta.org for additional information.
Please consider making a donation to Panda Club. Donations can be made online or in cash, check, or money order made payable to ESS PTA. Any amount is greatly appreciated! All donations made towards Panda Clubs will help support student scholarships.
FALL 2021 CLUBS
Introductory Spanish
Provider: Big Learning
Children will have fun and enjoy learning new languages from native speakers as they explore foreign lands through exciting stories, high energy games, and imaginative, interactive activities. Children gain confidence in hearing and speaking a new language and cultural awareness – opening their doors to a global 21st century.
Grades: K - 1
Day: Tuesdays (8 weeks)
Dates: 10/5 - 11/30
Fee: $120
Art Immersion
Provider: CREATE Arts
This fall, take a deep dive into the artistic world through Art Immersion! Learn how to work with combinations of materials and techniques – plaster, modeling clay, paint, fabric, paper, pencils and more – to create a variety of 2D and 3D projects.
Grades: K - 2
Day: Mondays (8 weeks)
Dates: 10/4 - 11/29
Fee: $135
Dive into Dimensions
Provider: Big Learning
Dive into the world of engineering where we will land in a sea of shapes. Use different shapes and building materials to make the strongest bridge and a tower taller than you! Work with simple machines, balance on a zip line and discover who lives in cone shaped homes. Make models of these while exploring what key shapes make them so strong.
Grades: K - 2
Day: Thursdays (8 weeks)
Dates: 10/7 - 12/9
Fee: $120
Into the Wild!
Provider: Round House Theater
Explore the wild side of the animal kingdom in a classroom via Round House Theatre’s multidisciplinary approach to theatre. Each week, students will discover new creatures – from the smallest mouse to the most magnificent dragon – through creative dramatics, movement, and visual arts.
Grades: K - 2
Day: Wednesday (8 weeks)
Dates: 10/6 - 12/1
Fee: $90
Beginner Spanish
Provider: Big Learning
Children will have fun and enjoy learning new languages from native speakers as they explore foreign lands through exciting stories, high energy games, and imaginative, interactive activities. Children gain confidence in hearing and speaking a new language and cultural awareness – opening their doors to a global 21st century.
Grades: 2 - 5
Day: Tuesdays (8 weeks)
Dates: 10/5 - 11/30
Fee: $120
Comics & Cartooning
Provider: CREATE Arts
Do you love to create characters and worlds? Would you like to learn how to bring them to life? Through techniques used in comics and cartooning, discover how to use your ideas to build a story. Learn how to form your characters and fully develop them with elements of design. Flesh out your characters to dive into your universe! Become a master of visual storytelling in this fall after school class designed especially for comic book and cartoon enthusiasts!
Grades: 3 - 5
Day: Wednesdays (8 weeks)
Dates: 10/6 - 12/1
Fee: $135
Myths and Legends Onstage!
Provider: Round House Theater
Round House Theatre brings their multidisciplinary approach to theatre to your school! From Apollo, to Percy Jackson, there are countless stories of great “larger-than-life” characters to discover in this exciting class! Students will explore amazing myths and legends from around the world and ultimately create stories of their own.
Grades: 3 - 5
Day: Mondays (8 weeks)
Dates: 10/4 - 11/29
Fee: $90
Rockin' Engineers
Provider: Big Learning
Construct, build, and propel yourself through this exciting hands-on STEM adventure! Explore engineering and architecture professions from roller coaster design and bridge construction while learning about Newton’s laws of motion, forces, and energy! You will be making models of structures and testing their strength and accuracy. Build your own geodesic dome and test the trajectory of a launching catapult and air powered rocket!
Grades: 3 - 5
Day: Thursdays (8 weeks)
Dates: 10/7 - 12/9
Fee: $120
Fall Panda Club Registration is now closed
Classes begin the week of Oct 4th
Lottery Results will be released soon.
If you have questions contact pandaclubs@esspta.org
Panda Club Policies (including for Covid-19)
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We will be following MCPS COVID protocols.
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Club Times: Clubs will meet once a week from 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm on a designated day. Frequent (two times) late pick-ups will result in dismissal from the program without a refund.
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Student Cancellations/Refunds: All refunds will be made via the vendor. There will be no refunds offered after the first week of programs.
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Provider Cancellations: While the vendors will make every effort to reschedule classes cancelled due to unexpected MCPS or ESS closings, we cannot guarantee that every class can be made up. The vendors cannot offer make-up classes or refunds due to a student’s inability to attend class.
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Student Behavior: In order to keep our club fun and safe for everyone, all students are expected to follow ESS school rules while attending Panda Club after school enrichment classes. Parents will be contacted after each time there is a behavioral problem that cannot be remedied in the class. East Silver Spring PTA reserves the right to remove your student from a program.
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Clubs will all be run in rooms at East Silver Spring Elementary School. High touch areas such as tables and desks will be wiped down using sanitizing products before each day’s Panda Club. Students will be required to wear a mask at ALL times.