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 Monday, December 6th. Sign up online or submit a form to your child’s teacher.
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Registration for the lottery closes Friday December 17th.
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You will be notified about lottery results by Friday December 24th. 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 December 27th
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Classes will begin the week of January 10th
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.
WINTER 2022 CLUBS
Introductory Spanish
Provider: Big Learning
Let's speak Spanish! A fun introduction to a new language where children learn and practice speaking Spanish through storytelling with puppets, songs, games, and hands-on activities in a language immersion setting. Our Winter Session features a new story theme, La Gallinita Roja or The Little Red Hen, for brand new and continuing learners.
Grades: K - 1
Day: Tuesdays (8 weeks)
Dates:
Jan 11, 18, 25
Feb 8, 15, 22
Mar 1, 8
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:
Jan 10, 31
Feb 7, 14, 28
Mar 7, 14, 21
Fee: $135
Chemistry Detectives
Provider: Big Learning
Explore solids, liquids, and gases and create new materials from exothermic and endothermic chemical reactions. Use viscosity and density to describe liquids and make your own lava tubes. Experiment with mixtures, solutions, acids, and bases to help solve our gold paper caper, mix a polymer, and make glue from milk.
Grades: K - 2
Day: Thursdays (8 weeks)
Dates:
Jan 13, 20, 27
Feb 3, 10, 17, 24
Mar 3
Fee: $120
Theatrical Adventures, "Stories Onstage"
Provider: Round House Theater
Round House Theatre brings their multidisciplinary approach to theatre to your school! Students explore various elements of theatre using a different story each week. We will bring the world of the story to life using acting, movement, and design. Our classes encourage creativity while introducing the art form of theatre and developing critical thinking, cooperation, and confidence.
Grades: K - 2
Day: Wednesday (8 weeks)
Dates:
Jan 19, 26
Feb 2, 9, 16, 23
Mar 2, 9
Fee: $90
Beginner Spanish
Provider: Big Learning
New and continuing beginners explore Spanish together in a fun, informal, language immersion setting. We’ll learn new vocabulary and expressions, gain confidence in listening and speaking, and build a foundation for future language learning. Topics this session include favorite sports and pastimes, the alphabet, telling time, farm animals, prepositions, breakfast foods, songs and cultural notes! Workbooks and hands-on activities encourage practical use of the language and strengthen early Spanish literacy skills.
Grades: 2 - 5
Day: Tuesdays (8 weeks)
Dates:
Jan 11, 18, 25
Feb 8, 15, 22
Mar 1, 8
Fee: $120
2D Art Immersion
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, you will be able to use your ideas to build your story. Guided by our professional teaching artists, you’ll 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 class designed especially for comic book and cartoon enthusiasts!
Grades: 3 - 5
Day: Wednesdays (8 weeks)
Dates:
Jan 19, 26
Feb 2, 9, 16, 23
Mar 2, 9
Fee: $135
After School Acting
Provider: Round House Theater
Enter the world of make believe, where you can be anyone you want to be. Led by Round House Theatre teaching artists, students will learn the basics of acting, improvising, and interacting with people on stage
Grades: 3 - 5
Day: Mondays (8 weeks)
Dates:
Jan 10, 31
Feb 7, 14, 28
Mar 7, 14, 21
Fee: $90
Your Own Mini Lab
Provider: Big Learning
Detect and measure invisible matter, test for vitamin C and E and whether vitamins are fat or water soluble. Use Chemistry to solve mysteries, titrate acids and bases, and test flow resistance. Learn how retention factors affect chromatography, and make cheese and goop.
Grades: 3 - 5
Day: Thursdays (8 weeks)
Dates:
Jan 13, 20, 27
Feb 3, 10, 17, 24
Mar 3
Fee: $120
Winter Panda Club Registration is now closed
Classes begin the week of Jan 10th
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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No snacks will be allowed in Panda Club rooms. This is to keep our students and vendors safe.
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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.
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Please contact the Panda Club Committee at pandaclubs@esspta.org or via WhatsApp - 267.977.5356 for additional information.