One of the goals at Athens Elementary is to teach students valuable, practical skills that they can use on a day to day basis. We teach these skills through our elective program. These classes are among the most popular at our school. Students enjoy getting to learn skills that they can immediately apply at home. In this article, we’ll discuss four of our students favorite electives: (1) cooking, (2) car maintenance, (3)  handyman skills, and (4) gardening.

Cooking

Learning basic cooking skills has many real world benefits. First of all, you will save money. Buying groceries from the store in bulk is much cheaper in the long run than ordering fast food. Students who learn to plan ahead by creating grocery lists and setting aside time to shop will be able to save lots of money. Secondly, there is nothing better than a home cooked meal. Students will be able to learn how to cook food exactly how they like it, making for much more delicious meals than those at fast food restaurants. Lastly, cooking your own meals is often a healthier option than eating out. Fast food and restaurant meals often have excessive amounts of salt, sugar, and grease. At our cooking classes, students will learn how to cook meals with natural ingredients, resulting in food that is not only delicious, but also a healthier option than other alternatives.

Students can explicit to learn how to operate the various appliances in the kitchen, including the oven, air fryer, and stove. Students will get experience operating mixers and blenders, and will learn how to safely store food in the refrigerator and freezer. By the end of the semester, students will know how to bake bread, create a delicious (and health) fruit smoothy, pan sear a steak, cook a chicken in an instapot, roast a salmon in the air fryer, and much more.

Car Maintenance

Knowing the basics of car maintenance is an extremely valuable skill for students to learn. Taught by Michael Simpson, who worked for years in Richmond VA as a mobile mechanic, this class is an excellent elective for all students to take. Knowing how to fix up your car is an essential life skill. Not only could these skills get you out of a jam, they will also save you thousands of dollars in the long run. Students will not have to take their cars into the shop for most repairs as they will have the ability to fix most issues themselves. After taking our car maintenance class, students will know the most important tools to have on hand in their cars. These tools include jumper cables, a car jack, a wrench set, and extra bottles of various fluids including car oil and antifreeze. Students will learn how to inspect their cars, including checking the oil, ensuring there is a proper amount of antifreeze in the car, and making sure that there is enough brake fluid in the car.

Handyman Skills

In this elective, students will have the opportunity to learn the basics of how to maintain and repair items around a house. Students will get to learn basic plumbing, carpentry, and electronics, among other things. The class will teach students how to fix leaky faucets and clogged drains, repair ceiling fans and electrical wiring, and fix roof leaks and damage to house siding. Like our other electives, this class will help students save lots of money in the long run, as they will no longer have to hire a professional to fix most issues around the house.

Gardening

There are many reasons why it is valuable for students to learn how to grow their own food in a garden. First, naturally grown food is a much healthier option than buying food from the grocery store. Foods sold in stores are often covered in pesticides that are dangerous to human health. Additionally, they are injected with growth hormones that can be unhealthy for people to eat. By growing their own food, students can avoid these potential health hazards. Students will also be able save money. Growing food is a much cheaper way to get groceries than buying from stores. Thirdly, gardening can be an enjoyable hobby. Students will not only learn how to grow fruits and vegetables. They will also be able to grow beautiful plants like flowers and ferns. Some may enjoy the process and take it up as a hobby.

Conclusion

Athens Elementary seeks to provide its students with real world skills through our many elective programs. In this article, we discussed four of our most popular programs. These skills are important for a number of reasons. First of all, they will save money. Being able to cook your own meals, grow your own groceries, and fix your own car and house will keep you from spending extra money on marked up labor and supplies. Additionally, if students are ever unable to access the skills or supplies found at stores and businesses, they will have the knowledge and experience necessary to support themselves.

Interested in having your child enroll in one of our programs? Contact us today!

Every year, Athens Elementary takes its students on several exciting field trips. These excursions give our students the opportunity to interact with real world businesses, plants, and animals. We do our best to show our students how studies are applied in the real world, while also incorporating a bit of fun. Below we’ve listed the seven best field trips our school has gone on.

Farms

Our 3rd graders recently took a field trip to three different farms in Fort Myers. The class first went to Buckingham Farm. Located at 12931 Orange River Blvd, the farm grows a variety of delicious fruits and vegetables. Customers can buy the fresh produce straight from the farm. The farm has also constructed a restaurant, where all the meals are made from food grown right there on the farm. After spending a few hours at Buckingham, the class then went to Southern Fresh Farms, located just fifteen minutes away in Fort Myers. Not only does this farm grow food, they also raise livestock, including cows, goats, and chickens. The farm’s goal is to show visitors how essential farming is to everyday life. The farm employees demonstrate how technology is incorporated into agriculture. It was an extremely educational experience, and our students left with a greater appreciation for the role that farming plays in our society.

Boating

Our 5th grade class recently spent a day exploring the different boating companies in the Bonita Springs area. They started the day by visiting Day 5 Charters, a fishing charter company located in Fort Myers Beach. The company offers tours to visitors. Customers get to go shelling, fishing, and also enjoy exploring the many islands along the southwest Florida coastline. Next, the class visited Sunset Yacht Rental, a yacht rental company in Fort Myers. The company owns some of the most luxurious boats in Florida, the biggest one being the 75’ Sunseeker. The class enjoyed touring the Sunseeker and seeing it’s many bedrooms and amenities. Lastly, the class was able to end the day with a ferry ride aboard the Heminway Water Shuttle. The boat took us to the famous Keewaydin Island, where the class was able to spend some time playing on the beach and eating food from the restaurant barges.

Beach

One of our favorite days of the year at Athens Elementary is Beach Day. To celebrate Spring, every class in our school takes the day off to spend some time at the beach. Students get to spend hours searching for sea shells and shark teeth. Often times, manatees and dolphins are sighted swimming close to shore. Students are encouraged to study weather patterns and tides. The experience is not only educational, but extremely fun and memorable for everyone. The beach we visit varies from year to year. In the past, we have visited Lovers Key National Park, Naples Pier, and Sea Gate Beach.

Railroad Museum of South Florida

One of our favorite field trip destinations is the Railroad Museum of South Florida.Located in Lakes Regional Park in Fort Myers, the museum is a favorite for our students. The museum contains lots of information about the history of trains and the railroad industry specifically in southwest Florida. Our students enjoy seeing the train models up close and learning from the staff about the different functions and abilities of the locomotives. The museum also provides a fifteen minute train ride that carries students through miniature model towns and cities. The models are based on how southwest Florida looked in the 1950s. The museum is a great way to both learn about trains and learn more about the history of our great state. This is by far one of our most highly anticipated field trips of the year.

Naples Zoo

Lastly, the Naples Zoo is another of our favorite field trips to take. Founded in 1919, the zoo is home to a wide variety of exotic animals from a variety of biomes. Our students have the opportunity to see snakes such as pythons and rattle snakes, predators like lions and bears, and other interesting animals like giraffes and zebras. The zoo also has a number of birds, including the blue and gold macaw, the red shouldered hark, and the black crowned crane. Our students always look forward to visiting the zoo and getting to pet and even hand feed some of the animals.

Over the past few years, our teachers have begun using video lectures in their classes more frequently for a number of reasons. First of all, teachers can shoot these videos from anywhere making it an extremely easy and convenient process, as well as a more engaging experience for the students. Additionally, students can view the videos from anywhere. Read on to learn more about why we’ve decided to use videos more in our curriculum.

Videos Can Be Created From Anywhere

One of the major reasons that video lectures have grown in popularity in recent years is their flexibility and convenience. Teachers can record videos from anywhere. Whether you’re sitting at home, already teaching in your classroom, out in the great outdoors, or in a laboratory, teachers can simply begin recording on their phones or cameras and begin teaching. Recording lectures can be an excellent way to make the teaching a much more immersive experience for the students. For example, our biology teachers have recorded many videos of themselves interacting with nature as they walk through forests, swim under water among sea turtles and dolphins, and explore laboratories. Getting detailed explanations of all of these things from our expert teachers will make for a much deeper, more educational experience for the students.

Videos Can Be Viewed From Anywhere

Additionally, video lectures can be viewed from anywhere. If a student is sick, he or she can simply watch a recording of the lecture from home, which will help keep the student from falling behind. Video lectures became especially important during the coronavirus pandemic. Our teachers were able to continue with the school year by teaching all of our students remotely. Lastly, video lectures allow students to learn at their own pace. If a student is naturally gifted in a particular subject, the student can watch as many videos as he or she wants to. On the other hand, if one of the kids struggles to grasp the concepts of the subject being taught, he or she can rewatch the lectures as many times as necessary until the principles are understood.

Vides Can Help ESL Students of Students With Learning Disabilities

Recording classes is also a great way to communicate with students with disabilities and students who struggle to speak English. Students who are deaf can use subtitles to easily understand the lectures. Additionally, students who come from other countries and are in the process of learning English can have the video translated. Modern technology has made language translation an extremely simple task. The videos can quickly be translated into hundreds of different languages, making it much easier for ESL students to learn from the lectures.

While in person teaching is still the priority at Athens Elementary, we have seen an increase in student retention and performance as a result of incorporating videos into our lectures. Teachers at Athens Elementary have seen a 5% increase in student grades across all classes since we began using videos. We believe that nothing will ever replace the quality of teaching that a student can get live interaction with a teacher. However, we will always strive to use all the tools available to create the best learning experience possible for our students, and video lectures have been shown to help our students learn and retain the lecture materials.

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed why we’ve decided to incorporate video lectures into our classes at Athen Elementary. First of all, the videos are relatively easy for our teachers to create as they can be filmed from practically anywhere. Our teachers can use this as a way to make far more immersive classes, giving students the opportunity to have an up close look at the things they are learning. Secondly, the videos can be viewed from anywhere. Whether a student is sick or travelling, he or she can simply watch the video recordings to keep up with the others. Our teachers at Athens Elementary do their very best to teach and prepare our students. Video lectures are only one of many different options for improving our students’ learning experience.