After School Program
Director: Mariana Stevenson
The Lower School After School Program offers planned activities, unstructured playtime and the chance to spend time with friends in a pleasant environment. In addition to board games, books and toys, children participating in this program, will make crafts, listen to music, and take advantage of several facilities that our campus offers, indoors and outdoors.
Students begin each afternoon with a snack (brought from home.) There is also scheduled homework time, and towards the end of each day, we have clean-up time to encourage children to help each other and take pride in their work.
We have planned several exciting clubs for this year and we will hold our Third Annual Talent Show and Mini-concert in February. Third and fourth graders will be invited to watch some of the athletic events that take place on our school campus during ASP hours.
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The Middle School After School Program provides the students with a supervised place to spend time after school. Many students attend games on campus, do their homework, go to the library, and attend private lessons. This year, the students will be able to participate in more clubs than ever. This is a great way to spend time with friends in a safe and pleasant environment.
Note:
ASP is offered from 3:00 – 6:00 PM on all school days.
After 5:40 PM dismissal from both ASPs takes place at the front hall of the Middle School entrance.
The Staff
Vanessa Gustin, dedicated mother of her nine-year-old daughter and excellent child care provider, has helped run the After School Program for the past five years. She is very creative and enjoys making art and crafts with the children. In addition, she has been decorating all of the lovely boards exhibited every season in the barn where PS/LS ASP is held.
Kathy Ho, a junior majoring in Psychology at Rutgers University, has been working at ASP for two years. She loves working with children and aspires to be an elementary school teacher one day.
Danny Vargas, a college student majoring in communications, has been working at ASP for two years. Danny loves to organize games with the young students, on the playground and indoors. Karaoke and dancing are one of the many fun activities he shares with the children.
Talia Lopez, a junior at RPS, has been working at ASP for two years. She’s very good at drawing and the children love her art. She enjoys working with the children and hopes to continue working with children in the future.
George Condon, a college graduate and RPS alumni, works with the Middle School students. He takes them to watch games on campus, to play outside and supervises homework time.
Liz Alexander is a faculty member in RPS. She teaches physical education and coaches tennis. She has been involved in the After School Program for three years.
After School Program Clubs
The program offers different clubs throughout the school year. Typically, the clubs run once a week for six weeks from 3:15 to 4:00. There is no extra charge for participating in these clubs, only the program hourly fee of $6.00.
Games club focuses on table top games, board games and card games that emphasize social interaction between the students, as opposed to video games. Games are supplied by ASP.
Yoga Club. The practice of Yoga has excellent benefits from building strength and flexibility in a gentle, fun manner to strengthening breathing and fine tuning coordination. YOGA FOR KIDS is a great way to enhance your child’s innate ability to emulate nature, create, pretend and move in different ways.
In this class, your child will have fun with his fellow yoginis discovering the little animal in himself or herself, imitating and mastering animal poses such as the snake stretch, giraffe walk, downward dog, shark, crocodile poses and so forth! We will also practice breathing and meditation techniques that will help your child focus and learn the importance of stillness and calmness through breathing.
Nature Club. Once a week, children will get to be outside learning how to distinguish maples from black locust, vinca from Virginia Creeper, and natural versus invasive species. We will learn about the connections between the waters running behind the campus and the wildlife we hear and might be lucky enough to see.
This year, we will have again the Chess classes traditionally offered on Friday afternoons. Registration for Chess is not connected to the After School Program
