Summer Camps 2013
We have a fantastic line-up of camps for this summer. You can sign up for the camps of your choice by completing the Summer Camp Enrollment & Medical Form and sending it in with your check. Download the Enrollment & Medical Form. This is a fillable pdf. So, fill it in electronically, print, sign & put with your check for the camps you choose! Details on the camps are found below.
Check, Scoop, Pass, and Shoot!
This girls’ lacrosse camp provides the focused, intensive training essential for improvement, while allowing girls to have fun with the sport. Players, separated into age and skill appropriate groups, focus on stick‐work, shooting, dodging, fast breaks, and small‐game play. Justine Button, a former NCAA D‐1 player and current coach at Virginia Episcopal School, teaches beginners the basics and helps existing players hone their skills with individualized attention.
Instructor: Justine Button
Age Levels: rising 3rd ‐ 9th graders
Date/Time: June 10 ‐14, 9 a.m. – 12 noon
Cost: $125
Boys’ LAX
Covering all aspects of the game and giving individual attention to the needs of each athlete, this camp is designed for the competitive lacrosse player seeking to take his game to a higher level. The camp includes stick‐work, shooting, dodging, and small‐game play, as well as strategies for defense and offense. Players will be separated into groups, according to their levels, to help increase skill and agility. Chris Button is the head boys’ lacrosse coach at Virginia Episcopal School and has worked at some of the top camps in the country, including Xcelerate and Top 205.
Instructor: Chris Button
Age Levels: rising 3rd – 9th graders
Date/Time: June 10 – 14, 4 – 7 p.m.
Cost: $125
Art Camp: From Thumbelina to Miss Spider
Favorite selections of children’s literature and related visual art crafts are the focal points of this camp. Celebrating Miss Spider’s birthday and enjoy the fanciful illustrations from her alphabet book, students will review the alphabet and create insect‐related art. Students will enjoy Mother Goose nursery rhymes, look at famous illustrations of the verses, and form their own pieces of art. The unforgettable fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson will also be featured. Focusing upon visual art fundamentals and also fostering oral language skills, this fun, crafty, and creative camp is planned for the particular needs of young children.
Instructor: Carrie Lewis
Age Levels: Ages 3½ – rising K
Date/Time: June 10‐14, 9 – 11:30 a.m.
Cost: $120
Hodge Podge: An Arts and Craft Camp
Especially geared to middle school students, this camp will feature an array of traditional summer arts and crafts. Using a beach theme as inspiration, projects will include a handmade clay fish dish, a shell‐embellished jewelry box, an individually designed mosaic, and a personalized wall hanging. Join us to explore hands‐on fun, and take home unique treasures at the end of the week!
Instructor: Laura Frey
Age Levels: rising 5th graders and older
Date/Time: June 10 – 14, 12:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Cost: $130
Cookie Monsters
Everyone loves a good cookie, piping hot from the oven. Cookie artisans concoct and create delicious home‐baked cookies at this camp, bringing home treats for the family each day. Getting creative with cookies, campers practice “painting” with icing and using cake‐decorating techniques to design fabulous treats. From exotic animal cookies to a pot full of flower cookies on sticks, cookie connoisseurs will enjoy learning how to bake and decorate. This camp is jam-packed with practical knowledge from the kitchen, including the fractions of measuring, chemical reactions of ingredients, and common sense tips when using the oven. But, most importantly, it’s just plain fun! Campers will be divided into small, supervised groups, allowing beginners to receive individual instruction and more experienced cooks to go cookie crazy!
Instructor: Anne Taylor
Age Levels: rising 1st graders and older
Date/Time: June 17 – 21, 9 a.m. – 12 noon
Cost: $125
Winter Wonderland
Join Santa’s elves in the workshop to create holiday ornaments that harken back to the days of yesteryear, when decorations were handmade with love and cherished for generations. Glass ornaments with glittery painted winter scenes, gourds crafted into snowmen, and miniature trees covered with antique buttons and beads are just a few of the possibilities. Campers will learn how to fold vintage paper into fanciful ornaments, make old‐fashioned salt dough decorations, and create sparkling beaded snowflakes. This camp provides the opportunity, materials and loving guidance for children to design handmade memories.
Instructors: Anne Taylor and Ann Parker
Age Levels: rising 1st and older
Date/Time: June 17 – 21, 1 – 4 p.m.
Cost: $125
Farm and Country Camp
It’s off to the country for an action‐packed week of farm life, as campers visit various specialty farms, spending the day with a farmer to learn about his/her area of expertise. A national award winning beef cattle producer, a six‐generation family farmer, an orchard owner, a tree farmer, an equine expert, and several other small specialty growers will provide guided tours of their daily activities. Campers will learn about numerous varieties of chickens, discuss raising cattle, help cut and grade hay, walk through a field of Christmas trees, and see how a range of our foods are grown. They will also spend time in and along the banks of the Piney River, learning about the impact of agriculture on rivers and creeks. Campers will try their hands at the age old art of bread making, and will pick berries to concoct homemade jam. This camp will be a very hands‐on experience, with a goal of gaining increased understanding of how farms get food onto our tables, while acquiring an appreciation for the Virginia farmer. Transportation from James River Day School to the farm sites is included.
Instructor: Anne Taylor
Age Levels: rising 1st – 5th graders
Date/Time: June 24 – 28, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Cost: $225
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
Designed for both parents and children to work together, this camp will demonstrate that anyone can draw well, not just those lucky few with an inborn talent. The skill of drawing any object, person, or place requires five basic component perceptual skills – the perception of edges, space, relationships, light and shadows, and the whole or gestalt. These skills will be taught and merged with others so that campers are soon drawing without fear or restraint. Campers will perform fascinating experiments to further integrate and develop their skills.
Instructor: Ginny McGraw
Age Levels: rising 3rd – 8th graders
Date/Time: June 24 – 28, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Cost: $120
The American Girl®
Share the fun of the American Girl by creating crafts and participating in structured play activities that relate to favorite dolls. The week begins with Caroline, the hottest new doll from American Girl, and another day’s session focuses upon Kirsten, a girl from the Midwestern prairie. Campers will make paper dolls and similar handcrafted playthings like Caroline, a girl from the year 1812, and birthday posies like Kirsten, a pioneer girl in 1854. The week will culminate with an American Girl style birthday party for the camper and her favorite doll.
Instructor: Carrie Lewis
Age Levels: rising K – 5th graders
Date/Time: June 24 – 28, 9 – 11:30 a.m.
Cost: $120
Let Me Entertain You
Get together for a song‐writing session. Then, grab the “mike” and take center stage to perform your song. Students will explore ideas, brainstorm topics, develop storylines, write lyrics, create melodies, and record their new hit in a café‐style atmosphere.
Instructor: Paddy Dougherty
Date: July 8 – 12
Time by Age Levels:
9 – 11 a.m., rising 5th – 8th graders
1 – 3 p.m., rising 1st – 4th graders
Cost: $125
Candyland®
This long‐time favorite children’s board game comes to life as students cook, create and craft an array of sweet treats. Made from scratch gummy bears, dipped and decorated marshmallow pops, and miniature hedgehogs will be concocted. Under the supervision of the cocoa‐centric Sra. Taylor, campers will create their own chocolate indulgences including: lollipops, chocolate covered strawberries, and fancifully decorated truffles. Campers will enjoy an old‐fashioned candy pull, creating their own chewy taffy candies in the process.
Instructor: Anne Taylor
Date: July 15 – 19
Time by Age Levels:
9 a.m. – 12 noon, rising 1st – 4th graders
1 – 4 p.m., rising 5th graders and older
Cost: $125
Lego® Challenges
Creating Lego contraptions to solve challenges and compete in races is the focus of this camp. Building a bridge designed to support the most weight, creating the fastest car to win a race, or designing rockets using balloons for lift‐off thrust, this camp is all about learning with Legos. Each day, campers will be given a set of instructions in order to complete a specific project. Campers will practice creative thinking techniques while having fun with a favorite toy.
Instructor: Todd Anderson
Age Levels: rising 1st – 8th graders
Date/Time: July 15 – 19; 10 – 11:30 a.m.
Cost: $100
Mighty Mythology
Greetings, young demigods! Enjoy a week of half blood mythology study and activities based on Rick Riordan’s popular book series with Percy Jackson. Campers will read, discuss and act out scenes, as well as create a variety of crafts and snacks featured in the books. An emphasis on the content and significance of the myths will be discussed, including the factors and influences involved in the creation of the myths. The camp will conclude with a feast for the gods and a screening of The Lightning Thief.
Instructor: Betsy Rhodes
Age Levels: rising 3rd – 7th graders
Date/Time: July 22 – 26, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Cost: $185
Camp CSI
A tragic car accident… A horrific double homicide… Business schemes and drug rings… The town of Highland Park has been shaken by a series of terrible events. During a summer thunderstorm, the Mondelo family car went over the side of a mountain and caught fire on impact. Three victims were identified as Louise Mondelo and her two children. When their husband and father, Lyle Mondelo, was found to be missing, the wreckage suddenly appeared to be more than an accident. In this exciting and comprehensive modern ʺwho‐dunnit,ʺ students will actively participate in multiple daily hands-on activities exploring the forensic science analysis of fingerprints and footprints, bite marks, documents, fire debris, hair and fibers, drugs, blood, gunshot residue and bullet striations, glass fragments, DNA, and/or bugs!
Instructors: Todd Anderson and Becca Eubank
Age Levels: rising 5th – 8th graders
Date/Time: July 22 – 26, 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Cost: $200
MACH 1 (Multi‐Adventure Challenge)
Ready for an outdoor adventure? Take the Multi‐Adventure Challenge; learn to canoe and kayak, mountain bike under rugged conditions, and quickly scale a climbing wall. Hike the Appalachian Trail to encounter beautiful vistas and then cool off with a swim in the James River. Join outdoor enthusiast and James River athletic director Donna Hodgert and challenge yourself to master all these activities and more. All activity costs are covered by the camp fee.
Instructor: Donna Hodgert
Age Levels: rising 5th – 8th graders
Date/Time: July 29 – Aug. 2, 9 – 2 p.m.
Cost: $185
Advanced Writing Workshop
William Zinsser said, “If you think that writing is hard, it’s because it is hard.” He’s right. No one academic requirement asks more of a student than to draft, revise, and finalize an essay or research project. This workshop will focus on the requirements of high school‐level writing in all its facets: creative, expository, and research. Students will compose and complete a portfolio for the week’s class. The afternoon section of the class will focus on research‐related writing: students will research, compose, and present a topic of their choice (upon teacher approval) as it relates to the effect of writing in the academic world. Fees include a copy of On Writing Well by William Zinsser. This workshop is strongly encouraged for students entering 9th grade.
Instructor: Jason Ruiz
Date/Time: August 5‐9 (choose your time slot)
Morning section: 9 a.m.‐12 p.m.
Afternoon section: 1‐4 p.m.
Age Levels: rising 8th – 9th graders
Cost: $150
1... 2... 3... Read with Me!
Gather around the rocking chair and listen to a selection of all‐time favorite children’s stories. The selections represent stories our parents loved as children, such as Ferdinand the Bull, Corduroy, and Blueberries for Sal. Every child should know these classic stories that generations have enjoyed. Campers will then discuss in a circle format each book, its theme and the meanings of certain words. A correlating game, activity, or craft to reinforce the book’s theme will follow. This camp is designed to instill a love and appreciation of literature, which begins in early childhood.
Instructor: Anne Taylor
Age Levels: rising K – 2nd graders
Date/Time: Aug. 5 – 9, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Cost: $125.
Fancy Nancy
Meet Nancy, who believes that more is always better when it comes to being fancy. From the top of her tiara down to her sparkly studded shoes, Nancy is certainly fancy, and you will be, too. Based on the popular Fancy Nancy book series, this camp includes many of the beloved stories, as well as an array of shimmery and dazzling activities. Campers create a brilliant self‐portrait, learn to write a dazzling book report, and discuss self‐expression in the form of “fancy.” This week will culminate with a fabulously fancy tea party, with sumptuous treats prepared by the campers. And, Fancy Nancy is a maven of manners, encouraging campers to be on their best behavior at all times.
Instructor: Anne Taylor
Age Levels: rising K – 2 graders
Date/Time: Aug. 5 ‐ 9, 1 – 4 p.m.
Cost: $125
If your child wants to attend both 1... 2... 3... Read with Me and Fancy Nancy, there will be a supervised lunch time provided between the two camps.
Basketball for Boys
This boys’ basketball camp is designed to enhance the skills of all players in a fun environment. Players will practice individual skills such as shooting, passing, ball‐handling and defensive footwork through a variety of engaging drills. Free throw, “3 on 3” matches, and three‐point shooting competitions, as well as other games such as ʺknock‐outʺ will be interspersed between drills to keep the environment light, fun, and engaging. If you are seeking a camp to keep your child active this summer, look no further than this basketball camp! An interest in participating in middle school basketball is recommended for this camp.
Instructor: John Gillum
Age Levels: rising 6th – 8th graders
Date/Time: Aug. 12 – 16, 9 a.m. – 12 noon
Cost: $125
Jugamos en Español
“We Play in Spanish” takes a creative approach to learning a world language by engaging students with music, short stories, puppets, and lots of movement. Children are encouraged to learn Spanish in a fun and nurturing environment through both structured and spontaneous activities. Math concepts, language and literacy will be reinforced through experiential learning as children engage in free play, arts and crafts, and story time. The goal of this camp is teaching the basics of communication in the Spanish language.
Instructor: Anne Taylor
Date: August 12 – 16
Time by Age Levels:
9 – 11:30 a.m., rising Pre‐K – K
12:30 ‐3 p.m., rising 1st – 3rd graders
Cost: $125
Flea Market Makeovers
Refurbishing furniture to create a treasure is the idea behind this camp. Campers will select a piece of furniture from a downtown Lynchburg shop and use craft materials such as paint, fabric and other odds n’ ends to transform it into a completely new and updated piece. Learn trendy techniques to modernize old furniture and let the creativity flow as pieces are reinvented and repurposed! Each camper will take home a “new” furnishing.
Instructor: Betsy Rhodes
Age Levels: rising 5th – 8th graders
Date/Time: August 12 – 16, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Cost: $145
One Room School House
The nostalgic one-room schoolhouse, which offered students a unique and specialized education, has disappeared from our fast-paced culture. Its teachers taught academic basics to students of varying ages, focusing on their specific needs and ensuring the best experience for each child. James River Day School has successfully brought back the concept of the one-room schoolhouse to ease the transition into the new school year. This program has proven to be effective in helping students get off to a great, low-stress start of the academic year. This summer, we will offer specialized instruction in math, grammar, and the Spanish and French languages to students from rising third grade through rising eighth grade. This program is designed to furnish students with a jump-start by providing them with individualized lessons and differentiated instruction in the school’s core curriculum areas. It will also provide organizational assistance for students who need a little help getting it all together.
Date/Time: August 19 – 23, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Who: Rising third through eighth grade students
What: Specialized instruction in math, grammar, and Spanish/French languages. Focus on getting organized and ready for a great year.
Where: James River Day School in the downstairs classrooms
Teachers: Anne Taylor, Annette Elmore, and Anne Royer
Cost: $175
Please note: This school-sponsored program is not designed as a replacement to individual summer tutoring sessions.
Instead, it is intended to supplement such tutoring.
