Inspire Girls Academy is looking to partner with schools throughout Chicagoland area to offer a unique after-school STEAM program for girls. If you are interested in having an EMPOWERING and ENGAGING curriculum as a part of your current after school offerings or know a school that might be interested, please contact afterschool@inspiregirlsacademy.org or refer the school directly.

GRADES:

K – 4. We like to group the students by grade level bands (K-1st grade and 2nd grade-4th grade)

ENGAGEMENT:

After-school classes usually run one hour once per week for 7-9 week modules.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES:

Inspire Girls Academy is committed to providing programming to help students develop confidence and leadership skills using STEAM concepts. The program is set apart by its dynamic approach that engages students in addressing real world issues and asking meaningful questions while fostering their creative problem-solving skills around STEAM related topics. We will encourage girls to pursue a particular question or interest and then design a personally meaningful activity through which she can explore the topic at hand. In making learning personal, tangible, and shareable, we will empower her to trust and communicate her own ideas, thoughts, and feelings as she continues to learn and grow. This type of active learning motivates students to engage more deeply with their studies and helps them develop invaluable real world skills and strengths like critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity, which are explicitly taught and assessed.

It includes:

• Risk Taking opportunities to learn academic abilities are expandable and improvable
• Prescriptive, information feedback
• Female Role Models in STEAM Fields
• Spatial Skills Development

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT

Parents and the school community are engaged during a culminating event (often held on the last day of the session) where the girls can showcase their product and celebrate their accomplishments during Ideation Days.

BENEFITS

The afterschool experience is designed to spark students’ interests while developing foundational skills to give children the confidence to know that they can handle problems on their own. The afterschool explorations based on a STEAM concept will give your daughter’s natural curiosity wings. The goal is for your daughter to become engaged in her own learning, inquiry, and discovery.

Weather and Fashion Module

Driving Questions: What are the regional climates in the United States? How does climate change affect the weather? How does weather affect people, the environment, and they way they dress?

Weather is something that affects people every day. The students will work in cooperative groups to choose a climate they would like to learn more about. We will connect and partner with a school in that region of the country to learn more about the weather. The girls will correspond with the students at the school to learn how weather affects them- from what they wear to school to how they live.

The students will create prototypes of different clothing the students would wear for their selected climate based on the weather and create a “Lookbook” based on these ideas. A lookbook is a collection of photographs compiled to show off a clothing line. This will give viewers ideas on how to style outfits or to show what the latest fashions are based on a specific climate. The students will be able to create a model of their favorite “look” using STEAM principles to present to community members and fashion experts.