Throughout the school year, Plato typically offers four (4) sessions of after school activities, such as yoga, engineering Legos, arts & crafts, cooking, acting & improvisation, ballet, creative drama, and music. Students may choose to participate in these extracurricular classes for a nominal fee.
After school programs typically run from 3:10-4:10pm. These classes may take place at Plato Academy or nearby locations, and are subject to change each session. Please note, parents are not allowed to sit in to observe after school classes.
After school programs are offered based on the availability of the instructors and the interest level of the students. A sample of previously held activities include:
Piano/Keyboarding
Grades PK4-2nd
Students will use keyboards to learn basic piano skills. Keyboards are provided for school use only. It is recommended but not required that students have a piano or keyboard at home to practice.
Life Skills
Grades PK4-8th
Find, plan, and refine recipes. Bake and cook dishes. Make a budget and stick to it! All of these are the kind of abilities that allow students to enter the world confident and prepared. This program is designed to teach these important life skills.
Let’s Build It – Robotics
Grades 1st-6th
Enter into the fascinating world of robotics. In this exciting STEAM program, students will design, build and test their very own robots under the guidance of an experienced AES instructor. Projects include remote control cars, claws, cranes, crawlers, and battle bots. Educational components include gear ratios, mechanical design, electronics, and robotics engineering. No previous experience is necessary, just a desire to have fun, build, and learn.
Spanish Club
Grades 3rd-8th
In our Spanish Club, students will learn a simplified set of tools that will allow them to become familiar with common vocabulary terms and phrases, comprehend grammar patterns, participate in simple conversations and respond appropriately to basic conversational prompts.
Fun Fitness
Grades PK4-3rd
Fun Fitness is a kid-friendly fitness routine designed to help kids think about fitness by making it fun. Participants will complete obstacles courses and perform a variety of high-intensity interval workouts that include lunges, squats, jumping jacks and other cardio exercises.
Ballet
Grades PK4-3rd
Dancers are introduced to basic ballet skills, terminology, rhythm and coordination. Utilizing creative movement and gross motor skills, dancers will learn in a supportive playful environment.
NOTE: Ballet shoes recommended but not required. No leotards. Students can remove only their uniform jumper/skirt if they have leggings underneath.
Chess
Grades K-8th
Chess Scholars’ training program is taught with a gradual step-by-step increase in the difficulty of material. This system enables us to quickly teach children the rules of chess, enhance their understanding of the game, as well as take them to a higher chess skill level. Our curriculum is well suited for the needs of young students. We work with students of all levels, including complete beginners. We always design our instruction to best fit the needs of the group and to ensure students’ fastest chess progress as well as their enjoyment of chess. Typically, we divide the time about equally between teaching and guided practice games. In some cases, we split up the group into two parts, when the students’ range of skills is too wide.
Stop Motion Animation
Grades 2nd-8th
Stop motion animation is a great way for students to become more comfortable with technology while using their creativity and developing their patience. Students will develop their own movie concept, plan the movie through written dialogue and storyboard creation, create actors and scenery with LEGOs or other models and film the movie themselves using provided iPads or smartphones.
Soccer
Grades PK4-2nd
Coaches will teach skills like dribbling, passing, trapping, shooting and defense. This program emphasizes fitness, teamwork and sportsmanship. Have a blast playing World Cup Tournament, Battle Balls, Trapper 500, Corner Kick Challenge and Soccer Knockout.
Grades 3rd-8th
Students will be learning soccer skills and playing games during this session.
NOTE: soccer cleats and shin guards are allowed but not required.
Cheerleading
Grades K-5th
Students will be learn a variety of cheers and kicks be introduced to simple stunts.
Ukulele/Doumbek Drum Class
Grades 2nd-8th
Learn traditional Greek/Arabic drum rhythms as well as aligning basic ukulele skills in this exciting new class! The drum we will be using is called a doumbek, which used in traditional Greek music originally from Egypt. The kids will enjoy beating on drums and learning a variety of rhythm patterns. Students will enjoy getting all their energy out in a positive way! Rhythm is a great foundation for music and life will help with focus and attention. It is great for hand-eye coordination and is a great musical introduction for playing any instruments!
NOTE: Students must provide and be responsible for their own ukele for this class.
Let’s Go to Greece…A Greek Enrichment Experience
Grades 3rd-8th
Students will plan and design a trip to Greece in this full-immersion Greek enrichment class. They will discover and learn new and interesting things about Greece. They will make a budget for their virtual journey, find airline tickets, choose hotels according to our needs and explore Greece. The students will work together to research historical landmarks, beautiful sites and explore Greek Mythology as they travel to Athens and to Greek islands, eat traditional Greek food and enjoy this vacation in Greece. They will practice their Greek language skills emphasizing travel vocabulary in order to communicate with Greek people. They will also use their math skills as they become familiar with the metric system and convert Euros and dollars. At the end of the program, every student will have created their own personal travel book.
Yoga
Grades PK4-6th
Students will be learning a variety of yoga poses, stretches and games. They will also be introduced to meditation, breathing techniques and mindfulness.
Let’s Code It
Grades 2nd-8th
This course will immerse students in the world of computer programming. Your child will have the opportunity to design games, explore animation, and combine music and art with coding. This class uses the block-based programming system Scratch, which was developed by the MIT Media Lab to teach programming concepts. Topics covered include event handling, coordinates, conditional statements, user interface design, variables, logic statements, and synchronization. In addition to teaching programming skills, this course will also nurture students’ creativity and problem-solving skills. No previous experience is necessary, just a desire to learn and have gigabytes of fun!
NOTE: Your child must provide and be responsible for his/her own personal laptop or Chromebook computer for this class.
Girl Scouts
Grades K-8th
Girl Scouts meets 1st Friday of the month from 3:10-4:45pm. There are designated programs for all grade levels (i.e. Daisies, Brownies, etc). “Girl Scouting builds girls of Courage, Confidence and Character, who make the world a better place!” Activities may include stories, crafts, cooking. athletics, camping, celebrations, traditions, songs, service projects, skits, ceremonies, roller skating, picnics, cookie sales and more.
Adventure Club
Grades PK4-8th
Adventure Club meets 2nd or 3rd Friday of the month depending on age from 3:10-4:30. Students learn outdoor skills to prepare them for outings such as ice skating, fishing, camping, canoeing, etc. They also take trips to local forest preserves and parks to explore the great outdoors.