FREE FEBRUARY 2018 CreateIt Sponsored by Carnegie Science Center PittsburghParent.com February 2018 1 Number 2 Volume 31 February 6 what’s inside your community 14 parenting resource for 30 years! in this issue 1 CreateIt 10 CoverStory Make a bird feeder Out of the ordinary Pittsburgh outings 4 Editor’sNote 29 Around& About Camp is a gift to kids Calendar of events 6 SteamForward 22 Fourth grade homebuilders special section 18 - 28 featured topics camp guide 8 Sharing your love on Valentine’s Day 14 Dental visits without tears 16 Youth hockey in Pittsburgh 19 Prepping your child for overnight camp on the 20 Great benefits for teens who attend camp cover 22 Benefits of special needs camps Cover: Dylan with his dad, Phil 26 Life skills kids build at camp Bourque, the Ol’ Two-Niner and color commentator for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Cover Photo: Trey Thomas Images 2 February 2018 PittsburghParent.com PittsburghParent.com February 2018 3 Editor’sNote Patricia Poshard e are Pittsburghers! It did not take very long after the frigid cold, snow and icy Wsleet hit for the complaints to begin. Now, we are ready for summer! Pittsburgh Parent’s Annual Summer Camp Guide is the best place to start as you begin to plan for the end of the school year and summer activities for your children. As a parent, I looked forward to finding just the right place for my kids - a place that had programs to meet their individual needs. For us, that meant loads of physical activities and challenges for our son and social opportunities and new friendships for our daughter. We were just looking for a variety of experiences where both kids could explore their likes and dislikes while testing their independence from day-to-day parental supervision. Today, summer camps seem to be more specialized, especially the sports camps where kids are refining their athletic skills and knowledge while preparing for higher levels of competition in everything from all the ball sports to horseback riding to fencing. “It is not easy for parents to make the decision to send their child away into the waiting arms of strangers who promise to take care of them — people who promise to show them the wonders of nature, fun, new skills and friendships,” says Jeff Merhige, a YMCA camp director and father of two. Writing for the American Camping Association magazine, Jeff says: “The world needs the next generation to be more tolerant of each other’s views, ideology, and beliefs. Summer camp is an opportunity for children to be exposed to the best of human character. Carefully selected role models are dedicated to showing your child how to have fun, learn from others, and make friends in person rather than online. Camp allows kids to meet people from all over the world, every race, culture, and socioeconomic level. There is something magical about a summer camp experience. Each and every camp in the world is different. Not merely because of geography or location, but because of the traditions and people who have touched the camp. Every camp has hidden treasures of history and traditions that give it character and identity. Every staff member, alumni camper, and volunteer has memories associated with their time at their camp — memories that stay with them for their lifetime. Camp is an independent experience that shapes one’s character and life — a controlled, safe environment where children and youth are able to make their own decisions about simple things (what activity they want to do, how many s’mores they want to make, or what clothes they are going to wear) and about important things (who they will hang out with . who will be their friends). Camp is a place where kids interact with people face-to-face and, at the same time, learn about themselves and others around a camp fire, under the stars, or sitting around a dining hall table. Camps give kids a chance to practice being the best they can be. They experience a place designed to create happy memories and encourage self- expression. They have the opportunity to climb towers, ride horses, shoot an arrow and even experience the success of winning the big game! It stays with them forever. Kids will learn from a full range of emotions and human experiences including homesickness, friendship, disagreements, teamwork, frustrations, jubilant success, and more. As parents, our hopes and jobs are to ready our kids to be productive, independent, and capable people — to prepare them to thrive without us. Camp offers a way for kids to start developing those skills in the best possible environment. There is so much competition for our children’s time in the summer — sports practices, summer school, well-deserved vacations. But let’s not forget the value of a camp experience — camp is a gift we can give our children that they will benefit from and remember forever. If ever there was a time when the world needed a generation of future leaders who understood the intricacies of living in a community, having tolerance, and being open — that time is now.” There is no doubt in my mind – camp is a good thing, a wonderful gift for children. 4 February 2018 PittsburghParent.com PittsburghParent.com February 2018 5 SteamForward Ann K. Howley Fourth grade home builders irst we had to make blueprints,” Millie said as she showed me the model house that she and her team of fellow fourth graders designed and built. “We learned about energy saving “Fso everything had to be made out of recyclable materials.” The rudimentary structures I was looking at resembled cardboard doll houses, complete with miniature furniture, curtains and rugs, all crafted out of bits of paper, fabric and plastic. They were quite detailed. The most eye-catching feature in another model home was a small box filled with blue-dyed cotton balls. “This is the bathtub,” builders Brett and Rico told me, which is exactly what I thought it was. Millie, Brett and Rico attend Moore Elementary School in the Brent- wood School District. I met them last fall at the STEAM Showcase, an annual event that gives recipients of Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU) $20,000 STEAM grants the opportunity to display their award-winning projects. “Several years ago, our mission was to infuse technology in the classroom,” said school librarian, Megan Casey. “But we are a smaller school district compared to neighboring districts. We knew we couldn’t do it with one person.” So Ms. Casey, art teacher Barbara Girone, technology teacher Kate Smeltz and music teacher Britta Schneider joined forces. In 2015, several of the teachers set up a GoFundMe page and raised over $20,000, including a grant from the Sprout Fund, which they used to buy Surface tablets and Hummingbird electronics kits. That was just the beginning. In 2016, the STEAM grant not only helped fund the fourth grade house project, but also gave them a chance to expand STEAM education to the first and third graders, as well. What impressed me most about the fourth grade house project was its cross-disciplinary approach. Every teacher partici- pated by designing a curriculum that contributed to the project. In art class, Ms. Girone invited an architect to visit the fourth graders and talk to them about energy efficiency. The stu- dents researched various architectural styles, like Fallingwater and the famous Dymaxion House and had to consider what features a smart house would have. In technology class, they learned how to use Scratch, a coding program that they used to make lights turn on and off. In math class, they had to learn how to measure scale, which they translated on the blueprints. For example, the kids learned that an eight-foot wall was the equivalent of four inches on the blueprint. In music class, they 6 February 2018 PittsburghParent.com learned about acoustics. “They had to plan one ‘loud room’ which might have tile floor and less furniture, and a ‘soft noise room’ which might be carpeted and have more furniture and curtains,” Ms. Casey said. Each team of four or five students appointed a Head Engineer, who helped facilitate team building exercises, like the “maze” in which each team had to give verbal instructions to help a blindfolded student get through a maze taped on the floor. “It was pretty comical at first,” Ms. Casey said. “But once they got the hang of it, they realized they had to look at it from the blindfolded person’s perspective.” As I examined the houses, I was impressed with the kids’ creativity and imagination. A lid from a yogurt container made a tabletop. Some clever kid thought of using the top of a shampoo bottle to make a lamp. It really did look like a tiny lampshade. When you ask fourth graders to use their imaginations, though, you’re bound for some surprises. “My team built a secret money room in our house,” Millie told me, pointing to a small room with a hidden compartment. “Really?” I try to find out if the money was supposed to be used for a specific purpose, but it appears these fourth graders built a secret money room to simply hide money. Hey, why not? Don’t worry, kids. Your secret money room is safe with me. n Pittsburgh writer, Ann K. Howley, forgot to ask Millie if her team cal- culated how much money would fit in their secret money room. Now she’s curious. PittsburghParent.com February 2018 7 Sharing your lo ve on Valentine’s Day By Judy M. Miller alentine’s Day is around the corner.