BASE Activities at Lithia Springs

Today the students of the community club were visited by a certified therapy dog named Duke. Duke is a 2-year-old Labrador retriever who was certified with Project PUP. PUP stands for Pets Uplifting People and it is a nonprofit organization comprised of about 4oo volunteers. They provide pet visits to healthcare facilities bringing happiness to the people they meet!

Today the students at Lithia Springs experienced a taste of Mexico! Students part of the Culinary Club followed a recipe to make fresh salsa. Fresh salsas are normally made with tomatoes, tomatillos, avocados, fresh green chiles, spices and lime juice. Salsa can also be made to either be mild or spicy. When the students were finished making their salsa, they paired the dish with chips and ate the freshly made snack!

The students of the Community Club had the opportunity to listen to guest speaker Stephen Shiveley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. Stephen gave a presentation about his job in meteorology and allowed the students to ask questions. He also brought in a weather balloon used by the National Weather Services for the students to look at. The balloon is launched twice a day around the world to collect measurements on temperature, moisture, and winds!

Today the students at Lithia Springs created a craft to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. day. MLK was a civil rights activist who peacefully protested against racial segregation and inequality. The students created a paper podium with a cutout of MLK attached to it. The goal was to recreate the podium MLK gave his famous "I Have a Dream" at. The original speech was delivered by MLK himself on August 28th, 1963 during the March on Washington.

Today at Lithia Springs, the students celebrated Martin Luther King Day by making peace flowers. The students made the flowers out of construction paper. They traced their hands and cut out the outline. Next, they drew an outline of a flower stem and cut it out. Then the students pasted the stem and hand cutouts on to a piece of paper.  The flowers are supposed to represent MLK’s dream for peace throughout the world!

The students at Lithia Springs learned to develop gratitude for what they had in the past and look forward to the future. They said thank you to 2019 and hello to 2020 with a rotating paper plate craft. On one paper plate, they drew a line down the middle with a simple city skyline outline cut out on one half. On the other paper plate, they drew a line down the middle again and drew two skies on either side. One side said "Thank you 2019" while the other said "Hello 2020". The plates were pinned together with a brad so it could rotate.

To start the new year, the students worked on goal setting by focusing on thinking, planning, and taking action to achieve results. They created a list of their top ten New Year's Resolutions. From that list, they chose their top five goals and put them on the back of numbered triangles. Then, triangles two through five were pasted onto a square to flip up to reveal the resolutions. The students were then able to customize a blank face template to look like themselves. Their number one resolution was written on a final triangle and placed on top of their face template as a hat!

Today the students at Lithia Springs worked on a menorah arts and crafts project. The menorah is a candelabra designated to celebrate Hanukkah. It has nine branches for nine candles and a candle is lit for each of the eight days of the holiday. The ninth candle in the center of the menorah, called the shamash (meaning helper or servant). It is used to light the rest of the eight candles. The students were able to color and design their very own menorah to celebrate the holiday season!