June 16, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Lord of the camps

by Alexandria Rocha

From sampling hobbit cuisine to writing hobbit haikus and simulating hobbit sword fights, the Summer Camp in Middle Earth is sure to be a study in, well ... hobbits.

For the third consecutive summer, the Palo Alto Unified School District is offering a four-week course exploring "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy to sixth- through eighth-graders.

The students will dive into the fantastical series through reading, discussion, drama, art, games, food, costumery and sword fighting -- for the stage of course.

"The fantasy books are a bridge for a lot of kids as they become better readers," said Paul Kandell, the program's teacher.

"They're taking away a love for a kind of literature that for many students can be kind of a stepping stone from childhood stories to adult literature," he added.

Kandell is the mastermind behind the Camp in Middle Earth, which will begin Monday along with the district's other summer programs offered to grades kindergarten to 12.

Kandell proposed the hobbit camp idea three years ago to Barbara Lancon, the district's summer school coordinator. Each year Kandell played the waiting game and was pleasantly surprised to have full classes of middle school students enroll in the program year after year.

During the class, students are engaged in a host of art projects. They sketch scenes while listening to the books on tape, they create board games surrounding the various chapters, they write haikus and translate them into elvish script.

"The kids end up with a beautiful portfolio," Kandell said.

In the previous two summers, Kandell has featured representatives from the Society for Creative Anachronism -- a nonprofit organization dedicated to the study and re-creation of life in the Middle Ages -- to demonstrate sword fighting. Kandell is hoping the group will return this year. He is also looking for someone to demonstrate and teach archery.

The program's biggest challenge, Kandell said, has been coordinating a curriculum to serve those who have read the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy -- perhaps several times - along with others who have only seen the movies.

"We compromise by reading some of it out loud, doing some of it at home, supplementing it with some audio," Kandell said. "The kids have a wonderful energy for immersing themselves in fantasy."

Kandell's course will be offered from 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. beginning Monday and ending July 16 at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School, where the summer's middle school classes will be held.

Summer Camp in Middle Earth is just one of various unique courses offered to middle schoolers this year. From beginning Japanese to intermediate string orchestra to California coast marine life and fantasy baseball, there is no lack of entertaining education for the area's school-aged youth.

Where Kandell will keep his course on "Lord of the Rings" as far from the movie screen as possible, focusing mainly on the literature, another teacher will host a separate program drenched in Hollywood's glory.

Jason Dickinson, a teacher at JLS Middle School, will offer a classic film course to students entering the sixth- through eighth-grades.

Students will watch about 14 films during the four-week course, including "Frankenstein," "Casablanca," "Singin' in the Rain," and "High Noon," among others.

"I don't show anything after 1960, so it's all classic Hollywood," said Dickinson, who is teaching the course for the third consecutive summer. "Hopefully, it's going to give them an appreciation for the art of films and an ability to analyze what they're watching better."

All the movies are shown with a projector, which Dickinson said helps create a true film experience. "It's not just watching it on TV," he said.

Each student is given a journal where they rate the films in four categories -- storyline, acting, direction and overall quality -- while they watch the film. The students are also taught about how the American Film Institute works and how films are rated and voted on at that level.

"This was before movie making relied on explosions, when it was basically to tell a story, which I think has been lost in the last few decades," he said.

Film Study will be offered from 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. beginning Monday.

Middle school students won't be the only ones with a variety of classes to take this summer. Students in elementary and high school also have a large catalog of courses to choose from. Most are enrichment programs, such as Kandell's and Dickinson's, but several intervention courses are also available.

For the first time this summer, a two-week writing and arts enrichment program will be offered to children entering the second- through fifth-grades.

"We've done math arts for a couple years. This is to expose kids to a new program," Lancon said. "Writing is a real strong interest in our community." The writing and arts program for elementary school students, which will integrate visual arts, music and dance with writing activities, will be held from 8:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. starting Monday at Juana Briones Elementary School, 4100 Orme St. Similar programs will be offered to students in high school, such as advanced composition and creative writing. The area's teenagers also have opportunities to take classes in visual and performing arts, math, science, history, world languages and career and vocational education.

The summer's various classes for elementary students will be held at three of the district's primary schools, including Juana Briones, Duveneck and Walter Hays. High school students will attend their various programs at only Palo Alto High School.

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