Here are some Star Wars movies created at the St Charles Park District

The students at the St Charles Park District had a great time creating their own Star Wars movies last month:

Press Release: COMPUTER EXPLORERS Partners with Children’s Technology Review to Sponsor LittleClickers.com

United States of America (Press Release) October 7, 2008 -- CYPRESS, Texas –COMPUTER EXPLORERS (CE), the fastest growing home-based children’s franchise, continues its mission to instruct children ages 3-15 in computer technology with the sponsorship of LittleClickers.com, a collection of educational Web sites for children. LittleClickers.com was created in 2001, the brainchild of Dr. Warren Buckleitner, editor of the online magazine, Children’s Technology Review (CTR). The Web site assists educators in bringing safe, fun exploration of the Internet to elementary school-aged children.

“COMPUTER EXPLORERS and Children’s Technology Review have a common goal, to assist children in mastering technology,” says Deb Evans, CE president. “We want our students to safely navigate the Internet in order to mine its treasures. We are pleased to partner with Dr. Buckleitner and LittleClickers.com; the site is an educational gold mine.”

The partnership includes a column by Dr. Buckleitner in the monthly newsletter featuring product advice as well as recommendations of the best in children’s software. COMPUTER EXPLORERS’ endorsement of LittleClickers.com is another of the many ways the home-based franchise offers preschool and school-aged children the tools they need to gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing field of computer technology.

COMPUTER EXPLORERS, part of the International Center for Entrepreneurial Development (ICED), is the largest and fastest growing home-based provider of computer technology education for children in the U. S., offering computer enrichment to students, ages three to 15, at child care centers, schools and other community sites. CE franchise opportunities are available in all 50 of the United States, in Canada and countries throughout the world.

About ICED
COMPUTER EXPLORERS is part of the International Center for Entrepreneurial Development, Inc. ICED, located in Cypress, Texas, is the parent company for Kwik Kopy Printing, American Wholesale Thermographers, The Ink Well, Franklin’s Printing, Parcel Plus, Kwik Kopy Business Centers and COMPUTER EXPLORERS. This group represents one of the world’s largest international alliances of printing, communications and education franchises with business relationships in the United States and 10 other countries. These company names are all registered trademarks or service marks of I.C.E.D. Management, Inc.

Our Indiana Jones Moviemaking Camps are a hit!

Our first two weeks of summer camps have gone very well! All of our Indiana Jones Moviemaking classes have been a hit! Classes are filling up and many locations have waitlists of students who want to take our classes all over the western and southern suburbs of Chicago. More classes are still scheduled to run during the next 6 weeks.

Although we aren't able to post every movie that is created in our classes, here are some for you to enjoy.

These two were created at the Community House in Hinsdale:





Here are two created at the Lombard Park District:





These were created at the Hinsdale Parks and Recreation:

Have you got a talent that you want to show off?

You've all seen "American Idol" and "America's Got Talent"! Have you ever wanted to show off your talents, but didn't know where to do it? This summer, COMPUTER EXPLORERS is out to find the next great talent in the western and southern suburbs of Chicago! Do you and your friends have a special talent? Can you sing? Dance? Lip-sync? Act? Do Magic? Comedy? Impersonations?
While your group performs, another group will be recording your talents using a digital movie camera. You can then add special effects to your performance! Bring your own music or costumes! Not only will you get a copy of your show on a CD, we will post the videos to the COMPUTER EXLORERS blog. Friends and family can vote for their favorite talent (you!) during the summer, and the winner will be awarded a prize in August! No auditions necessary, but spaces are limited.

We will be conducting our "Talent Searches" in the following 13 Chicago suburbs:

Bolingbrook Park District
Channahon Park District
Elmhurst Park District
Fox Valley Park District
Hinsdale Parks and Recreation
Park District of La Grange
Lombard Park District
Naperville Park District
New Lenox Park District
Oswegoland Park District
Plainfield Park District
St Charles Park District
Yorkville Parks and Recreation

New Moviemaking class being offered this summer!

The new Indiana Jones movie is being released in theaters on May 22. However, Indiana Jones and Lego fans will be able to make their own Indiana Jones movie at Park Districts accross the western and southern suburbs of Chicago! Our moviemaking class will be offered throughout the summer from June through August at 16 different locations. Check our summer schedule after May 15 for dates and locations!

Here's the description of our newest class:

Moviemaking 101 - Making Your Own Indiana Jones™ movie Do you want to be the next Steven Spielberg? Using your own imagination, creativity, special digital movie making cameras, software and Indiana Jones™ Lego sets, you will create your very own Indiana Jones™ movie! You will become part of a team of writers, photographers, directors and producers and create your own story and script, build various Indiana Jones™ Lego® scenes and film your own movie. You will use graphic editing techniques and stop motion animation, add background noise and music, and show your movie at a private screening on the last day of class. All students will get a copy of their movie on a CD-ROM after class is complete.

Fun-gineering class in New Lenox

Using Lego Educational kits, students in Fun-gineering class learned about levers, gears, pulleys and wheels and axles and built fun and exciting moveable models. The students loved the wheels and axles unit especially since they got to build a motorized car and race them against one another!

Amusement Park Robotics with the Cub Scouts

We spent an evening with some Cub Scouts in Downers Grove teaching them Amusement Park Robotics for two hours. The boys had a great time and learned some basic programming using the Robolab software.

Here's what some of them had to say:

"It was really FUN!!!!!!!!!!! We got to use one of my favorite things... LEGOS! Everybody had a lot of fun. I hope we can do it again!"
-Colin O.

"I really enjoyed the program. It was awesome that they used legos because who doesn't know how to build with legos?!"
-Jay R.

"It was Fun with a capital F, U, and N.
-Bobby G.

New Lenox Star Wars Movies

Here are the movies created during the New Lenox Park District moviemaking class:

"The Great Clone Battle"



"The Rise of Darth Vadar"

New Lenox Patriot News Article

The New Lenox Patriot Newspaper wrote an article about our Star Wars Moviemaking class at the New Lenox Park District. Here is the article along with some pictures they took during class.

Click on article to enlarge.



In the pictures below, students are building and setting up their scenes and drawing their backgrounds in preparation for their own "Star Wars" movie.

Here are some Star Wars movies made by students!

Here are some Star Wars movies made by students from the St Charles Park District.

The first one is called "A Really Short Light Sabre Fight"



This one is called "Star Wars Rising of the Sith"

New Claymation movies

Here are some Claymation movies created at the Naperville Park District last month.

This one is called "Apple Trouble"



This one is called "Tale of a Nail"