Workshops
Spring 2023 Workshops
Enrichment weekly workshops provide students in kindergarten through grade 8 specialized after school learning opportunities with experienced instructors and passionate teaching artists, musicians, and professionals from the greater Portland area. Workshops offer in-depth exploration into the arts, dance, drama/acting, science, engineering, electronic music, athletics, card games, and role-play games, such as Dungeons & Dragons.
- Parent pickup location for all workshop attendees: Thomas House Loop.
- Spring workshops begin the week of March 20.
- All students must be registered to attend an enrichment workshop. Full up-front payment for workshops is required prior to attendance.
- Workshops are open to students from the broader Portland community, not just Waynflete.
- Workshops are offered in three seasons: fall, winter, and spring. Dance is offered in half-year sessions.
- If a workshop is canceled due to low enrollment, we will notify registered families one week before the first class.
- For programs that take place off-campus: bus transportation is provided to/from off-campus locations so that parents can pick up their children at the Spring Street campus.
Discount code: Full-time Afterschool students receive a 25 percent discount on the price of Enrichment workshops. Use the code “FTAS” at checkout.
Questions? Suggestions for new workshops? Email the Enrichment office at or call 207.774.7863, ext. 1379.
View FAQs (including withdrawal policy)
Spring 2023 Workshops
Deadline for registration is Sunday, March 12.
Workshops below are sorted by age—youngest to oldest students.
ENRICHMENT DANCE CLASSES
*Dance classes are currently in session, running through the week of May 15.
- K–1 CREATIVE DANCE • Wednesdays, Jan 11 to May 17, 3:30–5:00 p.m. (no class on April 19)
- 2–3 CREATIVE DANCE • Mondays, Jan 9 to May 15, 3:30–4:30 p.m. (no class on April 17)
- 4–5 CREATIVE DANCE • Thursdays, Jan 12 to May 18, 3:30–4:30 p.m. (no class on April 20)
- 6–8 CREATIVE DANCE • Tuesdays, Jan 10 to May 16, 3:30–5:00 p.m. (no class on April 18)
K–2 STEAM: SCIENCE OF TOY-MAKING • Register
Wednesdays
Mar 22 to May 17, 1:30–2:30 p.m. (eight classes; no class on April 19)
$210 Workshop only (1:30–2:30 p.m.)
This option is for participants who are already enrolled in Afterschool or those who chose to have lunch and home and return for the workshop.
$275 Workshop with lunchtime and recess (12:15–2:30 p.m.)
This option is for participants who would like to enjoy lunchtime and recess with Afterschool students before the workshop starts.
Susan’s spring workshop STEAM: Science of Toy-making for grades K–2 will focus on science and engineering—with her usual ingredients of art, teamwork, and fun physics lessons in disguise. We’ll build dynamos to learn about electromagnetic concepts, and students will enjoy the entertaining results! Have you ever built a puppet with a moving mouth and jaws? Invented a new toy? We’ll build unique, specially-designed, jointed puppet-creatures that operate with rubber bands. While building and decorating a colorful, glass-eyed dragon or imaginative creature, STEAM students will also be discovering more about structural design, mechanics, and potential energy. Toy-making is a great way to learn simple physics. Making toys with moving parts encourages a general love for physics. Join on Wednesdays to find out how Susan’s hands-on STEAM projects engage curious kids! Limited spaces. No experience needed.
2–5 CHESS CLUB • Register
Tuesdays
Mar 21 to May 16, 3:25–4:30 p.m. (eight classes; no class on April 18)
$210
Queens, kings, knights, pawns…play…checkmate! Join Chess Club to learn tactics, pieces, and moves. Compete with other avid players and progress from wood pusher to winner! Learn chess tactics, such as pins, forks, and removal of the guard, and the mechanics of combining piece moves and creating threats, involving piece safety, checks, and attacks. This is your opportunity to play and learn the game of chess with your friends! No experience needed.
Location: LS Klingenstein Library
2–5 KARATE • Register
Wednesdays
Mar 22 to May 17, 12:15–1:15 p.m. (eight classes; no class on April 19)
$225
Waynflete students may wrap up the school year with a final season of karate classes with Kyoshi Andy Campbell, 23-time world champion and an 8th degree black belt in Shotokan karate. Kyoshi Andy brings over 40 years of training, 35+ years of teaching, and a good sense of humor to his karate classes held outdoors on the Waynflete campus.
Location: The Garage
3–5 STEAM: PHYSICS ON THE DOWN-LOW • Register
Mondays
Mar 20 to May 22, 3:30–4:30 p.m. (eight classes; no class on April 17 and May 15)
$210
Susan Wiemer’s spring STEAM workshop for grades 3–5 will focus on science and engineering—with her usual ingredients of art, teamwork, and physics lessons in disguise. We will start by building a unique specially-designed, jointed puppet-creature whose jaw operates with rubber bands. While building and decorating a colorful dragon, STEAM students will also be discovering more about structural design, mechanics, and potential energy.
Have you ever raced slot cars? Building and racing these amazing electric toys is a great way to learn physics! We will be using the “old-timey” kind of slot cars, which allow for modifications so that we can control the variables—reduce friction, increase traction, and adjust torque. Building, repairing, and racing these cars requires skill and practice. Try not to let them fly off the track! In-class debriefs will help us understand gear ratios, how electromagnetic motors work, and the effects of speed and centrifugal force. Toy-making is a natural gateway into a general love for physics. Limited spaces. No experience needed.
Location: LS Art Studio
4–8 COLLECTIBLE CARD GAME CLUB (LGS) • Register
Thursdays
Mar 23 to May 18, 3:15–4:30 p.m. (eight classes; no class on April 20)
$210
In our Collectible Card Game Club, your child will have the chance to play card and board games in a community of their peers—the same way they would at a local game store. Students will learn probability, algebra and mathematical thinking, short and long-term strategic thinking, and gaming etiquette in our weekly club. Be prepared to summon your ninjas, zombies, and squirrels in a game of Magic the Gathering, build your strongest bench in a game of Pokemon, or bring your own game to share!
Location: LS Klingenstein Library
5–8 CERAMICS • Register
Mondays
Mar 20 to May 15, 3:30–4:45 p.m. (eight classes; no class April 17)
$245
This Afterschool clay program with Waynflete ceramics teacher Christine Caswell will introduce students to essential handbuilding skills and various decorating techniques. As clay techniques are demonstrated, students will also be introduced to suggested projects. Students may choose to make their version of the suggested projects or work on their own ideas with instructor support. The program’s primary focus will be handbuilding, but interested students will have the opportunity to try the potter’s wheel. The interests of the participants will determine specific techniques and projects. Bring your ideas and creativity, and let’s make amazing stuff!
Location: Waynflete ceramics studio in the Art Center (lower level).
5–8 THE ILLUMINATED JOURNAL WITH ARTIST SUSAN NEWBOLD • Register
Wednesdays
Mar 29 to May 10, 1:30–3:00 p.m. (six classes; no class on April 19)
$240
Please note that students should bring lunch to eat with the Hive Afterschool group before the workshop.
The journal is a place to work out among other things our thoughts, desires, and discoveries. Students will create a unique handmade journal in this workshop! Through a series of exercises that will be enlightened by the landscape, students will first create some of the pages for the journal. In the process they will be introduced to several different mediums, including pen and ink, watercolor, collage, and printmaking, as well as some ways to create interesting methods for combining text with each. Printmaking will be an important component, as this is how we will create the covers for our books. Finally, they will put the pages into an artist book which will be finished off with a special coptic binding. No experience needed.
Location: Art Center studio
Susan Newbold is a full-time artist who moved to Portland last year. Susan attended the Post Bac program at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and earned her MFA at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. As a practicing artist, Susan has a studio in Portland, participates in fellowships, art residencies, numerous group and solo shows, leads workshops in painting, printmaking, and bookmaking internationally, and has work currently in galleries in Maine and Connecticut. She hopes her journals inspire others in their own journaling practice.
5–8 ROBOTICS • Register
Mondays
Mar 20 to May 22, 3:30–4:45 p.m. (eight classes; no class on April 17 and May 15)
$210
With fast-developing coding skills, the robotics team has persevered and brainstormed their way to conquering numerous robot challenges. Students in grades 5–8 are invited to join to continue problem-solving their way to the creation of additional robots that can meet various engineering challenges and goals. Instructor Jordan Vanderbeek ensures that participants are learning coding basics and exploring physics concepts like friction and grip, power transfer and gearing, center of gravity, and structural stability while creating EV3 Lego robots and having fun. No experience necessary.
6–8 MS CHESS CLUB • Register
Wednesdays
Mar 22 to May 17, 12:30–1:30 p.m. (eight classes; no class on April 19)
$210
Queens, kings, knights, pawns…play…checkmate! Join Chess Club to learn tactics, pieces, and moves. Compete with other avid players and progress from wood pusher to winner! Learn chess tactics, such as pins, forks, and removal of the guard, and the mechanics of combining piece moves and creating threats, involving piece safety, checks, and attacks. This is your opportunity to play and learn the game of chess with your friends! No experience needed.
Location: Hive classroom
6–8 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS • Register
Thursdays
Mar 23 to May 18, 3:30–4:45 p.m. (eight classes; no class on April 20)
$210
At its core, Dungeons and Dragons is a game of collaborative storytelling. Players will each take on the role of a unique character in a fantasy story and will need to work as a group—led by a practiced dungeon master—to uncover treasure, solve puzzles, and accomplish their goals. What path students choose is up to them…but know that the D&D world is full of both danger and adventure!
Location: Classrooms in Cook-Hyde/Morrill
