Spotlight on Odyssey Atlanta
We are so excited to join the annual Odyssey Atlanta brunch this week! Below, find out just how Odyssey meets the educational needs of our Atlanta students:
Odyssey Atlanta
About Odyssey:
Odyssey, a summer program with a proven track record, works with motivated public school students to help improve their school performance and instill a love for lifelong learning.
Targeting Atlanta Public Schools students in rising grades 1 to 12 from underserved communities, Odyssey offers an educational six-week summer camp experience for nearly 400 students, focusing on STEAM — science, technology, art, engineering, and math — through a curriculum grounded in Project Based Learning. Odyssey encourages students to embark upon a quest for knowledge and a journey toward higher education.
Offering educational enrichment to children who might otherwise not have access to these experiences has always guided Odyssey’s program. All programs are offered for only a $35 registration fee as a sign of a family’s commitment, with the rest of the student’s tuition paid by donors.
Classes are held on the campus of The Westminster schools. Transportation from local elementary schools or the Arts Center MARTA station is provided, as are lunch and snacks. Elementary children also receive breakfast.
Odyssey’s program targets “middle third” students: those students who may need the extra push, the nurturing environment, and the sense of community that a multi-year summer program like Odyssey can provide. Odyssey focuses on families from Title 1 schools for whom education is important and on students who are willing to make the commitment to Odyssey for multiple summers.
Odyssey’s summer school curriculum exposes students to concepts they covered during the school year but in a more creative, and rich, and experimental environment.
The goal is to make a measurable impact on the academic achievement, career aspirations, and lives of Odyssey students.
Odyssey’s Scholars develop lasting friendships, a boost in confidence, and a life-long love for learning.
First Grade Curriculum:
Ocean Commotion
Driving Question: How does an understanding of the Earth’s oceans affect the behavior of human interaction?
Concept:
Focus on the ocean’s diverse system that thrives on interdependence, predictable patterns and life cycles. Students, through research based strategies, will engage in higher order critical thinking as they discover the basics of the world’s five major oceans. Students will be able to explain how living things contribute to an ocean ecosystem. Students will also get to experience science exploration and build on their knowledge of numbers and math.
Topics:
Determine where in the ocean animals live and what attributes in their environment helps them survive
Fictional literature, especially stories on ocean animals, to build vocabulary and phonics skills
Building stories through characters, plot, and setting
Graphing and problem solving- tracking scientific labs, fluency and various math skills
Use of manipulatives for number stories, math problem solving and graphing
Trips:
Visit the GA Aquarium and Chattahoochee Nature Center
Public Product:
Students will create and build their own ocean animal and the habitat best suited for it.
Second Grade Curriculum:
Stories of Our Land
Driving Question: How can we, similar to the Native Americans of Georgia, use the land to help our community?
Concept:
Focus on the connection of plants and the plant life cycle to the Native American cultures of Georgia by planting and caring for garden beds of fruits and vegetables. Students will speak with experts in the field to further enhance their understanding of the topics. Students will experience science exploration and build on their knowledge of numbers and math.
Topics:
Non-fictional texts about Native American culture to understand how to navigate and comprehend the content
Building stories through characters, plot, and setting
Graphing and problem solving- tracking scientific labs, fluency and various math skills
Use of manipulatives for number stories, math problem solving and graphing
Creation of art and writing to exhibit learning
Working as a team to create and care for our garden beds
Trips:
Visit the Blue Heron Nature Preserve and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens
Public Product:
Students will work as a team to create and care for our garden beds.
Third Grade Curriculum:
Living to 100: Healthy Habits
Driving Question: What does it mean to be healthy?
Concept:
Focus on health and exercise to help sharpen the mind! Students will learn about ways to be healthy. This will include: nutrition, exercise, sleep, emotional wellness, environmental wellness, etc. Students will hear from trainers, doctors and nutritionists and attend various field trips related to exercise and nutrition.
Topics:
Powerpoint presentations and animation
The Food Pyramid
Graphing and measurement
Informational and expository writing Poetry
Creating and producing a film related to “Living to 100” using learned technology, writing and research skills
Understanding stories through characters, plot, setting, lessons and morals
Trips:
Visit the High Museum of Art and Chattahoochee Nature Center
Public Product:
Students will decide upon a topic of health then write and produce a film to share what they have learned.
Fourth Grade Curriculum:
The Government and Me
Driving Question: How does the government impact me?
Concept:
Focus on government and election system. Students will participate in a mock election to understand the election process. They will nominate candidates, create positive and negative ad campaigns for their candidates. Small groups will represent different special interest groups and the candidates must win support for the special interest groups based on their understanding of the needs of the people.
Topics:
Conduct research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic
Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons
Work as a team to overcome obstacles and challenges in diverse settings
Challenges faced by the new nation
Branches of the U. S. government
Narrative writing
Public Speaking, Budgeting, data analysis, Fund raising in regard to government and campaigns
Trips:
Visit the Georgia Capitol museum and National Center for Civil and Human rights.
Public Product:
Students will nominate candidates and run campaigns as they participate in a mock election.
Fifth Grade Curriculum:
The World as a Village
Driving Question: If the world were a village, how would human rights be respected, but compromised?
Concept:
Focus on the needs of people, based upon their culture, heritage and human rights. Students will create a 3D global village, buildings built for each nationality will have to be sized according to the population of that nationality. Students will present to the United Nations delegate for the Global Village for final approval while competing with other architects and designers.
Topics:
How have issues in the past affected our rights and responsibilities as citizens today?
Using math skills to calculate distance, area and perimeter
Using charts to show population data
Informational and persuasive writing
Powerpoint presentations and animation
Discussion based learning
Speech writing
Trips:
Visit the Georgia Capitol museum and National Center for Civil and Human rights.
Public Product:
Students will work as a team to develop, design and layout a 3D model for a new global village.
Sixth Grade Curriculum:
The Community and Me
Driving Question: What are the key elements of community, public services, environment, and my place in society and my social responsibilities?
Concept:
Focus on key elements of community, public services, environment, and their place in society and their social responsibility. Students will use the ideas of system, model, change, and scale in exploring scientific and technological matters.
Topics:
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions
Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems utilizing strategies
Understand and describe how writing for scientific purposes is different than writing for literary purposes
Analyze the role of the different branches in Georgia state government
Students will identify and evaluate public problems in their individual neighborhoods and create solutions
Trips:
Visit the High Museum of Art, World of Coke, CNN Center, Oakland Cemetery, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, and the Atlanta History Center.
Public Product:
Students will present their pitch/presentation/product/psa to government council.
Seventh Grade Curriculum:
Odyssey Undercover
Driving Question: How does the criminal justice system impact our community?
Concept:
Focus on discovery while learning to interview and debate, as well as the science behind fingerprinting, DNA, and crime scene investigation. Students will be presented with a crime scene and are tasked with deciphering the mystery behind it. As a final project, students participate in a final mock trial. In addition to the final project, students will create PSAs to inform others about the issues and topics we are learning about.
Topics:
Learn how to debate as students attempt to discover the mystery behind the crime
Use science skills and forensics to do fingerprinting and DNA analysis
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish opinion pieces
Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks
Investigate the features of the process of scientific inquiry
Demonstrate employability skills required by business and industry
Demonstrate creativity and exhibit critical thinking and problem solving skills to solve problems
Working as a team
Trips:
Visit the Georgia Bar Museum, Emory Genetics Lab, Georgia Capital, Historic 4th Ward, Dekalb County Courthouse, Southern Poverty Law Center and Chamblee Municipal Court.
Public Product:
Students will participate in a final mock trial at Chamblee Municipal Court.
Eighth Grade Curriculum:
Odyssey Entrepreneurs
Driving Question: How do I become my own boss?
Concept:
Focus on responsibility and business plans. Students will create a viable business plan based on interviews from current and past business owners and research of the current market. Students will persuade current business owners to invest in their business through our “Shark Tank” activity, Real life entrepreneurs (“sharks”) will preview student businesses, and choose 5 overall to invest in.
Topics:
Create a market to sell goods
Create an Economic Portfolio that includes research on a company, “purchase” stock, and chart activity
Participate in mock interviews to enhance public speaking skills
Learn how to play chess
Students will conduct focus groups
Trips:
Visit the Junior Achievement Discovery Center, WSB Studios, Atlanta Food Bank, and the Federal Reserve.
Public Product:
Students will pitch their business in a “Shark Tank” activity with a completed business plan, an advertising plan, and knowledge of economics.
Ninth Grade Curriculum:
Community Builders
Driving Question: What are the characteristics of a good community? Why?
Concept:
Focus on developing the ideal neighborhood. Students tour different neighborhoods in Atlanta before starting their projects. Students will compare characteristics of each neighborhoods, as they reflect and design a better community. They will measure and compare food availability in different neighborhoods, and understand how different communities were developed.
Topics:
Persuasive writing
Public speaking
Critical thinking
Write letters to influential people in student’s immediate community about an issue that they believe needs to be addressed
Coding
Filming
Odyssey Score: PSAT verbal, math, and writing
Trips:
Visit Neighborhoods around Atlanta, Dekalb Farmers Market, Sevananda, Clark Atlanta University, Georgia Gwinnett College, International Rescue Committee, East Lake Foundation, Ponce City, Market Beltline, and the Escape Room.
Public Product:
Students will create a physical model, a digital Sim City (with necessities such as zoning, power and water), and an oral presentation of their ideal community to present.
Tenth Grade Curriculum:
Hidden Figures
Driving Question: With the technology and resources that are available today, how could the John Glenn launch be modified and still be successful?
Concept:
Focus on the Civil Rights Movement. The student will describe and assess the impact of political developments between 1945 and 1970. They will analyze the impact of social change movements and organizations of the 1960s. Students will investigate the relationship between motor rotation and robot rotation. By programming the robot to rotate, students will be able to validate the amount of motor rotation required to produce robot rotation.
Topics:
Investigate and discover personal relationship to community, culture, and world through making and studying art.
Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
Self Management
Read and analyze the novel Hidden Figures
Expand their vocabulary with selected pre-SAT words
Compare & contrast the “Hidden Figures” story to actual political/social climate of that era
Robotics
Odyssey Score: PSAT verbal, math, and writing
Trips:
Visit the Tellus Science Museum, Oglethorpe, Kennesaw State University, Georgia Tech, and Skyzone.
Public Product:
Students will re-create the John Glenn Launch through solving for the mathematics that is needed for the successful launch as well as creating models of the rockets.
Eleventh Grade Curriculum:
A Matter of Taste: Analyzing the Social Impact of the Industrial Food Complex on Teens
Driving Question: How does the industrial food complex affect the physical, emotional, and social lives of teens?
Concept:
Focus on various elements of the industrial food complex which would entail analyzing passages from literary. Students will also use mathematical concepts such as statistical analysis of food related surveys to better understand data analysis and some forms of food composition.
Topics:
Local college visits
Odyssey Score: PSAT verbal, math, and writing
One-on-one meetings with college counselors
SAT and creative writing
Write narratives to develop real events using effective technique
Make strategic use of digital media in presentations to enhance findings
Creatively communicate a message across multiple broadcast digital platforms
Understanding of Agricultural Engineering (dehydration, preservatives, food behavior)
Trips:
Atlanta Community Food Bank, AMC movies, and Savannah College trip.
Public Product:
Students through engineering skills will design and build a solar food dehydrator. Students will also creatively communicate a message with clarity and purpose using audio/visual tools and delivering it across multiple broadcast digital platforms.
Twelfth Grade Curriculum:
Odyssey University
Driving Question: How do you generate, revise, and polish a meaningful college essay that communicates your story most effectively?
Concept:
Focus on the college application process. Students participate in a two-day out-of-state college trip, local college visits, SAT prep, meetings with college counselors, and college admissions essay writing. Graduates will hone their skills for admissions success and be prepared once they arrive on their college campuses. Students will understand how paying for college with loans will impact life after graduation.
Topics:
Utilize software to identify colleges of interest
Learn the ins and outs of the Financial Aid process
College admissions essays
ACT verbal, math, and writing
Admissions interview role play
Multiple one-on-one meetings with Odyssey’s college counselors
Estimate the real cost of attending a college
Ted Talks
Free write
Trips:
Visit Morehouse College, Spelman College, and University of Georgia, as well as a two-night/ three-day tour of seven other colleges in Tennessee.
Public Product:
Students will work on a final draft of the Common College Application and College Essays.