IDEA Time Program

Our Expeditionary Learning program, IDEA Time, is unique to Cedar Park. Every week throughout the school year, students get an opportunity to step outside their regular classroom learning and explore their interests and passions. We believe that providing our students with access to new activities allows them to grow their creative and intellectual muscles and widen their understanding of who they are, what interests them and what they are capable of.

Our program takes a deeper dive into student-selected subjects, using academic skills learned in the classroom to broaden their understanding in these interests. IDEA stands for Investigate, Design, Engage and Ask Why and it is the framework we use to initiate that Expeditionary deep dive.

IDEA Time runs all year long offering enrichment classes under 5 different themes. We always start the year with a community theme where our students explore friendships, kindness and mindfulness through a variety of modalities (art, sport, music, movement, science, etc.). Other themes throughout the year may vary from year to year. Here is a list of themes we often explore: Literacy, Math, Science, STEAM and Arts & Culture. We will end our year with an entrepreneurial theme we call Cedar Park Night Market.

Before every theme students are surveyed about their interests and classes are designed with those interests in mind. Student voice and choice is an essential piece of IDEA Time. Students pick their own classes from the offered courses based on their own interests. In this way students will find themselves learning and collaborating with students from different grade levels or friends not in their homeroom class. This also creates opportunities for students to build relationships with a wider variety of staff members too. In addition to the weekly enrichment classes, Cedar Park offers Field Experiences to all students during each theme to enhance the in-class activities, with include both field trips out into our larger community and community partners bring experiences to our school in the from of assemblies or classroom presentations.

Example

Theme: Arts & Culture

Classes: Theatre, Song Writing, Karaoke, Mindful Mandala Arts, Recess Games from Around the World, Sign Language, Spanish, Chinese, Archeology, Family Tree Art, Global Dances, etc.

Field Experience: Grade-band field trips to Seattle Children’s Theatre presentation of The Hula Hoopin’ Queen, the Burke Museum or the Wing Luke Museum.

Financial Support Acknowledgment

The Cedar Park Community believes that all students should be able to follow their interests and receive enrichment and Field Experiences regardless of a family’s financial status or access to transportation. The Cedar Park PTA supports IDEA Time by paying for all outside vendors, field experiences and supplies used in the program.