After-school Club Chaparral opens

Club Chaparral, the new afterschool program at Chaparral Elementary School in Calabasas, opened its doors on Aug. 26 to students in kindergarten through fifth grades. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes program is run by branch director Anne Lee and her assistant, Brieanne DeMaio.

Lee, a Southern California native, earned a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from UC Irvine. She also studied languages and literature in Spain and France.

Her previous work experience includes substitute teaching preschool to high school students in El Dorado County, and seven years as an English and drama teacher in a British all girls’ boarding school, where she also worked as a boarding house supervisor, planning activities and trips for the students. She lives in Thousand Oaks.

Lee’s background in drama is put to good use during creative play time in what she calls Club Chaparral’s “busy room,” which has a kitchen/snack area, an enormous toy cupboard, and a TV for “educational but not dry” DVDs. She leads her charges in “playing and learning at the same time— that’s what I love most” on the room’s large, colorful mat. The “quiet room,” where arts and crafts and Power Hour—a Boys & Girls Clubs of America homework tutoring program—take place, has a Library Corner and will soon house a Languages Corner as well.

Club Chaparral uses the school’s outdoor facilities, which include basketball and handball courts; a lower field with jungle gym, monkey bars and slides, and a large, grassy field.

In addition to after-school hours, which last until 6 p.m., Club Chaparral provides the 30-Minute Club, a session which straddles the gap between younger and older students’ release times so that parents can pick up both simultaneously.

Kindergarteners through third graders are picked up at their designated areas and walked over to the club.

Lee said the clubs “have been tried and tested and work really well.

“We plan to utilize Youth for Unity, a diversity and tolerance program, and Smart Kids, a life skills program that helps kids build selfconfidence and leadership skills,” Lee said.

For more information about Boys & Girls Clubs, call (818) 7060905 or go to www.bgcconejo.org.