Forte and Fortissimo Summer Camp

University Avenue Discovery Center provides a unique summer camp adventure for students, with experienced and licensed teachers, fun-filled activities, and tailored by age groups in the heart of downtown Madison. Students benefit from enrichment classes-swimming lessons, yoga, dance, music and theater-and learn to  explore parts of the community that are enriching for their particular age and interests. The groups take the city bus or chartered buses to explore farther surroundings near and far, like farms, water parks and state parks etc. Nutritious whole foods are prepared for breakfast, lunch and snack onsite by our own chef with many ingredients sourced from a local organic farm. For an additional cost piano, French and Spanish lessons are also available.

We offer two programs tailored to the age groups: FORTE campers are going into grades 1-2 and FORTISSIMO campers are going into grades 3-4 (through age 10). Each program has a similar structure but is customized by age and interest. For example, Forte campers may take a morning visit to an art museum and then return to camp to create their own art. The Fortissimo group may tour the museum, meet with an artist to ask questions and then sketch while at the museum. UADC believes strongly in keeping a small student-to-teacher ratio to maximize the individual attention that our students receive. Our programs have small group sizes (15 students) with a low teacher to student ratio of 1 to a maximum of 8. The unique interest of the group is taken into account when planning learning activities, field trips and guest expert visits. An emphasis is placed on inquiry based curriculum, arts enrichment, the building of strong relationships and fun!

Our first priority is that UADC Summer Camp is a positive experience for children, parents, and staff. The UADC staff works closely with parents and other caregivers to accommodate the special needs of any child. The UADC Summer Camp program facility is accessible to those with physical disabilities.Wisconsin Shares and UW Child Care Tuition Assistance Program (CCTAP) funding are accepted. Scholarships are also available for qualifying families.

Summer Schedule
Summer camp program hours are 7:15 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Enrichment activities are offered on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.A Typical Day at Camp starts with as early as 7:15 a.m. When campers arrive they have a choice between joining in a group activity or engaging in their own choice of projects. Breakfast is offered between 8:00 and 8:30. At 8:45 the group meets to discuss the day and to work on community building activities. Each day varies slightly depending on the enrichment schedule.

Monday: Project Based Work, Field Trip
Tuesday: Swim Lessons, Dance Class, Music Class and Piano Lessons
Wednesday: Project Based Work and Field Trip
Thursday: Yoga Class, Theater Class, Piano Lessons, Language Arts
Friday: Project Based Work and Field Trip

What is Project Based Work? Project based work is a way to allow our campers to do in-depth exploration based on a particular interest. Campers might take several field trips to a place of interest, invite experts to speak with them at camp, make replicas of real-life things or create community initiatives based on what they have investigated. Project work integrates into all areas of the curriculum and utilizes student’s excitement as momentum during the learning process.

What are some examples of field trips? State Parks, picnic point, UW Space Place, Henry Vilas Zoo, the Arboretum, the UW Dairy Barn, Babcock Hall, Monona Terrace, UW Campus departments of interest, Madison Children’s Museum, local libraries, MMoCA, Chazen, Olbrich Gardens, local farms, Madison Farmer’s Market as well as some farther away places like Cave of the Mounds or the Wisconsin Dells. Parental support is welcome during field trips as well as any other time of the day!