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Summer School helps kids overcome 'summer learning loss'
By Ann McCreary, Methow Valley News
They may be working on reading and math each day, but the 20 kids attending summer school at Methow Valley Elementary this month call it "camp."
This is the second year that the school district has offered a summer session to help students maintain their reading and math skills over the summer. The four-week program mixes scholastics with plenty of fun, including gymnastics, drama and art, and a special excursion at the end of the session.
"They love it," said Kristy Caesar, a kindergarten teacher who taught the summer session last year as well.
While students in one classroomwork with instructors in groups of two on recognizing words like "it" and "little," students in another roomwork in groups of four on addition and subtraction. In the gym, a half-dozen kids let their energy loose while practicing handstands with gymnastics teacher Jeffrey Monahan.
Students in the program are entering first, second or third grade, and are invited to the summer session for some extra reading and math help based on recommendations from their teachers at the end of the year.
"We're practicing or reinforcing what they've learned through the school year," Caesar explained this week, the second week of the session.
The summer school was created last year to combat a phenomenon familiar to educators - "summer learning loss," said Superintendent Mark Wenzel. Research has demonstrated that students forget skills that they don't use over the summer. For students who are already struggling, that learning loss can make it harder to keep up with their grade level when school starts in the fall.
The program is also based on research pointing to the importance of early intervention to help struggling students, Wenzel said. "It's essentially just giving students who need it a little more time to master math and reading skills."
Kids who don't read over the summer often drop one or two reading levels, Caesar said. However all the students who participated in the program last summer "stayed even or even improved" in their reading skills when they entered school in the fall, she said.
Caesar works with the children on reading skills, and Tiffany Surface, who teaches special education at the junior high and high school, works with them in math. The teachers have two student assistants, who are both interested in teaching careers, and Monahan to lead kids in gymnastics and tumbling.
Because of the number of staff members, the students get lots of small group instruction and individual attention. Working in small groups with students who have similar skill levels helps students feel proud of what they are accomplishing, Caesar said.
"They feel confident because everybody is at about the same level as themselves. This is an excellent way for them to build confidence," she said.
This year's session is based on a theme of "Mischievous Bugs." Reading and math lessons and art activities are developed around the bug theme, and the kids will do a final skit complete with bug costumes when the program is over at the end of the month.
Students attend the summer session from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday-Thursday, and are provided a snack and bag lunch each day.
The summer program, including bus transportation, is supported by a grant from a local donor, who wants to remain anonymous, said Wenzel. The same donor, Wenzel said, will fund a fifth day of kindergarten during the coming school year to provide early intervention to students who need it.
See more on Coach Jeff Monahan's website, www.cubfit.com
