Students at our summer school have seven classes daily, plus three hours of rest and recreation. The day starts at 8:00 and ends at 6:00, so hard-working parents can do a full day’s work and still have time to drop off and talk to teachers in the morning, and pick up and talk to teachers in the afternoon.
The MultiSensory Literacy Hour is for students not yet reading and writing at grade level. We focus on speech, vocabulary building, phonics, spelling, decoding, fluency, reading comprehension, and penmanship. These concepts are taught in a structured and explicit manner, with all the patience that struggling students deserve, using Orton-based lesson planning and procedures.
The MultiSensory Math Hour is for kids who don’t like math, and have difficulty grasping math concepts. Students not yet performing at grade level in math should benefit from these classes. New learnings are introduced explicitly, patiently, and with real-world applications. Tactile teaching tools are used to create clear mental pictures of math procedures. Color coding helps students understand place value and time telling concepts. We play math games so students can see that math can be fun.
A Speech & Language Pathologist is on staff for 1-on-1 and small group therapy, as needed. In addition to working with students who need help with articulation or oral expression, the SLP works with students who may need social skills coaching. She shows kids how to make and keep friends.
During the Science Hour students conduct experiments in chemistry, microscopy, or physics. On microscopy days, we examine plant, animal, or mineral specimens, and record our observations. On chemistry days we make concoctions like white-glue silly putty, cornstarch quicksand, polymer worms, and borax slime. On physics days, we celebrate Newton by launching objects from catapults, crashing things together, and experimenting with inertia and gravity.
Afternoon Arts and Movement
A daily Dance and Movement Hour, has been created for our summer school by The Forces of Nature Dance Theatre. This is a unique blend of performing arts, including modern dance, traditional West African dance, live and recorded music. Forces of Nature specializes in choreo-dramatic theater.
During the Art Hour students will explore their creativity using various forms of art and craft techniques such as drawing, painting, print making, weaving, jewelry making, collage, and sculpture. The drawings will cover themes from life to abstract in all media. Children will paint with water color, tempera, and acrylics. On sculpture days, students do life casting, clay sculpting, paper mâché, or mosaics.
The Drama Hour gives kids a chance to be somebody else for a while. Students warm up with improvisational theater games, then work with Reader’s Theater plays. Don’t tell the scholars, but the drama hour is actually a second literacy skills hour in disguise. We want the students to think they only have to learn in the morning, and that afternoons are just for fun.
The Sports Hour is a PE program providing fundamental-skills instruction in one sport each day over a ten-day cycle. Students learn throwology, basketball, touch football, softball, soccer, tennis, table tennis, fencing, ultimate frisbee, and miniature golf – with no scorekeeping or competition.
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