Youngsters in Ector County ISD’s summer learning program are getting a sample of music, theater, art and STEM to name a few.
A little more than 5,000 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 attended the programs, which include academics and enrichments.
At Milam Elementary Magnet School, Zealia Jenkins said there are 177 students in grades prekindergarten through fifth. They feed in from Blackshear, Reagan and Hays elementary schools.
“It’s been going great,” said Jenkins, who is assistant principal at Downing Elementary. “I think our enrichment has really helped to keep our attendance up. We do have some that drift off, but they look forward to this expression,” Jenkins said.
“… I used to be a counselor and that’s one of the big things is picking your elective. I think the exposure just helps them to … narrow down some of the things they might be interested in, or open them up to new things they might be interested in. …,” Jenkins added.
She said she schedules the students so that they get a week of everything.
Manuela Escajeda, coordinator for the virtual academy, is helping with summer learning this year. It is a full day this year and there are teachers from the high schools that are offering their expertise.
Because it is a full day, Jenkins said she thinks more parents signed their children up. They also realize the value of continuing their children’s learning.
She noted that testing and assessments have continued to determine if gaps are closing.
“… We have a pre-test and a post-test. We’re all looking forward to that post-test to see how those gaps have (improved). Definitely it’s going to be a head start for a lot of these kiddos (during) the year instead of lost learning,” Jenkins said.
Jen Martin, an education consultant with Sperling Center for Research and Innovation, was visiting Tuesday.
Executive Director of Instruction and Professional Learning Lisa Wills said Martin was here as part of the Additional Day School Year grant, which is only for elementary.
The grant runs for three years and Martin helped with the strategic planning for summer learning, Wills said.
OHS Assistant Band Director Jimmy Olague was teaching elementary students about drumming on tubanos and learning rhythms by drumming out what they had for dinner and performing small solos.
He said he has taught young children one on one before, but not in a group.
“It was a learning experience for me trying to be creative and figuring out how to reach them and how to keep them on task with what we’re doing in class. They’re so energetic. Their minds are all over the place. They want to do something different every 30 seconds to a minute and then go do something else. I figured out what to do to keep them in line. It’s been cool. It’s been really neat, a great learning experience for me. I’ve really enjoyed it,” Olague said.
He added that the students get instant gratification from the drums.
“They just hit the drum and they do something. We used a lot of the questions about what they had for dinner as rhythms …,” Olague said.
They’re learning math without talking about it — how one note is longer than another, or faster than another.
“… I’m not writing musical notes on the board. We’re just answering questions by hand drumming,” Olague said.
At Cameron Elementary, Mireya Coy, an 11-year-old who goes to Cameron said she has enjoyed the activities at summer school. This is her first year.
Coy said she would do it again. This is also a chance to see her peers during the summer.
“It’s fun. You get to make a lot of new friends,” Coy said.
She added that summer learning will help during the regular school year “because all the subjects that we do, it has something to do with what we do in class regularly, every day.”
Jessica Martinez, who usually teaches fourth grade at Cameron, was offering a variety of arts and crafts activities. They had also done some cooking and made ice cream.
She brought LEGOs in so the students could create a variety of structures and is teaching them how to interact and work with each other as part of a group.
Cecilia Huitron, a 9-year-old Cameron student, says summer learning is really fun.
She likes that they have gotten to do activities and “express themselves through different kinds of things.”
