Bourne Schools Holds Summer Academy For Students
Roughly 100 Bourne Public School students from Bournedale Elementary, Bourne Intermediate and Bourne Middle Schools participated in the district’s summer academy programs this month, designed to sharpen students’ academic skills while keeping them engaged with fun summer activities.
The program, led by BPS math, English language arts, and special education teachers, is a no-cost opportunity for students in grades K through 8 to reinforce academic skills. Using curricula adapted from the school year, students work hands-on to brush up on skills they may have struggled with during the regular school year in order to better prepare them for the next grade.
Lisa Dix, the PreK-5 curriculum director for the district, said that students are invited to participate in the program for a number of reasons, but the biggest indicator is benchmarking data collected throughout the school year.
“We give benchmark tests in both ELA and math three times a year: fall, winter, and spring,” Ms. Dix said. “We use the spring scores to kind of start our list and then we also seek input from teachers who would benefit based on classroom observation and classroom grades.”
English Language Learner students—students who speak a language other than English at home—are also invited to participate in the program.
“It’s meant to give just an extra little academic boost for those who may have struggled throughout the year in either reading and or math,” Ms. Dix said. “In order to fill the seats, if you will, we just keep going down the list as we invite students.”
The Bourne Elementary Summer Academy ran from July 11 to July 14 and July 18 to July 22 from 9 AM to noon. At Bournedale, the Summer Academy theme was “Summer Safari,” and at Bourne Intermediate, the theme was “Summer Spectacular.” Giving the summer academies themes, Ms. Dix said, was an attempt to liven up the idea of traditional summer school and make it more fun for students. The Summer Safari theme was largely derived from the reading curriculum, Ms. Dix said.
“I wrote the curriculum for the K-5 summer program based on our reading curriculum, which is American Reading Company, or ARC,” Ms. Dix said. “In that curriculum, K-5 students do research based on science topics, science standards, and at the elementary level it has to do with bees, bugs, endangered animals, wild animals, habitats, and that kind of thing. So that’s where we really came up with the Summer Safari.”
A day at the summer academy largely resembles a day at school, aside from a noontime dismissal. Students spend time working on ARC reading units for ELA in the morning, Ms. Dix said, before moving on to math units that had been identified as areas of struggle for them.
“Our math curriculum in Bourne is Eureka Math, and the teachers were given the benchmark data for the students that were in their summer programs,” Ms. Dix said. “They were able to drill down into ‘do they need help with numbers and operations? Do they need help with geometry topics? Do they need help or extra support with measurement?’—that kind of thing. The teacher would then go back into the Eureka curriculum books and find the activities that related to that to provide the math support.”
The specialized support based on benchmarking data is intended to give students a second pass over lessons they may have missed or struggled with during the school year. Summer Academy classrooms also benefitted from the presence of Bourne High School students who are engaged in the High School Senior Internship Education Project, a program that allows students who are interested in education to get hands-on opportunities working in classrooms assisting teachers.
Unlike the elementary iteration, the Bourne Middle School Academy will continue to run Tuesdays through Thursdays into August. The program has similar components to that of the Elementary Summer Academy, with students focusing on ELA and math skills throughout the four-week program.
The program was funded by the Elementary and Secondary School Education Relief III Funds. Snack time and recess are included, as well as transportation to the program via school bus.
“I like to think that it’s something that gives our students the extra boost, so that it’s not such a long summer between ending one grade and beginning another,” Ms. Dix said. “It gives them the chance to review some things they might’ve missed, whether it was because they were out on a COVID-related illness or some other reason for absence and then just to boost those skills and to better prepare them for the start of the next school year.”