The Extended School Year (ESY) program is off to a busy start with students maintaining the academic skills they learned during the school year to prevent substantial regression when they return to school in September. The program continues until Aug. 15.
Students in Kourtney Fitzmaurice’s class went over the days of the week on July 8. She asked students to come up and write in what day it was, what the day before was and what the day after will be on the smart board.
Meanwhile, students in Jim Fraser’s class had some free time to draw before diving into a lesson on the letter “B” and a related reading comprehension assignment.
“This summer, there is an exceptional group of teachers, support staff and related service providers working in our program,” Salt Point Center Principal Melissa Murphy said.
ESY’s learning methods include the Whole Group Model, where students learn together as a learning community and the Small Group Model, where students can work in small groups for specific subjects based on skills.
Students begin the day doing independent reading and word work, among other activities before working on social skills and having a morning snack. The rest of the day consists of a daily read aloud with a focus on high frequency words and comprehension, as well as time to work on English language arts and math skills before going home with a brown-bagged lunch, a new addition to this year’s proceedings.
Fridays at ESY end differently than the rest of the week with a fun community-wide activity such as a dance party, ice cream social and summer arts and crafts.
