Multiple options for summer school
District to provide virtual and in-school programs
The School District of Lee County is offering very strategic and targeted learning opportunities for students this summer from elementary to high school.
A Expanded Virtual Learning Summer Program option is available for students who are currently in kindergarten through eighth grade.
“All the programs that we offered since the beginning of the pandemic, we are continuing through this summer,” Elementary Teaching & Learning Director Dr. Bethany Quisenberry said.
This program allows students to take home their Chromebooks and work through their iReady Student Learning Path.
“It allows them to get the activities that help build on their level with what they need on reading and math,” she said.
Students are strongly encouraged to complete 45 minutes a week for both reading and math.
Quisenberry said there are multiple other programs that are on their launchpad, “desktop,” that students will have access to, which will be built into the summer program through Google Classrooms.
“We will also build in maybe 20 minutes a week for Reflex Math, which is a math fluency program that they also use at school. They also have access to other fun games,” she said.
The summer program will be held from June 13, through July 24. According to the district, there are no classrooms, or teachers for the program. Students will be monitored at the district level. The deadline to enroll is May 20.
Quisenberry said a School Messenger message went out to parents of kindergarten to eighth grade students in either a phone call, text or email format on April 4. The message entailed a Google form, which is available in three different languages, for parents to sign up.
Students will bring their Chromebooks back on the first day of school. However fifth grade students and eighth grade students will be required to take their Chromebooks back to their current elementary, or middle school before the first day of school.
There are face-to-face programs offered this summer as well for elementary students.
“We are anticipating more students to participate in all of our summer programs,” Quisenberry said.
For elementary school, the face-to-face options include voluntary pre-kindergarten, third grade reading camp and a second grade reading and math boot camp.
The VPK program is offered for those students that did not participate in the program during the school year and have a voucher.
The third grade reading camp is offered to students who received a level one on the third grade ELA FSA test.
Quisenberry said the new program became available because second grade students are struggling with phonics standards. She said these students were in kindergarten at the beginning of the pandemic and did learning at home, missing half of their kindergarten year in person. For first grade the students did half virtual and half face-to-face learning.
“We are targeting our students that are one, or more years behind in phonics,” Quisenberry said, adding that these students will receive an invitation to participate.
There are also virtual and face-to-face summer programs for middle school students.
Middle School Teaching & Learning Director Lori Houchin said one of those face-to-face learning camps is for English Language Learners, students who speak different languages. The science camp is offered for current sixth and seventh grade students.
“They struggle a lot in vocabulary when they don’t speak English. It’s a hands-on interactive camp that is pretty fun,” she said.
There is also an Exceptional Student Education in-person camp for students who qualify to work on skills.
A STEM camp is offered for current sixth through eighth grade students. Dunbar High School will host a STEM camp that focuses on building vehicles, while Cape Coral High School will focus on a pharmaceutical concentration.
There is also a credit retrieval program offered virtually through Lee Virtual School for eighth grade students.
There are a handful of programs, both in-person, and virtual for high school students this summer.
High School Teaching & Learning Director Candace Allevato said ninth through 11th grade students will have an opportunity to build upon their English acquisition through a ELL Camp with hands-on pieces.
Students will receive an invitation for this program, which is offered at two host sites in the district.
A driver’s education in-person summer program will also be offered at every high school in the district.
Brand new this year is a math boot camp offered for just incoming ninth grade students at two host sites in the district. Allevato said the boot camp will focus on hands-on mathematics projects to provide a jump start on engaging in mathematics coursework.
The district is sending out very specific letters to families to invite them to the boot camp, as not all incoming ninth grade students will be taking algebra.
There is also a virtual program offered for students still in need to meet high school math requirements.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com