McKinley/Elmonica Elementary Summer School

Program

McKinley/Elmonica Elementary Summer School
1500 N.W. 185th Ave.
Beaverton, OR 97006

Contact

Ben Keefer, Summer School Coordinator
Patricia Book, McKinley Elementary School Principal
Phone: 503/533-1845
E-mail: patricia_book@beavton.k12.or.us or ben_keefer@beavton.k12.or.us

This program was recommended by the district's Title I coordinator as an effective program for motivating students not meeting benchmarks. Jennifer Railsback visited this program in July 2002.

McKinley and Elmonica at a glance:

• Grades 3-6
• Suburban
• Focus on interdisciplinary, project-based learning, and scientific inquiry

Young archaeologists intently sift through the sands of a river floodplain to find skeletal remains. " I found a skull!" shouts one student jubilantly. In a local wetland, other amateur scientists make observations of plant and water life, obtain plant samples, and consult their field guides to determine what they found. "I wonder what dug up those holes," muses a young botanist, "a snake?" After fieldwork, the groups return to their classroom to record their findings and experiences in field journals. Some draw pictures of what they found.

No, these aren't university science students; they are third- through sixth-graders engaged in summer projects of scientific inquiry and exploration. Sure, the riverbed is actually a sand pit in the schoolyard, but the exploration is exciting regardless of the location.

Background

The goal of this summer school program is to provide extended learning for students in two Title I schoolwide schools who are not meeting or barely meeting benchmarks. In the spring, all students who are not meeting benchmarks are invited to participate. The focus is on project-based learning, which research has shown to increase student engagement in learning. "In past summer programs," says Keefer, "when we used primarily drill-based programs to teach reading and math, we struggled to keep the children interested." Attendance was spotty as well. This year the summer program is very different.

The program runs four hours a day for five weeks. McKinley's third- through sixth-graders joined students from Elmonica Elementary school this summer, for a total of 100 students with seven teachers and other staff members. Each class has at least one teacher and teaching assistant. Keefer leads activities with the teachers, enthusiastically guiding the kids in their own exploration. "We try to allow time for the children to ask as many questions as possible, which is important for the scientific inquiry process," he says.

Children choose a thematic group for the five weeks: Cycles (plants and animals); Human Environments; Paleoecological Studies; or Wetlands. The kids then work in these multiage groups on a project of their own choosing. The course of study is modeled on how scientists work on projects—no lesson is learned in isolation.

"We know these kids are struggling [during the school year] and our goal is to get their excitement level way up," comments Reefer. The other teachers agree. "I've seen that many kids here are willing to put forth effort that they didn't during the previous school year," says one. The teachers agree that small class size (15 at the most), the attention teachers give to their students, the chance for the children to explore their surroundings and learn things they can apply to their lives all contribute to this high level of interest.

Programming

The first half-hour of the morning is an "instructional warm-up," during which kids work on mathematics skills worksheets and can get help in specific areas. For the rest of the day, reading and mathematics are incorporated as much into the project themes as possible. For each theme, such as wetlands, fiction and nonfiction books related to the theme are selected and leveled, grouped and ready for each child. Throughout the classrooms, evidence of children's writing is posted all over the walls. The "sentence strip," where children can post sentences on a subject is a way children can work on writing together. The teachers have guided reading groups and all children have journals. The goal is to have children reading and writing as much as possible about what interests them. Technology learning is also integrated into the projects. The children use I-Books received from a grant to collect and record data.

Summer school teachers and principals are very excited about this program. The teachers are already experienced in inquiry-based learning and incorporate it into their regular classes, so they are not daunted by the open-ended curriculum. "Teachers are acting as facilitators of learning rather than instructors," says McKinley Principal Patricia Book. The teachers also say that they can go into certain issues much more in depth in the summer, and focus on individualized instruction. "Kids are more relaxed about learning and also have more energy, especially since they don't have to worry about taking many tests," says one teacher. Comments another: "Many parents are actually surprised to see that their children are really enjoying summer school!"

The teachers are also eager to apply their projects and themes in the next school year. The thematic learning concept will be applied to the after-school program, which will have projects such as a Green Thumb gardening club. The students who become experts in the summer on wetlands and archaeology will form an after-school club to mentor other students in what they learned.

Even though the teachers' excitement is high with this program, there are still challenges. "Probably the most challenging thing," reflects Keefer, "is finding enough subject-specific reading material on the specific project themes that are at an appropriate level for this age group." For example, there aren't very many specific books for third-graders on paleoecology. So Keefer and other teachers adapt materials themselves. For example, they adapted an adult field guide into a format and reading level for younger children.

Evaluation and Outcomes

Data are currently being compiled to look at the effectiveness of this program. It is evident to the teachers, parents, and staff that the children love learning in this program, as they have perhaps never enjoyed learning before. The attendance rate is very high for the program, and the discipline rate very low. Many of these kids who have had disciplinary issues in the past do not have them in the summer program. "The key is for us to focus on what interests kids, incorporating scientific inquiry, reading, and math skills into highly engaging, interactive projects," emphasizes Book.