Our schools were buzzing with activity over the past five weeks with students enrolled in summer learning, setting themselves up on a path to success for the upcoming school year.
From rescuing monarch butterflies to designing lighthouses to doing writing and research-based projects, our elementary students have been enjoying a summer filled with learning mixed with fun during the Summer Success program.
With 94 students enrolled across our three elementary schools, teachers have been busy keeping students engaged, while focusing on learning to teach critical skills necessary for a successful school year.
Due to construction, Harmony Hill students attended classes at Abram Lansing, forging new friendships along the way. Third graders in Mrs. Hovey class have been busy rescuing monarch butterfly eggs. Students get to foster them through all of their life stages until they are ready to be released.
“The students love the whole process of watching them go from egg to butterfly to witnessing their release” said Mrs. Hovey, a reading teacher at Harmony Hill. “Every morning they run over to the cage to check on the caterpillars and the plate to see if any eggs have hatched.”
Rescuing monarchs has been a passion of Ms. Hovey’s for the past few years, and you just may find her combing the milkweed near the flagpole at Harmony Hill to check for eggs and/or caterpillars.
And the interest has extended to students other than her own. “My love has been shared beyond my classroom. Now students in other classrooms and TSL check in about the caterpillars,” she said.
At Van Schaick, Mr. Pafundi challenged his combined third, fourth and fifth grade class to design a lighthouse called “Van Schaick Island Light” to help boats traveling along the Hudson River.
“Students were charged with using their creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, and social-emotional learning using STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) in an interdisciplinary manner to bring their lighthouses to fruition,” said Mr. Pafundi, who teaches fifth grade at Abram Lansing. “They also examined the extent to which lighthouses could be controlled by Artificial Intelligence, which would mean a lighthouse keeper was no longer required.”
To set them on their voyage of discovery, students read Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall, in addition to excerpts from NYS ELA about nautical living.
They enjoyed designing their own buoys to place around their lighthouse and shared stories with each other in a fun and productive manner.
“This artistic project was liked more than I would’ve anticipated,” said Mr. Pafundi. “They were able to make artistic choices while also thinking of having a lighthouse and dock for folks to visit their island and its mansion.”
Mrs. Laughlin’s fifth grade class worked on a “mystery ELA project” that ended with an activity called, “Who Kidnapped the Principal?”
“We have been working hard on finding text evidence, as well as inferring by completing various stories,” said Mrs. Laughlin, who teaches fifth grade at Harmony Hill. “The students were excited to find out who took their principal and why.”
A handful of students also had the opportunity to work alongside Dr. Cheryl Dozier and her students from the University of Albany in a reading and writing research-based program.
The students worked on various topics and created games, wrote books, and presented to their families in a culminating event at the end of the program last week.
Over at the middle school, an average of 50 students were enrolled in the Summer Learning Academy, which had an Olympics theme with a focus on inclusion and the acceptance of differences.
Summer Learning Academy Coordinator Ms. Duff said students completed two projects over the five-week period.
“Students worked in groups and focused on collaboration and how to communicate ideas that are different with each other and how to respectfully disagree.”
Projects included building bridges, roller coasters, and learning about natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanoes.
Students were also given five choices of online hacks to test using scientific processes. One such experiment involved using vinegar and salt to clean a penny. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn’t. That’s what science is all about!