This year, more summer learning programs than ever are getting social!
In addition to popular social media platforms such as Twitter (see SLP twitter highlights on this page), a number of summer learning sites are engaging parents, students, teachers and their communities with fun and informative blogs.
The Avon Public School Summer Learning Camp team have set up a Summer Learning Camp Blog that allows parents to follow their child’s “Numeracy and Literacy 3 week journey.” The team’s plans for the blog include adding helpful parent resource links, apps and event reminders to further enhance students’ achievement.
According to the Avon team, their focus for Math “is place value and spatial awareness.” Parents are encouraged to support their child’s learning at home by playing board and card games. The summer program’s Reading focus (fluency and comprehension) is highlighted with a note to parents via the blog that students will be coming home with books. Tips and suggestions for parents on how to read the books with their child are included. Follow the Avon Summer Learning Camp team blog here.
Several of the Avon Maitland District School Board teaching sites are piloting a new approach that blends numeracy, literacy and inquiry-based learning. One of these sites is Clinton Public School, where instructional time focuses on student learning mindsets, fluency and sight word recognition, number sense and spatial awareness. A full day of inquiry-based learning is featured each week, including a recent visit to the outdoor classroom at the Wawanosh Nature center. Additional features include breakfast, snacks, afternoons at the YMCA summer camp program — and a class blog.
Two Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board summer learning sites are also sharing news, photos and updates via the blogosphere. The Summer Learning Program 2016 Assumption Site blog includes a recap of each day’s activities, weekly reminders, and a photo log from a recent Parent Engagement Friday. The camera also captured a yoga session, a “show and share” of students’ coding work using iPads, and a morning of poetry guided reading.
Over at the board’s Lassaline Site blog, a recent post was also about parents joining in for the site’s first ever parent engagement session. According to the blog, teachers modelled how to use the reading comprehension cards that were provided for both fiction and non-fiction. Parents were encouraged to practice using these cards with their son or daughter at home.
