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Instead of purchasing a summer school curriculum and supplies from Newton Learning Systems as in years past, administrators invited district teachers to write the summer school curriculum.
"I think it's been a success," said Kevin Fowler, summer school coordinator. "We allowed our teachers to write the curriculum. Although there are benefits of companies like Newton, we wanted to target emphasis on reading and math.
"I'm sure there are road bumps, but we've had our teachers correct the curriculum as they go along. Overall the teachers have been very happy," he said.
Debi Ringling, who taught first grade at Daniel Boone Elementary this summer, is one of many district educators who feel the new program has been a great success.
"It's been awesome," she said. "The teachers love the new curriculum. It's both user-friendly and familiar. It's also relevant and appropriate for our students, preparing them for what they will learn next year. The purchased curriculum was too difficult for some of our students and didn't meet their needs as well."
In addition to reading and math, Ringling's students studied various countries around the world. For each country, Ringling's students practiced map skills, learned about foreign languages and cultures, and did special activities to bring the subject matter to life.
When they studied Germany, students made and tried potato pancakes. For South Africa, students created multi-colored African necklaces.
Laura Adams taught summer school kindergarten and also will teach kindergarten at Daniel Boone this fall. She was very pleased with the new curriculum, especially with the way the teacher-created curriculum integrated not only the academics, but also classroom and school routines, which can be difficult for kindergartners at the beginning of the academic year.
"The new curriculum is going to be a huge advantage for the teachers and students in the fall," Adams said. "The curriculum we've designed really goes along with the regular curriculum during the school year. These kids have a great advantage. They know all our routines."
Fowler explained that such positive associations are equally important for students at the middle school level. "A positive school experience is a critical element in keeping kids in school," Fowler said.
Christy Wilson, a parent who also serves as a music teacher at Black Hawk Middle School, agreed that the new summer school program was creating a positive and dynamic learning environment for district's students.
Wilson explained that students were reading important literary works this summer and that the reading was further enhanced by activities and creative exploration of themes.
"As a parent of a middle schooler, I am happy about the reading and hands-on activities," she said. "Over the summer, teachers have more time to do fun activities relating to the readings, which they don't have time to do during the regular school year."
With such positive feedback, the school district plans to build on this year's success with a similar teacher-created curriculum next year.
According to Superintendent Dr. John Long, approximately 40 percent of the district's 3,000 students attended summer school.
"Student attendance was great," he said. "The program went very well."
