The Kearney School District Offers Diverse Summer Learning Opportunities to Students in June

 

 

Kearney’s summer enrichment program has grown exponentially in only our third year. This years’ Summer Enrichment theme is titled simply, “Design” and teachers will soon propose courses which reflect a strong emphasis on situating students to design their dream! The enrichment program started two years ago as a way to extend learning during the summer months and increase student achievement. The following provides just a short sampling of courses offered in 2014.

 

• 26 students spent two weeks engaged in Scratch/Bridge Engineering and used computational creations to problem solve and create projects such as video games and stories. The Lego Engineering component utilized robotics and advanced team challenges, positioning students to work with sound, light, touch, and ultrasonic sensors. Instructors; Jennifer Chrane and Heidi Dodd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Mindy Gray’s, Gateway Academy attracted 23 students who utilized PLTW’s (Project Lead the Way) project-based, hands-on, and real-world problem-solving approaches to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning. The overall goal of Gateway Academy was to ignite interest in STEM.

 

• Reading Adventure Camp: Down by the Sea and Reading Adventure Camp: Under Construction challenged 108 participating elementary students to join an adventure in reading around a celebration of the Sea then, cars, trucks, and construction. Students listened to books then investigated concepts such as force and motion. Students also checked out books and set lofty summer reading goals.  Reading Adventure Camp instructors; Polly Brewer, Tammy Thomas, Dawn Meyer, Rhonda Shrimpton, and Staci Dillon.

 

• Dana Starzl and Kerri Prom created and co-taught, Passport to Adventure a course that extended 21 students a “Passport” to experiencing the best of Kansas City in the summer time. Every summer school day was a field trip – literally! Participating students visited the Kansas City Zoo, hiked state parks, visited the Federal Reserve, and enjoyed leisure sports. After each trip, students reflected by blogging and sharing photos.