Putnam Schools Summer Learning Camp Underway

Putnam County Schools Summer Learning Camp is underway for rising kindergarten through ninth graders.

Elementary Instruction Supervisor Dr. Diana Wood said students receive two hours of reading and language arts instruction and two hours of math instruction each day. She said students also have plenty of exciting outdoor activities and physical education. Wood said the camp is a great way for students to avoid “summer slide.”

“It’s just maybe revisiting some content from the year, but it’s in a fun way,” Wood said. “It’s unit-based and then it kind of has that summer camp feel too. So, we’ll have the Wow Bus that’ll come to our elementary sites and kids can pick out a book.”

Wood said the camp also functions as a pathway for third graders to avoid retention if they did not meet or exceed expectations on TCAP testing. Teachers also invite students who they believe could benefit from the extra instructional time in preparation for the next grade level, Wood said. Camp began Tuesday and will run through June 18.

“We also have an hour of intervention, which is really Future Ready, which means kids are getting what they need on their grade level, while during the reading and math, they’re doing grade-level work,” Wood said. “So, it’s a great time to just extend the learning.”

Wood said the camp has become more widespread since state legislators began to lay out parameters for districts to support students in need of extra help. The Literacy Success Act was one driving force in making increased engagement in Summer Learning Camp a focus, and newer third-grade retention laws have only made the camp more of a tool for students who might benefit from extra practice.

“I guess there’s a summer school out there that could be kind of like credit recovery,” Wood said. “So, for older students, if they failed a class, they may be repeating content from the class, so this is a little different.”

She said STREAM classes will also be included. She said the STREAM program is similar to STEM courses, with the addition of art and reading. She said camp is often capped off with a day of outdoor fun after almost a month of valuable learning time.