Learning continues during the summer months as approximately 60 English Language Learners throughout the Levittown Public Schools engaged in the district’s annual English as a New Language Jumpstart Program for three weeks. Opened to kindergarten through sixth-grade students at the Levittown Memorial Education Center, the program aims to strengthen Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math, English Language Arts and health and wellness skills into a three-hour day.
District teachers guide the students through engaging lessons and activities from reading and writing, to outdoor STEAM activities which focus on teamwork and problem solving. The summer program was established 19 years ago in the district and has served as a positive experience for students, growing each year with the expansion of the program’s curriculum. Just this summer, older English Language Learners honed their reading skills by partnering with the district’s Summer Reading Extravaganza. All incoming sixth-graders are required to read “Because of Mr. Terupt” by Rob Buyea. During the program, students receive support while reading and create a meaningful dialogue with their peers about the story to prepare them for corresponding reading assignments in the fall.
With the help of coordinator and ENL teacher Carol Rimler, all groups rotate sessions throughout the day to encourage movement and to experience all that the summer program has to offer. She has received positive feedback, with students returning to the program each year. The program also plays a beneficial role for incoming kindergartners, entering a school setting for the first time.
“Along with academics, these students work on school skills such as walking in the hallway,” said Rimler. “It also allows the students to meet their peers so they will see a familiar face once they enter their school building in the fall.”
Photo courtesy of: Levittown Public Schools
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