Focus on TUSD - July 2007

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Students Use Vocabulary, Reading and Math Skills in Summer School
Summer school's slower pace and smaller classes are such a change from the regular school year that students hardly realize they're learning English right along with their other subjects.

That's the intent of the month-long TUSD summer classes at schools that have a heavy concentration of students who don't speak English as their primary language, such as Richey K-8 School, 2209 N. 15th Ave. Richey's Summer Academy for English Language Learners offered high-interest subjects, focused on vocabulary, reading comprehension and math.

Teachers encouraged English speaking by asking questions requiring longer answers, rather than a simple "yes" or "no," explained Norma Almada, who taught first-, second- and third-graders at Richey. "They discuss things among themselves and learn from it," she said. "If you repeat it, you remember it and retain it."

When Almada's students go home, they'll keep learning. She sends them home with the colorful book, "Life as a TV Reporter," they used in class, offering activities and stories. "They can continue to read it at home and share it with family members, which reinforces learning," Almada said. "It makes it more fun."

Richey classes were capped at 15 per room, and ended up with an average of 13 per class by the time the session ended on June 28, said Chris White, the Richey summer school coordinator. "There's a lot of communication between students and teachers," she said.

Alvaro Martinez, a seventh-grader in Alexander Rodriguez's science class said he'd learned a lot by doing special projects and being in a small class. He held up a clay model of a split-in-half Earth he'd made that clearly showed four layers: the crust, mantle, outer core and inner core. That was the kind of activity he would remember after summer school ended, his teacher said.

Although he called summer school "good," he admitted he was looking forward to free time in July and said, "My parents made me come."

His classmate, sixth-grader Veronica Patino, said, "Summer school was better than being at home and I get to see my friends." She always goes to summer school and liked the math games, but said she was ready for vacation.

Cavett Elementary School, 2120 E. Naco Vista Drive, had four classrooms at its summer academy with two geared toward students qualifying for Title I federal funding for low-income families. Admission was based on test score and teachers' recommendations, with many students needing help with English. Cavett has a bilingual classroom at every level during the regular school year.

Corrie Baca taught reading, writing, math and English in her class that sometimes shrank to only four students. Though she likes small classes, she said that she couldn't put them into small groups if the class was too small. "Kids need interacting with other kids to develop language skills," she said.

"Some things they didn't understand, they will learn here. Because of language barriers they might not comprehend it well the first time they learn material and they can brush up at summer school."

Her student, Marleth Pena, said, "Summer school is cool and you learn a lot." She showed a report she wrote comparing dolphins and mammals." I found out dolphins are mammals and sharks are fish," she said. "And sharks can be dangerous."

In Judith Badie's math session, students played a supplemental game predicting the likelihood of an outcome by spanning a dial on colored paper. "It will help them with math later and it's hands on," she explained. Many students in her class, that was capped at 15 and had at least a dozen students all summer, were brothers and sisters.

Gloria Roman, Cavett's summer school coordination, said that when she visits classrooms, she sees "a lot of interventions going on, which is the beauty of summer school."

Badie said she's found that summer school students "love coming and they hate to leave."

-- By Sharon Dunham
Communications & Media Relations

TUSD - Proud Supporter of Small Classes

All photos in the July issue by Jes Ruvalcaba of Communications & Media Relations.

The deadline to submit material for the August Focus is Friday, August 10. The Focus will be published Monday, August 20. Email submissions to Chyrl Hill Lander or Sharon Dunham in the Communications & Media Relations Department or use the Focus Online Submission Form.