Summer Program Family Update Week 3

Dear Summer Program Families,  

This week,

Rising Kinder in literacy, continued learning the alphabet starting with the letters in their names. They worked on the sound, look and feel of letters and strengthened their finger muscles with writing exercises. In math, they continued to practice number fluency and identification of quantities. The children continued to learn body parts and talked about foods that nourish their bodies. Kinder A made sugar-free jello! To finish out the week, students decorated their work folders using acrylic paints.

Rising 1st - 5/6th in literacy, focused on completing their WRiTE BRAiN stories. They came up with titles, wrote their author biographies, and wrote a dedication. 

Rising 1st-2nd in literacy they also worked on distinguishing between nouns and adjectives. In math, students continued number association practice up to 100. They also played math bingo with two digit numbers. They practiced whole numbers and fractions. 

Rising 3rd in literacy, they also used the word glossary from their workbooks to add more detail. We encourage families in this grade to work with their children to complete their stories using the author’s guide they will take home. In math, students worked on fractions, multiplication and division. They challenged their place value skills. They also went to the Bladensburg Waterfront Park where they saw turtles, egrets, and other wetland animals while learning about wetland habitats. They also took a boat ride!

Rising 4th in math, students challenged themselves with multiplication games. They practiced place value, division, and fractions. They also went to the Bladensburg Waterfront Park where they saw turtles, egrets, and other wetland animals while learning about their wetland habitats. They also took a boat ride!

Rising 5/6th in math, they practiced multiplying numbers with various digits. They also went to the Bladensburg Waterfront Park where they saw turtles, egrets, and other wetland animals while learning about wetland habitats. They also took a boat ride!

SPECIALTIES
Art with Ms. Zoila: 3D paper collaging was introduced to children in all the grades this week. Rising Kinder assembled a 3D bird on a branch sculpture, a porcupine, and a potted plant. Rising 1st-2nd made a paper box and a tambourine from cardboard. These were decorated with the flag of the student’s family heritage and bells.

Cooking and Gardening with Ms. Katherine: All the students played food bingo as the teacher called out food names in Spanish!

STEAM projects: Students in Rising 1st-2nd collaborated in small groups to assemble cars, boats, and airplanes using chipboard, wooden axles, plastic wheels, foam blocks and rubber bands! Students in Rising 3rd-6th collaborated in small groups to assemble an electric fan using pre-cut wood, batteries, plastic wheels and an instructional guide.

Movement and Recess: Rising Kinder students danced to music and played in the arroyo on a daily basis when weather permitted. Rising 3A, 3B, 5/6A played basketball with Coach Howard. Rising 1A, 1B, 4A played floor hockey with Coach Jorge. Rising 2B, 2A, 4B played soccer with Coach Kelly and Coach Mario. Our recess coaches organized their weekly Friday water games to help children blow some steam off!!

Last Day: On Friday, the children took home their work in uniquely decorated folders or bags. We encourage you to go through these with your child/ren. We were especially happy when one student decorated his bag with the characters from his WRiTE BRAiN story! For those Rising 1st-6th children who did not finish their stories during their time with us, we encourage caregivers to use the author’s supplement to help them finish it as a way to keep their writing skills alive. 

We hope your children have enjoyed their time with us. We wish everyone a joyful and cool rest of your summer!

Sincerely,

Gloria Quirarte
Director of Extended Day Programming

Summer Program Family Update Week 2

Dear Summer Program Families,

This week:

Rising Kinder explored the look, feel, and sound of different emotions during their morning meeting check-in. They learned the Spanish words for parts of their body. For math learning, they exercised their number association skills using manipulatives, color patterns, and number games to identify numbers and sequence from one to one hundred. Here is a number video in Spanish that the children listened to and danced to that you can play at home. For literacy, children practiced the sounds of the letters in their first and last name. Rising Kinder C students had a cooking workshop and made waffles! On Wednesday, they went to the Smithsonian National Zoo where they visited the small farm, giant cats, and great ape exhibits.

Rising 1st-2nd practiced their number fluidity through addition and subtraction of numbers between twenty to one thousand. Students practiced place value. In literacy, they reviewed basic writing norms to include sentence and paragraph structures. Both grades made progress, evidenced in their writing fluency, imagination, and comprehension. Students enjoyed the small group format, actively talking to others about setting, characters, and plot!

Rising 3rd worked on math problems that required adding and subtracting in single equations. They focused on place values up to one thousand. They also created their own multiplication tables and began to review measuring units by measuring the furniture in the classroom. In literacy, students worked on vocabulary for developing their characters and the setting of their stories. Ask your child what they enjoy best about their writing project to learn more about his/her writing process.

Rising 4th practiced multiplication and division with numbers up to one thousand. They worked on their skills for understanding mixed equations (knowing when to add, subtract, multiply, or divide). They continued to identify place values up to one thousand using games. In writing, they made decisions about story structure and plot. They talked about their characters and were encouraged to draw from personal experience to deepen connection between characters.

Rising 5/6th practiced place value using manipulatives and determining complex multiplication equations. They compared decimals and whole numbers. Students progressed in their creative writing workbooks and began to transfer draft content from the workbook to the final books. Teachers noticed high levels of creativity and fluidity of ideas and words. The small group format allowed teachers to give students individualized attention and honor each student’s pace and writing process. The author Debra K. Dent, visited with students and did a popcorn read aloud of her book “Nigel”.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

Families can view the program schedule for the last week of the program (from July 24-28) below:

SY23 Summer Program Schedule - Week 3

SPECIALTIES
Art with Ms. Zoila: Children in the Rising K-1st grades cut and pasted paper of mixed colores to strengthen finger muscles and to reinforce number and letter representations, while building their Spanish vocabulary. They made flowers, a porcupine, and an aquarium to flex their association skills. They also made a lunch box and packed it with paper images of food types, which they sorted out by nutritional value after a discussion about food nutrients.  

Cooking and Gardening with Ms. Katherine: Children in Rising 2nd-6th grade made griddled cheese pupusas, the thick flatbread from El Salvador, made with cornmeal flour. They talked about how the pupusa is El Salvador’s national dish. They learned how it is usually stuffed with one or more ingredients, which may include cheese (such as quesillo or cheese with loroco buds), chicharrón, squash, or refried beans. They learned that the pupusa is typically accompanied by curtido (a spicy fermented cabbage slaw) and tomato salsa. They also talked about how the Washington, D.C. area is currently the only metropolitan area in the US where Salvadorans are the majority among Hispanics.

STEAM: Rising 1st-6th grade children worked in small groups to assemble a solar paneled electric car from pre-cut wood. They placed them under the sun and raced them. They practiced their ESPICA norms and especially their team building and conflict resolution skills to successfully assemble one car per group of four to five children.

Movement and Recess: Rising Kinder students played in the arroyo everyday. Rising 1A, 1B, and 4A played floor hockey in the zocalo with Coach Jorge.  Rising 2A, 2B and 4B played soccer in the New York Park with Coach Kelley and Coach Mario.  Rising 3A, 3B, and 5/6A played basketball in the backyard cancha with Coach Howard.  On Friday, the coaches organized water games and gave the children popsicles!

REMINDERS
Daily Attendance  
On the best day during the first week of the program, 113 Rising 1st-6th students out of 170 students who registered for the free program attended. This 66% rate of attendance has impacted the program’s budget and left fifty-seven slots empty that could have been given to other students in our community. If you are experiencing barriers with attendance, please email summer@mundoverdepcs.org, so we can help find solutions. For example, families unable to get to the school on a daily basis can receive transportation support. Our summer program is focused on maintianing and developing literacy and math skills during summer time when many students experience summer loss. 

We thank the families who registered and continue to participate daily. We are especially grateful to the families who proactively communicate with us about attendance, late arrivals, and early pick-up. If your student must be absent, please send a notice 24 hours in advance to attendance@mundoverdepcs.org.

Upcoming Field Trips
Families are reminded to put sunscreen on their children, to make sure they have a refillable water bottle, and a sun hat to protect them from the day’s heat. Also, make sure you sign the permission form, which teachers will have for you at drop-off or pick up the day prior to a field trip. Rising 3rd-6th have their fieldtrip on:

July 26 - Bladensburg Waterfront Park

School Meals
The third week of summer school was yet another delicious week. The students were eager to identify the aromas coming from the kitchen and indulge in the various meals like beef tacos, mac and cheese, and more.

If you would like to enroll in summer meals, please email meals@mundoverdepcs.org.  

Please remember to log into your parent portal to pay or add funds to your account to cover each meal which is $4.85. Here is a link for assistance: Add Funds

Arrival and Dismissal Process
As we go forward, we seek your support with the Arrival and Dismissal Process. We ask you to walk your student(s) to the daily entrance point where teachers are waiting to greet you. We do not have sidewalk supervision. Please help us keep your children safe!

Please review the arrival and dismissal procedure for the summer program SY23 Summer School J.F. Cook Arrival and Dismissal Procedures

Payments
We ask families in the Rising Kinder to make their final payment for the summer program. If you do not know what your remaining balance is please email summer@mundoverdepcs.org. Families with outstanding balances in their family accounts from last year’s Extended Day Program or the SY23 Summer Program will be ineligible for the SY24 Extended Day Program.

We are committed to communicating with you on a weekly basis in this format.  If you have any questions do not hesitate to email summer@mundoverdepcs.org.

Sincerely,

Gloria Quirarte
Director of Extended Day Programming

Summer Program Family Update Week 1

Dear Summer Program Families,

This week:

Rising PreK-Kinder children spent time getting to know one another. They revisited the alphabet through the exploration of how letters sound in Spanish and how they look in their names and in words describing their own classroom environment. They began a collection of summer words such as “sombrilla de playa''. For math, students explored size, shapes, and numbers through fun math games using dice such as “Pop and Count”. They strengthened their finger muscles by cutting and gluing paper to make a turtle.

Rising 1st-2nd visited the Bladensburg Waterfront Park as part of their sustainability learning and explored the Anacostia River wetlands, one of the most historic waterways in the United States. Students learned about the importance of the health of the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding ecosystems. They also began their creative writing project using non-word illustrations and a workbook guide to describe verbally and write what they see in the illustrations.

Rising 3rd-6th also began their writing project using similar non-word illustrations to describe verbally and write what they see using prompts from the workbook such as “describe what you see in the picture”, “how many characters do you see”, “who are the characters” and “what do you think they are doing”.  Students revisited grade level math equations to keep their math skills in practice for the coming school year.

Rising 4th students had a visit from expert Carissa Tirado-Marks, Mundo Verde’s Sustainability Manager, who through a fun Scavenger hunt prompted the children to explore the plants in the school’s garden.

Rising 5/6th had a visit from a Humane Rescue Alliance expert who talked to them about speaking up for animals. Students learned about animals currently living in foster homes. 

PROGRAM SCHEDULE
Families can view the program schedule for the upcoming week from July 17-21 below:

SY23 Summer Program Schedule - Week 2

SPECIALTIES
Art with Ms. Zoila: Rising PK-Kinder students learned that art is not only painting but a form of creative expression that manifests in many forms. Children made a paper xylophone by matching shapes, proportions and colors. Rising 1st-2nd learned about the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and made a kindness card for a person of their choice using geometric motifs. 

Cooking and Gardening with Ms. Katherine: Rising 3rd-6th explored the planting process by planting in a cotton ball a pinto bean, whose growth they will monitor throughout the program.

STEAM: All Rising 1st-6th students started their study of energy forms and how machines that move such as cars, airplanes, boats harness different forms of energy.

Movement and Recess: PreK and Kinder danced to Spanish music with Ms. Yaquelyn. Rising 1st and Rising 4th played basketball during their recess hour with Coach Howard.  Rising 2nd and Rising 5/6th played soccer during their recess hour with Coach Mario. Rising 3rd played floor hockey with Coach Jorge.

REMINDERS
Daily Attendance 
Families are reminded that daily attendance is important for the children to develop the habits of mind and body to succeed in school and to maintain an incremental connection with their daily math and literacy learning. If a student must be absent, please send your notice to attendance@mundoverdepcs.org.

Upcoming Field Trips
Families are reminded to put sunscreen on their children, to make sure they have a refillable water bottle, and a sun hat to protect them from the day’s heat. Also, make sure you sign the permission form, which teachers will have for you at drop-off or pick up the day’s prior to a field trip.

July 19 - Rising Kinder - Smithsonian National Zoological Park
July 26 - Rising 3rd-5/6th - Bladensburg Waterfront Park

School Meals
The first week of summer school was a smooth week with students enjoying a variety of meals such as grilled cheese, bean and cheese tacos, spinach lasagna, “ropa vieja” sandwiches and a caesar salad.  If you would like to enroll in summer meals, please email meals@mundoverdepcs.org.  

Please remember to log into your parent portal to pay or add funds to your account to cover each meal which is $4.85.  Here is a link for assistance:  Add Funds

Arrival and Dismissal Process
As we go forward, we seek your support with the Arrival and Dismissal Process. We ask you to walk your student(s) to the daily entrance point where teachers are waiting to greet you. We do not have sidewalk supervision. Please help us keep your children safe!

Please review the arrival and dismissal procedure for the summer program SY23 Summer School J.F. Cook Arrival and Dismissal Procedures

Payments
We ask families in the Rising PK-Kinder program to make their final payment for the summer program by July 17. If you do not know what your remaining balance is please email summer@mundoverdepcs.org. Families with outstanding balances in their family accounts from last year’s Extended Day Program or the SY23 Summer Program will be ineligible for the SY24 Extended Day Program.

We are committed to communicating with you on a weekly basis in this format.  If you have any questions do not hesitate to email summer@mundoverdepcs.org.

Sincerely,

Gloria Quirarte
Director of Extended Day Programming