Learning Continues During the Summer
posted June 24, 2015
During the summer, buses line the front of the school every morning and afternoon. Students are in the classroom, in the lunchroom and on the playground five days a week. Although the school year ended, 132 students eager to continue their education enrolled in our summer school program—an additional four weeks of learning and credit recovery for all grade levels.
Red Cloud Indian School summer elementary students took classes in Reading, Writing and Math this summer. They spent afternoons with Matt Rama, former teacher for Red Cloud and program director for the Lakota Language Immersion Childcare, to participate in activities taught entirely in Lakȟóta. Fridays are special for our elementary students because they get the opportunity to spend time out of the classroom. Each Friday, our elementary students have gone on fieldtrips to places like the 1880 Train, the Ft. Robinson Museum, The Ranch Amusement Park and Evan’s Plunge.
One exciting new activity our fourth and fifth graders were able to participate in was a visit to Henry Red Cloud’s Renewable Energy Center. This program designs solar panels and homes that conserve energy through natural insulation. Every Wednesday for three weeks, the students visited and learned more about green energy technology and sustainable living practices. The first week they were each given a small tree to plant in their yards. But observing was not all they did, on the final week they had the opportunity to build their own solar thermals!
Our High School students have also been achieving academic success in the classroom this summer too. Clare Huerter, English teacher for the high school, teaches composition and literature to our upperclass men and women, actively working to improve their essay building and writing skills. “They read a novel every two weeks and then we do a project with it. In the class I hope to help improve their writing. They write five essays for me over the course of the summer, so each week they have an essay due.”
Katy Montez, science teacher, worked with her students to create a curriculum around experiments they designed within the realm of their study: physics, chemistry or biology. This gave students the opportunity to study a question that peaked their interest and to spend half of their day outside conducting experiments. “One group decided they wanted to research how brain size and body size correlate. So the way they went about studying that was by going to the creek and picking a carp from the water, dissecting that carp and measure the body and comparing brain size.”
Along the way students would adjust what they wanted to study, how they studied and then they made that happen. This hands-on learning made classes flyby. “The students would be like—It’s 1:30 already—so these experiments make the day go by quickly and has made school easier to come to”, Katy added. Her students spent the course of summer school focusing on their experiment and developing a research project for it.
Summer school at Red Cloud gives students the opportunity to learn in a relaxed environment. They experience hands-on learning and engage with teachers on a one-on-one basis. They gain a wealth of knowledge to prepare them for the coming school year. High school students earn credits for a whole semester of work in just four weeks. “They’re earning credit for an entire semester of work, and the kids are really learning something. I think it’s really beneficial, because: a) they get their credits and b) incoming freshmen know where things are and know 21 other kids and understand Red Cloud’s curriculum even better”, Clare concluded. Cole Beane, incoming Sophomore who is taking U.S. History this summer said, “Summer school is very helpful and useful for earning back credits or getting ahead in classes. My classmates and I are very outgoing and the teachers are incredibly present. I like it a lot!”
Summer school ends this week and our students go home with newfound knowledge about chemical compounds, thesis structures, new vocabulary and new friends.
It is through the support from our partners that Red Cloud Indian School students have the opportunity for continued learning during the summer. Our tremendous thanks goes to the South Dakota Department of Education through its 21st Century Community Learning Center grant, the Toyota USA Foundation, and our friends who give to us throughout the year—your impact on our students, community and shared mission is invaluable.
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