BRISTOL — For its third consecutive summer, the Expanded Learning Program (ELP) at the Addison Northeast school district, is offering a summer program accessible to all 5-town area students who will be entering 1st-7th grade this coming fall.
The summer program began last week, on July 3, and runs through Aug. 4.
This year, thanks to a generous grant from local community members Ron Yara and Maggie Eaton, robotics and circuitry was added to a robust list of learning strands that include language and culture (Mandarin at Bristol site; German at New Haven site; and Spanish at Starksboro site), literacy and art, and health and wellness.
Participants will gain a broader understanding of their community and the world beyond it as they explore topics around each learning strand in a low-stress, small-group setting. Most of the summer’s learning will take place in outside learning spaces around the school and community.
Topics within workshops: With student interests and learning goals in mind, the lists of inquiry are subject to development. ELP organizers are committed to adding time in each workshop dedicated to personal learning goals and learning reflections.
Innovation/Technology: Robotics, circuitry, coding, programmable art and exploration of the world through virtual technology.
Language/Culture: Language acquisition, geography, cooking, cultural awareness, art and performance.
Literacy/Art: Writing, reading, designing, authoring and illustrating books, interpreting art and literacy, creating poems from art, creating art from poems, nature writing.
Wellness: Outdoor education, yoga, games, dance, meditation, gardening, gratitude, nutrition, balance, sports and movement.
“Our mission during the summer is first and foremost to provide quality educational opportunities for ANESU students that support family needs and student gains,” said ELP Director Mandy Chesley-Park. “The Expanded Learning Program has become an important extension to ANESU’s students’ education, and our work continues to be critical.
“Our data indicates that students who attend our after-school and summer program on the whole attend more school days during the year than their peers and show improvements, or consistency, on school assessments.
Furthermore, Chesley-Park said that according to research presented in The Atlantic, data “suggests that involvement in extracurricular activities is just as meaningful as test scores when it comes to subsequent educational attainment and accumulated earnings later in life.”
ELP is offered 8 a.m.–noon, Monday-Friday, at three school sites: Robinson Elementary, Bristol Elementary and Beeman Elementary (includes students from Lincoln, Monkton and New Haven). A healthy breakfast and lunch will be served through ANESU’s Food Cooperative to all participants. The ELP is supported by a variety of funding sources: federal grants, parent contributions, state subsidies (for eligible families), local budgets and donations. We invite all students to participate, regardless of their ability to financially contribute to the program.
For more information contact ELP Director Mandy Chesley-Park at [email protected].