On Mondays at Brookside Elementary School, students partake in athletic activities like jump rope, soccer, and basketball, arts and crafts, or computer games like Kahoot, Escape Rooms, and Quizlets.
On Tuesdays, they participate in China Club, thanks to students from BMHS who teach our 5th graders Chinese. There are also the wild experiences offered by the Maritime Aquarium!
On Wednesdays, we are beginning computer coding.
Yoga is taught by Ms. Ledger on Thursdays.
Our 5th-grade students experience these enrichments, along with homework help and other academic activities, all thanks to the generous support of 21st CCLC, the only federal funding source dedicated exclusively to supporting local after-school programs.
Carver kids are able to engage in hands-on activities, watch spectacular demonstrations, take home educational science-themed creations that reinforce the concepts they've learned, and learn new life-long skills like yoga.
This important funding enables Carver to prepare 5th grade students at four Norwalk elementary schools for what they will experience in middle school.
Our 5th-grade transition students are assigned to a homeroom which they attend following the school’s afternoon dismissal bell. Students then have a few minutes to eat a snack and get ready for the Carver experience. Study hall and homework are first. Certified teachers and assistants help, and sometimes students help each other.
Then our students explore all manner of enrichment opportunities that both interest them and that open their minds and expand their abilities. Within each elective session, students are breaking barriers by completing challenges, enhancing skills, and building teamwork abilities. The students make presentations of their work later in the school year. These academic and enrichment experiences complement what the students are learning during the school day.
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) initiative is the only federal funding source dedicated exclusively to supporting local after-school, before-school, and summer learning programs. The program serves nearly 2 million youth nationally, through very competitive grants awarded by each state education agency.
Carver is proud to report on the results we are achieving with these grants our state education leaders entrust us with.
The funding level for the 21st CCLC is set each year by Congress in an appropriations bill that is then signed into law by the president. For more than 20 years 21st Century Community Learning Centers have been providing high-quality programming to a wide range of children grades pre-K to 12th grade in communities nationwide.
This downloadable fact sheet is a great primer on who is served and key outcomes of local programs such as Carver.
