How Carver summer programs keep the learning "faucet" running
Carver provides Freshman Summer Success Academies for graduated 8th-grade students transitioning into 9th grade at Norwalk and Brien McMahon High Schools. Carver provides a Summer Middle School Transition Program for 5th-grade students transitioning into Norwalk’s four middle schools. Carver provides two summer enrichment programs for chidren aged K-13 at the Carver Community Center and Columbus Magnet School. Carver is given free access to each school’s facilities and resources free of charge.
A Brookings Institute article written by David M. Quinn and Morgan Polikoff explains disappointing—but unsurprising—statistics about the summer slide, a term used to describe the academic regression experienced by students over the summer.
A few keys facts:
- Learning and achievement is perishable. The average student loses a month of academic-calendar learning each summer.
- The impact of the summer slide contributes to a more pronounced achievement gap.
- Research has found a link between socioeconomic status and the loss of reading skills experienced over the summer.
- Studies show older students lose more over the summer than younger ones.
- Students see greater academic dips in math than in reading.
After mapping out the summer slide and its impact on students, Quinn and Polikoff go on to describe the “faucet theory” from the book “Summer Learning and Home Environment.” This theory provides a hypothesis for to why the summer slide hits lower-income children harder.
The “resource faucet’ is on for all students during the school year,” Quinn and Polikoff explain, “enabling all students to make learning gains. Over the summer, however, the flow of resources slows for students from disadvantaged backgrounds but not for students from advantaged backgrounds. Higher-income students tend to continue to have access to financial and human capital resources (such as parental education) over the summer, thereby facilitating learning.”
Thanks to your support, since 2005, 100% of Carver seniors have graduated on time. Carver infuses high expectations, academic rigor, and healthy relationships into its youth development approach to instruction. Carver provides support that recognizes individual strengths, needs, and learning styles. Carver interventions and supports align with the Norwalk Public Schools 2019 Strategic Operating Plan aimed at closing the Achievement Gap.
Carver keeps the "faucet" of resources running all through the year for its students and even after they go to college.
Summer Learning with myOn Reader at the Carver Community Center and at Columbus Magnet School
myON Reader provides unlimited access to a broad collection of digital texts that are available for online and offline reading, and dynamically generates a list of just-right titles for each student that matches his or her current interests, grade, and Lexile® level.
Research shows that students tend to read more when they have choice and ownership over their reading and learning. That's the core concept behind myON! Flexible scaffolds, including professionally-recorded audio, text highlighting, an embedded dictionary and a zoom feature, make texts more accessible for students.
Students can choose titles from their recommended list or from the full myON library available under Carver's subscription. Student reading engagement and growth are measured in real time. Students, educators, and families use the data available at their fingertips about reading activity and growth to celebrate success, build motivation, and support differentiated instruction.
myON Reader includes enhanced digital texts in English and Spanish from respected publishers in a mix of fiction and nonfiction. Optional reading supports and a suite of reading and writing tools foster deep connections to the text.
myON News delivers age-appropriate news articles for students, reporting on timely topics and current events through a series of five daily news articles, 52 weeks a year. Articles are available in English, Spanish and French. Coverage includes high-interest US and world news as well as arts and entertainment, sports, science and technology, and more.
Images of Summer: Carver campers visiting Beardsley Zoo and Skyzone!
Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo has a proud history of over 90 years as Connecticut’s only Zoo. As an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and participant in its Species Survival Plan (SSP) programs, they are committed to the preservation of endangered animals and are actively developing strategies that will protect species and preserve their wild habitats. Through education, conservation, research and recreation, Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo provides a wonderfully wild experience for Carver summer students!
Skyzone (in Norwalk and Bethel) is always working to invent epic new ways to play and exercise. Even though they’re the originators of wall-to-wall aerial action, they never stand still. The only way to understand it is to experience it. So we regularly rally our summer students and go!
And this is just a fraction of what happens everyday this summer in our enrichment summer camps and summer transition programs at Norwalk's two high schools and four missile schools!
Carver Summer Across Norwalk on July 3rd!
See all the photos here at our Facebook page of Norwalk River Rowing for rising 9th graders attending the Summer Transition Program at NHS; Carver Community Center campers swimming at NHS; rising 6th graders attending Carver's Summer Transition Program at Nathan Hale Middle School; and Summer Enrichment campers at Columbus Magnet School!
Norwalk River Rowing Association is teaching Carver campers how to crew!
Thanks to the generous financial support of long-time Carver board member and advocate, Dick Whitcomb, Carver summer students are learning how to crew!
The Summer Learning classes are non-competitive rowing programs for our Norwalk High School Summer Academy (rising 9th graders) led by Maureen Ireland. Jeffrey Thompson is the Director at Norwalk River Rowing. The emphasis is on learning rowing technique, boat handling, physical conditioning, teamwork, and fun!
Carver students enjoy sessions which incorporate on-land and water rowing with instruction with warm up exercises and camp activities in 2 week sessions with classes 4 days per week. After completing the Learn-to-Row class, our students are ready to move up to the Development Experienced Team.
The Norwalk River Rowing Association (NRRA) is a non-profit organization which promotes a lifelong passion for the sport of rowing among its Adult and Youth members who love Competition, Teamwork, Excellence, and Fun. They are dedicated to providing educational and athletic opportunities for the youth of our communities, and promoting excellence in the sport of rowing for all age groups. Their goal is to be the preeminent community-based rowing center in the northeast United States.
The Norwalk River Rowing Association was founded in 1986 by Ralph E. Sloan, former Norwalk Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Norman J. Weinberger, Norwalk pediatrician, and a few local residents. Initially, our goals were modest: to provide rowing opportunities for adults and youth and to develop a competitive high school program. What began as a small group of enthusiastic rowers on Long Island Sound now serves over four hundred people a year, from throughout southwest Connecticut and into New York, ranging in age from twelve to well into the eighties. Many of the founding members remain active participants at the NRRA today.
Thank you, NRRA for giving Carver kids a summer to remember!
Girl Scouts of Connecticut bring fun and learning to Carver summer camp kids!
Girl Scouts of Connecticut staff brought fun and learning to Carver kids today! One activity was making huge bubbles!
See all the photos from today, here at Facebook!
The Girl Scouts are 2.6 million strong—1.8 million girls and 800,000 adults who believe in the power of every G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ to change the world.
Thheir extraordinary journey began more than 100 years ago with the original G.I.R.L., Juliette Gordon “Daisy” Low. On March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Georgia, she organized the very first Girl Scout troop, and every year since, they’ve honored her vision and legacy, building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.
They remain the preeminent leadership development organization for girls. And with programs from coast to coast and across the globe, Girl Scouts offers every girl a chance to practice a lifetime of leadership, adventure, and success.
Thank you, Girl Scouts, for supporting Carver girls!
Mark your calendars: National Educational and Health Awareness Dates
Images of the first day of summer at the Carver Community Center!
Carver's Summer Enrichment Programs at the Carver Community Center and at Columbus Magnet School began today and run through August 3rd.
See all the photos here in a Facebook album after walking around the Carver Community Center this afternoon -- a few minutes in a summer of learning and play!
These summer camps are among the most affordable and high-quality programs available to Norwalk students ages 5 through 13 years old. The summer literacy program, facilitated by certified teachers, uses the myON and Lexia Reading Core 5 software to provide personalized learning. Certified teachers also teach math sessions. Through the years, summer camp program partners have included the Girl Scouts, the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk Grassroots Tennis and The Norwalk Seaport Association. Field trips reinforce learning, e.g., Peabody Museum, CT Science Center, Discovery Museum, NBC Studio Tour, Stamford Nature Center, Beardsley Zoo, Bishop Orchards, New York Botanical Gardens and Maritime Aquarium.
See the last days of summer 2017 video and 1,000+ photos -- see it all here! Read about our summer transition program for rising 6th students at West Rocks and Roton Middle Schools. Read about our rising 9th graders at our summer transition program at Brien McMahon and Norwalk High Schools.
Here are stories about summer field trips to such destinations as Sheffield Island and swimming and bowling. Some of our campers went away for 10-days to New Pond Farm. Here are more stories about what our campers do on a rainy day to this video of a typical day at a Carver summer camp!
Help us build a new playground at the Carver Community Center!
We are well on our way to raising our goal of $60,000. The interns from New Canaan High School planned and implemented this campaign thus far. Help us bring the new playground all the way home for Carver kids!
Here is the online giving platform for this campaign. Carver's current playground is aging and was build for pre-kindergartgen children. What we need is a playground with all the latest safety and fun learning features for K-5 aged children, including a new padded surface that ties together all the pieces of our planned playground together.
Ask children, “How was school today?” and you’re likely to hear about what they experienced in playtime. In Carver after school and summer programs, play can include robotics and many other hands-on project-based activities, but we never lose sight of the fundamental value of play as it’s been understood and enjoyed through the centuries.
For many children, the time on the playground represents the emotional core of their day. Whether they come home light- or heavy-hearted depends on what happened during play time. Researchers say that one of the best predictors of whether kids feel happy in school is whether they feel comfortable and competent during play.
Philosophers and child development experts have been trumpeting the importance of play for centuries. Piaget said that children discover the world through play. Friedrich Froebel, who opened the first kindergarten in 1837, called play “deeply significant.” And Plato believed that children had to grow up in an atmosphere of play to become virtuous citizens. In the face of this accumulated wisdom, we are grateful to you for helping us reimagine and recreate the playground at the Carver Community Center.
Play requires the acquisition of a complex set of skills. It’s not just about exercising or letting off steam. It’s about making agreements with others as equals, stepping into an imagined structure, and accepting that structure even when things don’t go your way. This may be why Plato considered play the ideal preparation for citizenship.
Thank you for helping us build healthy and happy citizens at Carver!