Summer vacation may be in full swing, but on Saturday morning, a group of elementary school students sat in the North Brentwood Community Center and did their homework. Whether reading a book, writing unfamiliar vocabulary down and making a diorama inside a shoebox illustrating a scene from the book, the 15 students remained on task.
The students were taking part in North Brentwood's summer reading program, a six-week course aimed at boosting reading, writing and vocabulary skills. And while there was some grumbling about having to squeeze the work between camp commitments and video-game playing, students admitted that the program got results.
"It helps my reading because it helps with the pronunciations of words," said Jadyn Briscoe, an 11-year-old sixth-grader from North Brentwood, who also attended the program last year. It also helped her improve her vocabulary, she said.
The town saw success with last year's 15-student pilot initiative, which scored the town the Maryland Municipal League Achievement Award in the small-town category, one of only three awards given out, at the Maryland Municipal League’s convention in June.
So town officials brought the program back, but with a few tweaks.
"We did well [last year], but we can do better," said Mayor Petrella Robinson.
One of the tweaks is a shift from one-on-one tutoring with volunteers from the community to putting the students in small groups with paid instructors, a response to the difficulty of keeping enough volunteers for a consistant, six-week commitment, said Town Manager Maryanne Anthony, who also coordinates the program.
Another change is that students are able to keep the books they read, an indicator of the healthy supply of books that have been donated by community members and the county library system.
"Our goal this year is to give the books out," Anthony said.
One of the books the students will receive is "Of Thee I Sing," a children's book about 13 inspirational Americans written by President Obama. After they read it, the students will write letters to Obama sharing their thoughts about the book, Robinson said.
And if all goes according to plan, the summer program will expand into a year-round after-school program this fall, Robinson said.
The town has applied for $75,000 in grants from the Morris & Gwendolyn Cafrtiz Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education for the program, and the amount of money awarded will determine the scope of the program.
An award of $25,000 would be enough to provide 50 children with extra instructional help two times a week, as well as offer monthly classes for parents to advise them on how to stay engaged in their children's education, Anthony said.
“We know this reading program will continue, Robinson said. “[But] the after-school program ... that’s really our goal.”
dleaderman@gazette.net
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