SUMMER SCHOOL STUDIES MILLENNIUM

Not many years ago, the threat of summer school was enough to scare even the worst slackard into performing better during the school year. Many students viewed summer school as a punishment or a sign of not being overly intelligent.

That's not the case any longer. Today, summer school is often offered to any student who wants to attend. While assistance is still provided to students needing extra help to grasp concepts, students can also choose to attend summer school for exposure to new or unique learning experiences.

"Summer school is supposed to be a combination of both remediation and enrichment opportunities," said Jefferson Elementary School Principal Mark Cook. who oversees the Cape Girardeau schools summer program for elementary students.

Cook said 300 students from public and private schools in the city attend his half-day program. Transportation is not provided, and students are attending for various reasons.

"There are some kids who are here because of attendance problems, because if they miss more than 12 days they are recommended to come to summer school," he said. "We also offer remedial reading and math classes. Those students that are really low are pulled out of classroom and go for their remedial help. But it's summer school too, and we want it to be a lot of fun for all of them."

Each year, a theme is created for summer programs to assist teachers in curriculum development. The theme this summer is "The Millennium -- Old and New." Teachers are creating learning opportunities to share information about things that have been unique to or important in the 20th Century.

For example, throughout the four-week program at Jefferson, third-graders will learn about a different historical item, event or individual to match each letter of the alphabet. On Wednesday, students studied the letter U. They made patriotic smokestack hats to go along with their discussion about Uncle Sam.

"There's so much going on I can barely keep up with it," Cook said. "We're touching on many of the things that during the last century have been important in terms of inventions and happenings to people."

Cook said despite the emphasis on special activities, summer school is still firmly grounded in academics. Every activity enhances skill development for students to prepare them for the next school year.

"They're designing a water park in fifth grade," he said. "That sounds like a lot of fun, but at the same time they're gaining a lot of different problem-solving skills."

Cook said people have to see students at summer school to appreciate the changes that have taken place over the years. Remediation was at one time the primary reason for attending, but today students only need one common reason to attend summer school.

Said Cook, "It's all geared towards helping the students stay on track while they are out of the regular classroom."