Ceres summer school dabbles in arts, science, sports

Third-grader Kya Capien swirled her brush into the watercolor, filling black-rimmed petals with vivid purple à la Georgia O’Keeffe.

“I’m still working on one petal, and when I’m done it will look beautiful,” she said with a wide, confident smile.

Kya and classmates at Walter White Elementary in Ceres reveled in art time, learning about major artists and drawing in their style. Teacher Jennifer Phillips chose the topic, given wide latitude and a thrifty budget by the Ceres Unified School District.

Fun activities come every afternoon for Ceres’ 1,900 elementary kids attending a four-week summer school this month, something to look forward to after a morning of math and English, said summer school Principal Kristina Overman.

“It’s a chance to get in and do hands-on science and art activities,” she said. “We want to keep them motivated and excited.”

That applies to teachers, too. “They get to do things they don’t necessarily get a lot of time to do in the regular school year.”

Ceres was among the few districts to keep summer school going through the recession, worried about a summer slide in reading typical for low-income kids and English learners. Half of the district’s students start school learning English and 4 in 5 qualify for free lunches. Extra state funding for those higher needs kids allowed the summer session to expand to an 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. school day with sports, arts and science classes.

Teacher Annelise French chose plant and mineral studies for her afternoon enrichment activity. Fourth-grader Eric Gutierrez scribbled on black paper with gypsum, one of the rocks the class classified that day.

“Next week, we’re going to open geodes and find some crystals!” she said while students handed back their gypsum samples.

Each teacher submitted their plan and their under-budget shopping list, and the district gave the go-ahead and made a mass purchase – a mostly teacher-led planning process, said Overman, who works as a lead teacher during the regular school year. Kids got to pick between the offerings.

Other teacher ideas: gardening, soccer, building toy helicopters, ocean life, ultimate Frisbee, readers theater, studying animals, tennis, nutrition, yoga – the list goes on. Kindergarteners made books – “They’re becoming authors,” Overman explained.

This story was originally published June 23, 2016 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Ceres summer school dabbles in arts, science, sports."