ALL ABOUT US

It all happens after school

We thought we’d take you through a typical day in our after-school program. We’ll comment on the various activities as we go along.  All activities may not take place every day, and activity times may vary.

The kids arrive around 4 PM, perhaps a little cranky from being hungry and a little weary from their long school day. We begin with a supervised bathroom break, which gives us a chance to help kids develop good sanitation habits going into our nutritious snack, which might include granola bars, fresh fruit and/or vegetables, yogurt, graham crackers. There is always milk or juice available. All of the food items we serve are reduced in fat and high fructose corn syrup, two of the leading food content causes of childhood obesity.

At 4:15 PM the children are offered that chance to participate in outdoor or indoor physical activity, depending upon the weather. The staff addresses the problems of those who do not participate, so that no child is left behind, literally. Games and other activities are organized and supervised and involve enough rigor for beneficial exercise that increases physical fitness. They also develop a sense of sportsmanship, team play, and what it takes to develop a winning spirit. Our staff provides plenty of encouragement for each child to develop the self esteem that will facilitate both academic and emotional growth.

At 4:30, the homework help activity begins. Children bring their daily planners from their classes. It is important that our staff treat homework as the property of the child and serve more as a coach or mentor than someone who will do their homework for them just so they don’t get into trouble with their teachers. Help consists of showing the child new ways of learning subject matter that create the understanding necessary to do homework more efficiently and correctly. Yet there is no expectation that the child finish by period end at 5:00.  We know that children read at different grade levels and that each grade of the learning curve is steeper for some children than for others. Our 1:7 teacher-student ratio allows for plenty of individual assistance. Hopefully each child has understood enough to complete the homework on his own, or even better, under the watchful eye of his or her parents.

Tutoring begins at 5:00. The spirit behind our tutoring is the same as it is for homework help: to approach the subject matter of the day in creative and interesting ways. Our curriculum has been developed by national experts and conforms to the requirements necessary to meet Pennsylvania testing standards. It is taught by compassionate, understanding people who are hired mostly because they love teaching children. Most are certified teachers or experts in helping difficult learners.

Remember that it’s 5:00. It’s tough to go through a tutoring lesson at that time of day. That’s why our teachers and our materials try very hard to appeal to the children’s natural curiosity. You can teach math or reading concepts by drilling them with the use of standardized test preparation materials and they might improve their test scores a bit. Or you can facilitate their learning with an enlightened curriculum like ours. You just might capture their interest and begin to create a love of learning, good for a lifetime. And, they might just learn something new. We’re about to look at some research results on this issue.

At 5:30 PM the enrichment sessions begin. What is enrichment? Why not just tutor and help the children with their homework? Studies across the country along with our own experience indicate that kids become more self-aware and more interested in their learning environments from undertaking enrichment activities on a regular basis. The results included higher academic achievement and stronger personal growth. According to the National Association of Elementary School Principals, “After-school programs offer academic enrichment opportunities that allow students to explore new ideas in new ways—through activities that may not always be available during the regular school day, such as art, music, and drama.  In that way, the programs complement the regular school day program and meet students’ social, emotional, cognitive and physical development needs.”

Think about it. Wouldn’t you feel more confident, happier with yourself, less afraid of the world if you were learning chess, taking drawing lessons, making usable pottery, using photography to tell a story, taking cooking lessons, practicing table manners, and participating in a Shakespeare play?

SERVICE-LEARNING

Service-learning is a special kind of learning. Service–learning projects take place over a number of weeks as an integral part of the enrichment curriculum. A typical service learning project that took place in another school district was an organized effort to reduce the amount of running in the halls. Project students had to document the problem by first developing a measuring tool and then choosing the hallways where they were going to measure. Then they made their observations on-site, analyzed their data, and made a presentation of their analysis to the principal. The principal accepted their solution plan and agreed to let them implement it. Finally, they had to analyze the effectiveness of their solution and then it was “back to the drawing board.” The entire effort was documented from the beginning in student journals.

So, what skills did the students use and what did they learn about the real world? At a minimum, they used their math, English, and art skills, all in the framework of the scientific method. They also learned to organize their work, putting it together in a convincing manner for their presentation. To understand how they would reach their objective, they learned to care about their project a lot more than they cared about a bunch of disjointed, test-oriented math or other subjected-oriented lessons. And, clearly, they learned about teamwork. The whole project was led by a mentor from the community.

Our project for this year involves the beautification of an old cemetery, research on who is interred there, and a presentation concerning its historical value.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Special Events usually take place on “Fun Fridays.” They take the place of the regular schedule. Over the last school year the kids have enjoyed field trips for roller skating and bowling, celebration days for reading and diversity, walks downtown, and they’ve had fun just watching movies with pizza and popcorn.

FAMILY INVOLVEMENT

Family activities include family field trips, family dinners with education, and just showing them around the community, especially if they are newly-arrived. For example, last year we had three family dinners that stimulated lots of conversation, two field trips to hands-on museums where families could discover scientific phenomena together. Families are always invited to events with special-topic speakers. Last year we were visited by Greg Manning from Atlanta who taught life skills using basketball as a metaphor. Greg will be back this fall with a three-day “Camp of Champs” program. The Franklin County Cooperative Extension 4-H Club got us going with a nutrition and exercise program. They will also return.

It’s not just activities that are important. Daily communication as necessary to discuss student progress and behavior gets everyone “on the same page” concerning how everyone can help.

WHY FAMILY INVOLVEMENT MATTERS

The role of the family and community in a child’s development greatly affects his or her success in school. More than 30 years of research shows that schools, families, and communities can make a difference in a student’s learning experience—especially when they work together to raise student achievement. When schools, families, and communities work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and like school more.
[Southwest Educational Development Laboratories, the leading researcher on 21st Century Community Learning Centers]

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

Our community partners help enhance our enrichment program by bringing new skills to the after-school learning experience. They enjoy their involvement and they tell others about it, which adds more enrichment to our program. It’s also true that they bring in fresh faces and teaching styles, so our staff can learn from them and refresh its own approaches. Here are some of the community partners we have scheduled for this year:

Franklin County Coop. Extension – 4-H Nutrition and Fitness)

Franklin County Library Bookmobile (reading)

Franklin County Library (Book purchases for the Reading Celebration)

Old Jewish Cemetery – Washington St. (Service-learning)

Camp of Champs (Life skills development)

Project Share (Nutrition)

Christina Hans, Artist (Art and music)

Kittochtinny Historical Society (Local history)

The John Brown House Project (Local history)

Maria Banks Project (Character education)

Helen Carlson (All about dogs)