PLAINVILLE — Emma Roberts was four years old when she entered kindergarten last fall. With a birthday in December, just days before the cutoff date, she was the youngest in her class.
Her mother, Samantha Roberts, noticed Emma was having some difficulties in math. So this summer, Emma attended Plainville Community Schools S.T.A.R.S. Math Summer Program. The acronym stands for Strategies to Accelerate Reading Success. The program helps students develop their skills in math or reading. The children also made art projects that were related to their lessons. The projects were on display Thursday morning at Linden Street School as an art show so the students could show their work to their parents.
“We had some tears on the first day because she didn’t want to go,” said Samantha. “But by the next day she was saying ‘Is it time to go yet?’”
Emma was one of 98 students who attended the program, which was held throughout most of the month of July. Students met from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on weekdays. Parents provided transportation, but after the lessons some students, who went to the Wheeler YMCA daycamp, were transported there by mini-buses.
Tawana Graham-Douglas, a Wheeler Elementary School teacher who coordinated the program, said S.T.A.R.S. provides “activities for students who have challenges in reading and math during the year.” Students are screened during the school year. The program is for students in kindergarten through third grade. It focuses on honing reading and math skills, and incorporates art integration in literacy and number lessons.
“A lot of students who have problems in reading and math love to express themselves in art,” Tawana said.
S.T.A.R.S. is in its third year at Linden Street School, but prior to that it was held at Wheeler School for 12 years. It is offered at no charge to parents and is paid for by a grant. Parents said their children demonstrated they had learned things during the summer program and looked forward to it each day.
Barbara Friedman, the art teacher, assigned art projects based on what the students were learning. They worked on art projects for half an hour each day.
Math students made bean mosaics using dried beans, then worked on “number houses.” Each student drew a building with nine windows. Each window had a number from 1 to 10 on it. The door also had a number on it. Older students multiplied the number on the door by the number on each window. Younger students added the numbers. The answer was hidden behind the window and could be seen when it was opened.
Some students wrote names of their favorite businesses on their buildings, such as Subway, Christmas Tree Shops and Wal-Mart. Emma’s was a castle in pink, her favorite color. She also made a mask, which was part of a lesson in symmetry.
Six-year-old Daniel Nanowski made two clay objects, a dragonfly and a butterfly. They were in a glass display case with similar works by other students.
“It’s a good thing for him to do in the summer so that when school starts he won’t have forgotten,” said his father, who is also named Daniel. “He wanted to come here in the morning.”
Ala Lemrise said her eight-year-old son Jace and five-year-old daughter Belle also liked S.T.A.R.S. The three were looking at Jace’s drawing of a robot.
“We worried about it being like summer school, but it’s not,” Ala said. “They enjoyed it and my daughter is not struggling with math anymore.”
