SeDoMoCha students keep busy over the summer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — SeDoMoCha School students recently had the opportunity to catch up on academics from the previous year, keep up on literacy and math skills for when classes resume later in the month, and take part in a number of activities in the 6-week 21st Century Summer Program.

In between serving a lunch of cheese pizza to students and parents on Aug. 1, the final day of the program, 21st Century Summer Program Director Nichole Martin said RSU 68 is in year No. 3 of a 5-year 21st Century Community Learning Center grant “which requires us to do a 6-week summer program and we also have the after-school program.” 

The grant has $145,000 for 2024-25 to fund the summer program and after-school program.

Per the Maine Department of Education, the state’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers program provides funding for school and community partnerships to establish or expand community learning center programs. 

These programs provide students in high-need, economically disadvantaged communities with academic tutoring and enrichment opportunities designed to complement their school-day academic program. In addition, these programs can provide a broad array of additional support services related to overall student health and well-being.

Programs provide high quality support services to students during non-school hours. As such, these programs also support working parents and families by providing safe, supportive learning environments for students at times when school is not in session.

Martin, who teaches grade 7 math at SeDoMoCha Middle School, said the 21st Century Summer Program began on Monday, June 24. It ran during the day Monday to Thursday through Aug. 1 for a family day with parents and others joining the students for activities, lunch, an educational piece, and cake and awards.

About 50 students attended each day, representing kindergarten through grade 7. 

“It’s been a great summer,” Martin said. “It’s gone really well and the kids have really benefited and they have stayed, our attendance has stayed very consistent which I think speaks to the program and how enjoyable it’s been.”

Ten staff worked at the summer school. “One for each grade and we then had a larger first-grade group so we had an extra staff (member),” Martin said.

She said reasons for students, who all reside in RSU 68, attending vary. “Middle school in particular are here because they did not do well in their academic school year so they are doing what’s called standard redemptions where they’re trying to fix and meet the standards that they didn’t meet during the school year,” the director said. “So theirs’ is by an invite-only process” to work on subjects such as math, English/language arts, science, and social studies.

Martin said the K-4 program is more inclusive. “Some parents want to make sure that summer slump doesn’t happen so they continue to practice their math and reading,” she said.

Summer school was free to attend and coincided with the annual free daily breakfast and lunch program in which any child 18 and under can stop by the school for a free meal five days a week. There were no eligibility requirements to eat, such as income restrictions or place of residence.

“So it’s just really helpful to the community,” Martin said.

“Elementary, that’s K-4, they spend the first part of their morning doing math and reading so each teacher gets to decide what that looks like,” she said. “A lot of the time it’s centered on game work to make that math or reading piece enjoyable and engaging.”

Martin said each day is themed for the two age groups with theme-centered activities taking place in the afternoon. She said Monday is health and wellness and nutrition day so elementary students made healthy snacks such as fruit parfait, “They went through a recipe and worked on the concept of making a food item that’s nutritious.”

Tuesday has a literacy theme as students spend extra time reading to themselves and to others.

Wednesday is a STEAM Day. “They get to choose different activities to do, they have made their own play-doh or they made stress balls with Orbeez once so it’s different activities that involve engineering mostly,” Martin said.

A visual and performing arts theme was in place for Thursdays. Martin said the Center Theatre came in and worked with students on a week-long mini drama camp, saying a big component of the grant is to work with community partners, and the children also made their own puppets for a production with staff.

Middle-schoolers started their day with different exploratory activities tying into the day’s theme. 

Martin said on Mondays the older students used the weight room and also took part in a mileage club. The club was open to all summer school participants as they walked around the building and/or on the nature trail to try to cover a marathon distance of 26.2 miles in the six weeks. She said over 50 percent of elementary schoolers reached the goal.

“After every three miles they get a different gift, a key chain, a bag, and they are going to get T-shirts,” Martin said, as on Aug. 1 students were presented with certificates listing their mileage totals.

Middle-schoolers learned about bike and road driving safety during a presentation by the Bicycle Coalition of Maine and they had a set of bikes to use themselves. 

Representatives from Northern Light Health talked with the older students about mental health and brainstormed ways to self-regulate in stressful situations with one topic being spending time with pets. A Northern Light Health therapy dog later visited campus.

Tuesdays were also spent reading silently and aloud for literacy and middle-schoolers worked on STEAM kits on Wednesdays.

Martin said these students took part in visual and performing arts activities on Thursdays, including drawing and crocheting. “We try to incorporate some things they don’t typically see in a school day but then also do the academic piece,” she said.

Near the end of the summer program all the students traveled across town to Peaks-Kenny State Park for an ending celebration.