ESY

  • The Gramon Family of Schools offers a thirty-day Summer School Program (called an “Extended School Year Program,” by the State Department of Education) for our continuing students as well as for students from other schools on a space-available basis.

    The summer program is designed to help students maintain the academic and behavioral growth they had achieved during the regular school year, and to move ahead on their Individualized Education Plans. Each day the students continue their IEP-guided studies in math, reading and language arts, science, and social studies, as well as art and gym.

     

    The academic coursework is designed to ensure that our students do not lose ground over the summer, but instead are prepared to tackle their classes in September ahead of the game. The art course is project-oriented. Each day students are given a challenge with very few guidelines, then provided a wide array of media such as clay, paint, beads, tissue paper, scratch art, skill sticks, and crayons. They are encouraged to stretch their imaginations and to be as creative as they can. At the end of the day, the students take their projects home to share with their families.

     

    Gym class emphasizes sportsmanship and teamwork as the students develop their physical skills. Each day a new game is introduced, new teams are put together, and the students are encouraged to go all out for one another in the pursuit of victory. While there are occasional tie scores, there typically is a winning and a losing team, and our students learn how to handle both situations with grace. 

     

    Achievement of academic goals, accomplishment of a creative project, and being on a team all contribute to the students’ sense of pride and their development of self-esteem. During the summer we also take full advantage of the many different cultural opportunities in the community as we take field trips to museums, libraries, restaurants, arcades and beaches.

     

    Social skills are emphasized as students are taught to be aware of their surroundings and to behave appropriately. Students learn how to interact with one another and with strangers in these public places. They also learn how the various institutions they visit work, and what hidden treasures they contain.