For Some Kindergartners, Vacation Becomes Academic

Kindergartners who still don’t know all their letters, numbers and sounds are getting an extra boost this summer to prepare them for first grade.

Responding to stricter accountability and higher academic standards, several Ventura County school districts have added their youngest pupils to the list of those eligible to attend summer school.

This is the first time in recent years that Conejo Valley and Moorpark schools have held summer school classes for kindergartners, and the second time Ventura campuses have done so.

The summer school classes are intensive. Students practice phonics and solve math problems. They review the days of the week and study shapes and colors. And they memorize songs and recite poetry.

This year, Ventura is calling its summer program an “extended year,” so students know they are going to be working hard the entire four weeks.

“We don’t want people to think it’s Camp Disney summer school,” said Kris Bergstrom, director of curriculum for Ventura Unified School District.

For some students, the summer school session may be the ticket to moving on to the next grade. This is the first year that California schools are required to retain failing students. Although the end of social promotion does not officially affect kindergartners, many school administrators are trying to keep all students on track.

So they are enrolling low-performing kindergartners in summer school and retaining children who aren’t ready to move on to first grade. There are a few hundred Ventura County kindergartners currently in summer school, most of them referred by their teachers.

“They’re like any other children in summer school,” said Linda Vranesh, director of elementary education for the Conejo Valley Unified School District. “They need more time to master the skills. The earlier we have children learn these skills, the better off we’ll be.”

Teaching kindergartners the skills they are required to know isn’t easy these days, teachers say, because they are expected to teach more than ever before.

In the past, teachers spent much of the year showing the 5- and 6-year-olds how to sit still, follow directions and get along with their classmates. In the typical half-day that kindergartners were on campus, students might sing the alphabet, play with blocks, color, paste and nap.

Now, California has rigorous content standards, and kindergartners are expected to learn specific reading, writing and math skills. For example, they should be able to recognize and name all the letters in the alphabet, know most of the letters’ sounds, count up to 30, name the days of the week and identify characters and main events in a story.

Teachers say the four or five additional weeks during the summer give them a chance to reteach and reinforce lessons. That time may also help the slower students catch up academically, physically and emotionally to their classmates, principals say.

At Acacia Elementary School in Thousand Oaks, teachers Robin Tyler and Rick Wells have divided the academic duties for the five-week summer program. For two hours each day, Wells teaches half the kindergartners math and Tyler teaches the other half language arts. Then they switch groups.

Tyler’s classroom is covered with reading reminders. Colored magnetic letters cover the dry erase board. A poster urges kids to “Beat the Heat and Read.” And children’s books fill the baskets on the desks.

During a recent morning, Tyler reviewed the alphabet with her students. She shuffled up a set of letter cards and held them up for the kids to identify: P for pig; J for jump rope; C for cat; W for watch. Most of the kids shouted out the answers, but a few fidgeted or looked around the room.

Next-door, kindergartners counted miniature plastic bears and sorted them by color. Wells sat on the floor and played a game with one group of boys.

“I have six bears in my hand,” he said, as he shook them up. “Here are two. How many am I hiding?”

The boys answered eagerly.

“Four!”

Wells said summer school gives the kids a head start.

“They’re not quite where you want them to be starting first grade,” he said.

Many of the summer school students across the county didn’t attend preschool, so they were already a step behind when they started kindergarten. Others have birthdays late in the year, so they may have started kindergarten while they were still 4 years old. Some may live in homes where the shelves aren’t full of children’s books. And a few may have learning disabilities that have yet to be diagnosed.

Getting them to feel good about school early on is critical, teachers say.

“This is such an important time,” Tyler said. “We want them to love school. We don’t want them to turn off already.”