Nevada summer school plans finalized

Special to the Nevada Herald

Plans for summer school are underway at the various grade levels in the Nevada R-5 School District. The summer school program is scheduled to begin Wednesday, June 1, and will end Thursday, June 30. Sessions will be held from 7:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., Monday through Thursday. There with be no classes on Fridays.

Summer school begins with the youngest students. Children who will be entering kindergarten in the fall of 2005 are invited to take part in one of the two, two-week sessions, from 7:45a.m. to 12:45 p.m., each day -- either June 1-15, or June 16-30, at Bryan School. These students will have the opportunity to take part in kindergarten activities and participate in "Safety City," as they tour a miniature town on pedal cars while learning about safety and security which includes fire, pedestrian, bicycle, seat belt and stranger safety.

Other classes for current kindergarten and first grade students will take place over the four-week period. Some of the classes offered at Bryan Elementary include: "The Dog Days of Summer," "Tree-mendous Science," "Art Around the World," "Let's Make Musical Instruments," "Villa Espanola," Down on Old McDonald's Farm,", "Kids in the Kitchen," "Let the Games Begin," "All About our World" and review classes for kindergarten and first grade. New classes this year include "How does your Garden Grow" and "Book Cooks."

The review classes will be taught by the school's Title One Reading Recovery teachers and will focus on math and reading skills. An individualized plan of study devised by the child's 2004-'05 classroom teacher will be implemented by the Reading Recovery teachers during summer school. The review classes are tailored to the meet the needs of each child who is performing below grade level in either math and reading and will help implement strategies required by the "No Child Left Behind" Federal Legislation.

Children who finished second grade through fifth grade are invited to attend summer school at Truman Elementary School. Some classes being offered on those grade level include "Read It!, Write It! Make It!," "Kid's City," "It's a Bug's Life," "Computers Don't Byte," " Nike Math," "Aloha Summer," "Camp Read-A-Lot," "P.E." and "Explore the Great Outdoors," as well as many more exciting and educational classes.

Review classes are also available for grades 2-5. A transition class titled, "Jumpstart" is available for those children who have finished fifth grade. It is a class to help children transition from the fifth grade to the middle school and is held at the middle school. Students in grades six and eight will have the opportunity to take part in a variety of exploratory and review classes at the middle school this summer.

Some classes being offered at these grade levels include "Teching It to the Limit," "Girls and Boy's Weight Lifting and Conditioning," "Keyboarding" and "Life Time Sports," which will include bowling, swimming, skating and many other fun lifetime sport activities and "Summer Band."

In "Summer Band," students will learn basic fundamentals on a musical instrument. Many more classes are available including "Algebra Readiness," a course designed to help students get ready for Algebra I in the fall .

At the High School there are many course offerings that will result in high school credit including but not limited to P.E., speech and driver's education, geometry (whole credit --June and July).

Students finishing the eighth grade will be invited to the High School Summer School this year. Other core academics in science, social studies, math and language arts will also be provided for those students needing to replace a failed credit.

An ROTC drill and ceremony class and a secondary transition class for students with IEPs will also be offered. In addition, drivers education will again be offered. There are still available openings in the second session of driver's education beginning June 15. Drivers' education, like all other summer school classes are offered free of charge to any district or out-of-district student. A $2 driver's permit, supplied by the Missouri Department of Revenue, must be purchased by each student. Students enrolling in driver's education will need to be at least 15 years of age by the first date of the summer school session they are attending.

All children attending summer school this year, will be offered lunch free of charge. There are no eligibility requirements. All children attending summer school will be provided a lunch at no cost due to our application to participate in a federal program called the seamless summer feeding option. The nutritious meals will be prepared by the district's contracted OPAA Food Service Company for all children and feature fresh fruit, sandwiches, pizza, milk, trail mix, cookies and other "kid-favorite" foods each day. Ice cream will be offered occasionally, as a special treat.

Consolidated bus routes will provide transportation for students again this year.

Arrangements for transportation need to be made with the summer school directors. Debbie Spaur, (417) 448-2060, for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grades; Diann Marti, (417) 448-2070, for second through fifth grades; Tyson Beshore (417) 448-2040, for grades six through eight and Chance Wistrom, (417) 448-2020, for grades eight through 12. Also, for those students that have not previously attended Nevada Schools, Mr. Cliff Pettibon, transportation supervisor, may be contacted at (417) 448-2096 for busing arrangements.

All summer school classes offered at Bryan Elementary, Truman Elementary, the Middle School and the High School are free of charge to all resident and non-resident students.

Information regarding bus routes, meal menus, and class schedules were sent home with students the last day of the regular school term. Packets of the same information will be available in the four school offices, as well. Children who will be entering kindergarten in the fall and who are enrolled in the pre-kindergarten readiness and safety city summer school sessions will receive a packet in the mail. Enrollments for summer school are still being taken at all the schools and will continue to be up to the first day of summer school on June 1. In addition to summer school enrollment, kindergarten enrollment for the 2005-06 school year continues at Bryan School, 400 West Lee, 8-11 a.m., and 1-4 p.m., daily.

Since staffing needs for kindergarten can not be determined until enrollment is completed, parents are encouraged to take care of enrollment as soon as possible, even if they do not have all the necessary documents at this time.

Children must be five on or before July 31, 2005 to be eligible to attend kindergarten next year.