OGDEN -- It seemed like a regular school day at Heritage Elementary School: kids in the halls, music playing in classrooms, the smell of school lunch cooking in the kitchen.
The big difference was it's July and temperatures are in the high 90s.
But the 220 kindergarten through sixth-graders who have been attending Ogden School District's summer school program don't care, because many of the students have mastered long division or sung new songs, and all have written books.
On this morning, proud students showed parents and teachers the results of the work they've done while spending mornings and early afternoons in classrooms since June 7. The focus has been on reading and math, but students have gotten a taste of writing, music and computers as well, said Amy Bowden, summer school principal.
Students from around the district are recommended for the program at the end of the school year and then register. Migrant students also are invited.
Music teacher James Campbell said this has been a great year, because many of the students have stuck with the program, where in other years students often stopped coming after a short time. He and Teresa Jordan wove music into the math, reading and writing curriculum for the second-graders, which has been very successful.
"They may not remember vocabulary words, but they remember songs," Jordan said. The curriculum used this year puts the vocabulary to music, so the kids remember it better, she said.
Students sang for parents at the Author's Fair last week, but the main focus was to honor the student authors. The youngsters stood and read stories and smiled with pride as they received applause from the audience. Student-written books were displayed throughout the school.
Kobe Hales, 10, wrote a book about great white sharks. He has learned a lot about sea creatures this summer and came to regard the great white shark as his favorite. He enjoyed writing his own book.
"I liked being able to use my parents' computer," he said with a sly smile.
Kobe's math skills also grew.
"I only sort of got division, and I came here and I got so much better," he said. He attends Bonneville Elementary School during the school year but likes summer school because many of his friends also attend.
Sixth-grade students put on PowerPoint presentations for their parents and enjoyed it so much they decided to do the presentation twice.
Jody-Ann Ashmore sent her 10-year-old son to summer school last year after she received a letter saying that he qualified for the program. She was a little skeptical until she saw the great progress he made.
"He advanced so much, it was just wonderful. The good thing is he actually likes it. I don't have to get him out of bed to come," she said.
The students eat breakfast and lunch at summer school, and parents are always welcome to come and check out the program, Bowden said. She was happy with the turnout at the author's fair and smiled at the fact that more parents were there for the younger children.
"That's kind of always how it goes," she said.
Testing is done before school starts and at the end to find out how much the students have learned. Bowden said results are generally positive.
Summer school "fills in the gaps for the students," she said.
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