English as a New Language students engaged in summer school activities improve their reading and writing skills

It’s not easy to learn a new language, but many students in Riverhead worked hard all summer at doing just that. Instead of going to the beach or hitting the pool, these kids hit the books.

Students who participated in the summer English as a New Language program increased their English language skills in an atmosphere of shared learning and fun. ENL teachers created innovative activities that engaged and helped these youngsters who are at various language learning levels improve their English learning, writing, reading and speaking skills.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
Mrs. Elmore’s class invited the summer school community to visit their final Reading/Writing Project celebration. Her students, decked out in hats and masks, were positioned in front of beautiful bulletin board displays reflecting the books they had read as part of their Reading/Writing program studies. The books featured included: I Like Myself, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Duck on a Bike, The Grouchy Ladybug, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and others.  The visiting students learned about the books on display and discussed the masks and the character animal hats Mrs. Elmore’s class members wore.

SOCIAL STUDIES – COMMUNITY
ENL students were engaged in a variety of learning activities over the summer to increase their English language, learning and writing skills. The NYS curriculum themes for lower elementary students include community, community heroes and careers. At the end of the ENL summer program, two classes were busily engaged in building their own communities.

Ms. Bauerenfeind’s class created a replica of the Riverhead community from farms to Main Street to Tanger Outlet and Splish Splash. Her class invited the summer school community to “come take a walk through our classroom where you will be presented with ‘fun facts’ about various building/landmarks in the town of Riverhead.” The students constructed buildings–complete with signs, vehicles, employees, and animals. There was a dog behind the police department and popsicle-stick animals on the farm, which were distinguishable by their markings — black and white splotches on the cows, pink ones on the pigs. A horse stood near the farm stand, which featured a large ear of corn to lure in shoppers.

The students who visited the exhibit carefully read the descriptions written by Ms. Bauerenfeind’s students about the buildings they had helped design and build. Visitors to their replica of Riverhead excitedly pointed out the businesses and sites that were included. They spotted their favorite restaurants like Taco Bell and MacDonalds.

These visiting tourists listened as Ms. Bauerenfeind’s students read a short description of their particular business, landmark or site. It seemed unanimous that everyone loved the exhibit; however, one of the young visitors said it best as he was exiting the classroom. “That was awesome!” he exclaimed.

SOCIAL STUDIES / ELA – COUNTRIES
Down the hall, Mrs. Koller’s ENL class was involved in a social studies unit on countries around the world. Playing off the excitement of the upcoming Summer Olympics in Rio, her class was divided into four Olympic teams — China, Mexico, Germany and Egypt. The teams competed in Olympic events, games popular in one of the four countries, or contests that involved a particular item in a country (like using chopsticks to pick up small colorful bits of paper and depositing them in a cup.) Each of the events won earned the winning team Olympic points. Aptly, the chopsticks event was won by China.

In Mr. Rodriguez’s classroom, students were excitedly trying on the paper mache masks they had created as part of their study of countries. The students researched various countries and wrote papers about the use of masks in their chosen country. The masks depicted demons, birds, pandas, the Earth and more. Mr. Rodriguez explained, “The project was designed to point out that all countries have cultural ingredients that are similar, such as the use of masks in festivals, dances and celebrations.”

An inspirational reading of Dragons Love Tacos and Mud Tacos inspired snack time in yet another ENL classroom as students, reading small signs in front of each dish, chose ingredients for their tacos. The students had also studied and created nutritional plates with the five food groups displayed. Other displays included scientific studies of good health habits (how to take care of your teeth) and a demonstration of how the lungs work–using a bottle and a balloon.

ENL students were also treated to picking out four or five books they could have for their very own to read with their families over the summer. Keep reading, kids! See you on September 2nd, the first day of the new school year.

Source: Press release issued by the Riverhead Central School District.