The Medford Board of Education announced at its last meeting that the S.P.A.R.K.lers (Sending Pupils Ahead Ready for Kindergarten) camp will be returning in July for its second consecutive year for incoming kindergarten students who are eligible.
This edition of the camp will hold a bit more meaning considering it will be leading students into the new full-day kindergarten program that will begin at the start of the next school year.
After examining neighboring school districts, the township will be implementing a full-day kindergarten program in September and with this will be getting rid of the half-day program that is in place.
“Extended time is needed to develop a depth of understanding as expected by the increased rigor of the Common Core,” Superintendent Joseph Del Rossi said to parents.
Having an entire school year of extended days will also speed up the gains in knowledge of students by providing teachers with more time to teach different skills.
The jump from a half-day schedule to a full-day schedule will be a change in the school system that will result in no additional cost for taxpayers.
Funding this initiative will come via program cost containment, reduction in staff via a slight decline in enrollment, staff retirements and sacrifice on behalf of administration, teachers and supporting staff.
Due to some concern about the jump to a full-day schedule, the curriculum department is looking for different ways to help its littlest learners be prepared for the extended school year.
The S.P.A.R.K.lers program provides a perfect opportunity to get ahead of the game.
The camp will focus on teaching students basic classroom behavior skills such as listening, following directions, social skills, working in groups and being nice. It will also hit on numerous fundamental academic skills such as reading, writing and math.
S.P.A.R.K.lers will be changing locations this year to the Chairville School after being held at the Kirby’s Mill school in its original year.
The curriculum department will also be continuing a special needs program that will be held at the Chairville School, along with an art camp and a drama camp.
The Stay Active and Learn camp will be held this summer as well. This is a similar concept to the S.P.A.R.K.L.ers, but it was created to aid incoming first graders as opposed to incoming kindergarteners.
The S.P.A.R.K.L.ers program will be a bit more challenging to plan for because there is no list of incoming kindergarteners like there is for incoming first graders, so parents are encouraged to register as soon as possible.
There will be three teachers chosen to teach the three S.P.A.R.K.L.ers classes and three teachers for the S.A.I.L. classes. These teachers will apply for these opportunities via the curriculum office.
“We try to keep the numbers between 30 and 45,” Administrative Director of Programming and Planning Tom Olsen said. “So about 10 to 15 kids per class.”
These students are qualified based on a criterion that includes parent and teacher recommendations.
The students are also screened before and after the program. This screening consists of a series of reading and writing questions.
In the first year of the camp, the district noticed a significant difference in the literacy of the students in the post screening when comparing them to their pre-screening results.
“We found that the students entered kindergarten with a higher level of skill development than they did in the kindergarten screening that we did before the SPARKle program,” Olsen said.
An added concern the curriculum department discussed was the heightened expectations by the state for this group.
“I wouldn’t say they were coming in unprepared, but given the raised expectations by the state of New Jersey for kindergarteners, we thought we could help some of those students that needed a boost,” Olsen said.
The S.P.A.R.K.L.ers camp will be tuition-free, despite the district starting to charge for some programs.
“We try to provide programs and services, and these parents that are taxpayers shouldn’t also have to pay tuition for this program if they so choose to enroll their child,” Olsen said. “We encourage parents to send their kids and we think the tuition free aspect will provide for a better turnout.”
