On Tuesday, Garrett and I continued our site visits at the new Mountain Trails Elementary site! This is an awesome program run by a highly dedicated staff.
Healthy Lifestyles
Each afternoon starts with athletic time. It’s a great way to take advantage of this beautiful weather and to help the kids use some energy after a day at school. Instead of this being like a free recess period, the site director decided to use this time as a sort of fitness-for-life training time. Club members get the chance to develop skill sets for specific sports. They recently finished learning about ultimate Frisbee, and now are working on soccer. Each day the kids get to run drills that help them get good at specific aspects of the game. On the day we went, they were working on dribbling the ball down the field and then kicking it through the space between two cones. The kids were working hard on this, and they were doing great!
Following athletic time, the kids went inside to a classroom with other kids in their age group (K-2nd grade, 3-4th grades, 5-6th grades) to enjoy a snack before homework time.
Academic Success
The Club members had the chance to work on their homework while the program staff members were nearby to help. In the K-2nd grade room, many of those students don’t have much, if any, homework. Staff members have made some great games students can play that help them work on academic skills in a fun way. Some students work with math on flashcards, or race to solve problems on the whiteboard (they love the chance to write on the board with the marker color of their choice!). They can do word games or just sit and read if that’s what they want to do. These staff members are great at keeping the kids involved in things that help them academically.
In the other classrooms, students work on homework until it’s completed. Once they’ve finished, they are encouraged to read for the rest of the time. Frequently, the staff members will introduce the Club members to tools they can use to help them with different subjects. On Tuesday, the 3rd and 4th grade students worked on spelling using a new practice tool one of the staff members shared with them. I’m sure they’ll do great on their next spelling test!
The Mountain Trails Club is off to a great start, as one of the newest sites. With such energetic club members and dedicated staff, they’re sure to have a lot of fun and success this year. Great futures are starting at Mountain Trails Elementary!