This summer was an amazing summer. Students were exposed to several math and ela concepts that will be essential in their learning journey during the upcoming school year, but there was a twist. Learning and fun occurred simultaneously and the students sometimes forgot they were learning real 6th grade concepts. Students were able to explore math, science, and ela through hands-on inquiries. Students had an opportunity to complete several scavenger hunts and escape rooms. Students had an opportunity to learn about decimals, money, and advertisements. After learning about the concepts, students were able to create their own candy, pizza, and ice cream creations.

Body Movement time was epic! The students were able to enjoy many body movement activities like basketball, dodgeball, basketball, and kickball. The amazing part was that the students were able to participate in friendly competition with other groups. Students were able to participate in different group activities such as musical chairs, pass the potato, red light green light, and were able to create their own TikTok’s.

For STEAM, students were introduced to a career that is becoming very popular. Students learned about crime scenes and Crime Scene Investigators. Students solved several mysteries by analyzing different evidence and using context clues to draw inferences. Students were also exposed to how geysers work by using Coke and Mentos. A large part of STEAM that is often overlooked is arts. During the summer program, the students were exposed to a teenage real life artist who was able to draw different pictures including self portraits, shoes, chips, and so much more. Students had the opportunity to design different types of shoes by creating custom colors. Students were able to make their own Tie Dye shirt.

Overall, students were able to learn and gain skills through their experiences this summer.

This summer we had the unique opportunity to work with the incoming 6th graders. These students were able to see our middle school building and learn how we operate. The activities we did surrounded Superheroes including recreating comic books, a Superhero Spelling Bee, and Superhero Mean, Median, and Mode. Students also enjoyed learning the order of operations and other vital math skills. We look forward to working with these students as they come into Oak Hill Middle School.

Throughout our STEAM time daily we did many hands-on activities with the students. Some of these activities included tie dye coffee filters, geometry star, tessellations, toothpick art and many others. Mr. Little and Ms. Jenkins also strived to develop students that are able to work together and be able to help one another as well. Throughout the session our group was able to grow and make many positive changes.

Summer Camp should be fun, and that is exactly what we strived to provide for our students. Though we learned a great deal of Math and ELA, we also focused on social skills and proper digital behavior in a fun, exciting way. We allowed our students to be themselves and showcase their personalities and attitudes about life by exploring a variety of STEAM activities. Moreso, our students strengthened their team building skills and truly enjoyed themselves.

Ms. Smith and Mrs. Reynolds goal this summer was to let the students learn through their artistic side, critical thinking, and athletic ability. Students created their own Superheroes in groups, created a comic book, and battled one another. Students learned about integers by using numbers that were important to them. We had a great group that worked together and supported one another!

Throughout camp, our goal was to engage in learning through hands-on activities which promoted both individuality as well as group collaboration.

Our students enjoyed engaging mathematical concepts through the world of visual arts. We connected number sets to the 4-Color Theorem. We introduced integers via creating tessellations.

In English language arts, we sought to allow students to be their own individual authors in learning various writing concepts. Students did a body tracing and identified personality and physical traits. We used the traits to compose a narrative. We wrote about a donut using various imagery descriptions. Students enjoyed a “blast from the past” in using parts of speech to complete Mad Libs. Finally, an ELA escape room provided students with an opportunity to take all they had learned and apply it to a competitive situation.

Aside from the academics, we sought to include BODY MOVEMENT, TEAM BUILDING, and STEAM CHALLENGES in our daily instruction and student engagements. BODY MOVEMENT lessons centered on the art of Bucket Drumming - with students learning basic postures, equipment items, sound production, and warm ups of performing on buckets. TEAM BUILDING lessons centered on the art of American Sign Language - with students learning basic hand postures, finger spelling, common words/phrases, and culminating in learning an entire song in ASL. STEAM CHALLENGES provided opportunities for students to use the Engineering Design Process and aspects of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) in order to complete and complete various challenges - including plastic cup tower challenge, paper airplane challenge, toothpicks towers challenge, and so forth.

All in all, we encouraged the students to think and to learn outside of the box --- and they did an amazing job. We could not be more proud of their accomplishments this summer.

Students participated in a Scavenger Hunt downtown on July 29 to wrap up summer camp. Students visited various downtown establishments to learn about our city government, historic buildings, and restaurants. Students competed in a healthy competition to see what class could get the most point on the scavenger hunt. Congratulations to the following classes:

1st Place: Ms. Bass & Ms. Harris

2nd Place: Mrs. Byrd & Mr. King

3rd Place: Ms. Shinholster

Dr. Lisse and Ms. Collins came to show us some science experiments in her famous "Magic Show". Students learned about states of matter, elements, and how to increase their speed. Dr. Lisse and Ms. Collins sent students with some STEAM activities to do on their own including building a robotic hand, making Superhero Spinners, and their own tables made out of newspaper.

To celebrate our last day, the Baldwin County Fire Department came to show us the fire trucks and teach students about fire safety.

To wrap up our program, we hosted an Awards Ceremony to recognize all the students hard work. Students received awards for perfect attendance, outstanding work, and dedication. At the end of the program, all students were gifted a backpack full of school supplies. Thank you students and parents for participation in our program and a great summer! We will see you in August!