Igniting a love for summer learning

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/08/2021 (1557 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Chelsea Allen says her favourite part of being a teacher with summer learning program Ignite3 is watching her students experience new things.

“One of the best days was when we gave them ice cream sundaes,” she said. “So many of them were like, ‘I’ve only ever seen ice cream sundaes on TV.’”

Allen, a Grade 5 and 6 teacher at Ryerson Elementary School, oversees the school’s summer enrichment program, Ignite3. She has been involved with the day camp for the past four years.

Ignite3 is organized by the Pembina Trails School Division for students in kindergarten to Grade 6. It takes place five days a week for the first six weeks of summer holidays. This year, there is a morning and an afternoon program.

The program is by invitation only and based on academic need. Ryerson, General Byng, Westgrove and Chancellor currently take part in the free learning camps.

“It started in 2015 as a support for kids who wouldn’t have much else to do during the summer,” Shannon Shields, Ryerson vice-principal, said. “It’s for families who probably wouldn’t be able to do other summer camps if we didn’t have our program here.”

The goal of Ignite3 is to avoid summer learning loss. Research has shown that long, extended breaks cause students to lose a portion of the achievements they gained the previous school year.

Shields said very few parents are also able to utilize the whole nine weeks of summer vacation, and Ignite3 helps with that.

“In our community, we have lots of parents who work two part-time jobs,” she said. “Sixty per cent of our kids at Ryerson don’t speak English as a first language, so all the English they’ve learned has happened under this roof.”

Ignite3 students do hands-on activities focusing on literacy and numeracy while also taking into account their personal interests.

“You can really meet the needs of the kids 100 per cent,” Allen said. “A huge part of Ignite is being able to make the environment fit for everybody and give students experiences they might otherwise not do.”

The kids are loving program, too. Some have attended Ignite3 multiple times and look forward to it throughout the whole school year.

“My favourite thing about Ignite is that we have lots of fun,” Jasmeher Kaur, 11, said. “Every day we have something fun planned, like going on field trips.”

Manahal Majid, 12, is in her first year of the program. She said her favourite part of Ignite3 is the activities and playing with her friends.

“I like math games and learning about space,” Majid said.

COVID-19 has changed some aspects of Ignite3, but it hasn’t been all bad. Students have virtually met with speakers from a number of different areas in lieu of field trips.

Assessments are done with the students at the beginning and end of the program to track and analyze their growth.

For more information on Ignite3, visit the Pembina Trails School Division website at www.pembinatrails.ca