Weekly Media Roundup  June 3, 2015

Council Members Complain, and Summer School Money Is Restored (New York Times, New York)

Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio reversed his recent decision to cut 17,000 slots in summer programs for middle school students. The $28 million saved by cutting the programs was meant to be redirected to low-performing schools, but in a hearing on Thursday New York City Council members said that was not reason enough to deprive other children, many of them low-income as well, of opportunities to attend summer programs. City officials announced Thursday afternoon that the administration would restore program money “after hearing from parents and kids,” according to the New York Times.

After-School Robotics Program Creates ‘Success Story’ for Middle-Schoolers (Deseret Morning News, Utah)

A new district-wide afterschool robotics program culminated last week with seventh- through ninth-grade students from three schools sending their robots into battle against one another in everything from tug-of-war to sumo-style combat. The program is one of several overseen by the Utah STEM Action Center, an effort led by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development to coordinate STEM opportunities for students. The campaign specifically targets girls and kids from low-income families, two of the populations least likely to pursue careers in STEM fields, to get them excited about computer programming. And it seems to be working. “I absolutely love this program,” ninth-grader Joshua Herman told the Deseret Morning News. “I get to be creative every day after school and be able to learn more and create new ways of solving simple problems.”

Reading Can Be Hard, but Reading Rangers Ride to the Rescue (Huntsville Times, Alabama)

For some students, reading aloud in front of a group can be daunting. But at the Reading Rangers afterschool program, eight- to 12-year-old boys are gaining confidence and improving their reading skills with help from their leader, long-time library supervisor Geoffrey Jolly. At their weekly sessions, the boys elect a leader, select a book, then read and discuss, according to the Huntsville Times. They take turn reading out loud, two pages each, and they don’t have to worry about mispronouncing unfamiliar words – they have a dictionary on hand for reference. If the boys decide they like a book enough to recommend it to others, the library puts it on a shelf with a special bookmark. Jolly wants the boys to come to understand how essential reading is, because, as he always tells them: “When you read, you succeed.”

York County Elementary Students Learning Languages Early (York Dispatch, Pennsylvania)

At Delta-Peach Bottom Elementary School’s afterschool language program, kids play Twister to learn colors in German, sing songs in French and make snacks while reciting food names in Spanish. The students receive these creative, hands-on language lessons from the school’s language teachers and from older students, who also act as mentors to the kids. The free nine-week course is the only afterschool language program for elementary-age students in York County. According to German teacher Joanna Kapinos these young students are at the perfect age to learn a new language, “It’s actually the best time because they learn so quickly,” she told the York Dispatch. “Their accents are better, they’re still developing their critical thinking, they’re really able to pick it up, and it’s great.”