Saving Lives and Minds (SLAM)-- SUMMER CAMP

Despite the fact that SLAM has been operating in a difficult context of social and fiscal challenges, findings show that the program continues to make significant headways. Both quantitative and qualitative findings have supported these results. The following results outline our success for the 2014-2015 academic school year:

-          96 percent of students improved in reading  by one grade level or remained the same

-          100 percent of students improved in math by one grade level or remained the same

-          Students maintained an increased level of self - efficacy. At baseline, 95 percent of students report their ability to “handle problems” and “do things by themselves “increased to 98 percent.

-          100 percent of students (versus 90 percent at baseline) are following rules and regulations at school.

-          Getting into trouble dropped 2 percentage points.   

The demand for high quality afterschool programs has never been greater in the District of Columbia. Both the quantitative and qualitative analysis presented above consistently show that the program has achieved its primary outcomes of increasing students’ reading and mathematics skills demonstrating a 10 percent increase from last year’s  results.

In December, SLAM hosted a Literacy Educational Showcase in partnership with the Ronald McDonald Foundation. It’s Book Time with Ronald McDonald offered children an entertaining show designed to  bring a powerful message to children – the value of books and the enjoyment that comes from reading!

Entrepreneurship and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

As a partner to Savoy, our collective goal is to ensure greater academic results and exposure to meet the diverse needs of our students. CBM is enlisting industry STEM leaders to invigorate the learning process through unique learning modules and increased hands on activities. Programmatically we’re increasing access to STEM learning opportunities by introducing students to environmental engineering and career exploration through STEM fields.  Profxshon Works Technology and Club Sci Kids - our newest partners are on hand to revolutionize and challenge their approach STEM.

We have successfully kicked off the school year with LEGO Robotics! Robotics Club members were introduced to the EV3 Robot. They were given instructions and they completely built the robot from scratch. They created a unique design and will be able to learn how to program the robot in the near future.  The study and construction of their own volcanoes began with a bang!  During the “Volcanology” session each member used raw material to construct and test their volcanoes and watched them erupt!

Seeing children as natural engineers, Play-Well Teknologies initiated a LEGO Engineering Session for our younger students. They dove into class and exercised their innate gift of building! The ultimate goal is to have children come away understanding the fundamental principles of engineering and physics in a fun way!  

Matthew Barinholtz, of Future Makers provided a Pop- Up Makerspace LED Light Painting Lab. Incorporating Using  LED’s,  batteries and conductive materials SLAM students constructed glowing “brushes”  to take slow speed photos producing amazing glowing results.

Outcome 2 - Safety and Structure: Provision of a comprehensive, structured program that makes youth feel safe

Demonstrated progress toward this outcome during the period:

As an effective program, CBM-SLAM continues to maintain our comprehensive emergency preparedness plan; as recommended by the DC Government; that covers a variety of emergencies, and serves as a guide to help staff respond quickly should a crisis occur at Savoy. The following safety measures are instituted at the school this year:

• All exterior doors are locked. Buzzer/intercom and video camera systems are in place throughout the building
• Entrances are monitored by DCPS Security Officers who work various shifts daily during afterschool hours.
• Parents sign in upon entry at the security desk. They sign their children out with the DCPS Cluster Coordinator.
• Depending on location within the school, students are escorted by SLAM staff member to meet the parent(s)

Outcome 3 - Physical Health: Youth will develop the ability and motivation to act in ways that best ensure current and future health for self and others.

In December, Zenful Bites conducted a food transformation demo as a part of our Holiday Lights and Candy Making Event!  Our culinary scientists learned about the sweet history of candy and the cultural association sugar has to Egyptian, Chinese, Middle Easterners, Indians and Greeks. Chef Yolanda demonstrated three methods to making candy and had students incorporate interesting items:  dried fruit, seasonal berries, herbs and edible pansies to candy.

Please describe the key programmatic accomplishments and/or breakthroughs that occurred during the reporting period. 

To supplement funding form the Trust, the SLAM Program is the recipient of the District of Columbia’s New Communities Grant from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. This effort specifically support s children in SLAM program from the Barry Farms community. This marks the 3^rd year CBM is the recipient of this grant.  Additionally, 50 percent of SLAM student have been recognized for Perfect Attendance and as LEXIA Superstars for Advancing in Reading and Math Levels!

Please give an example of a key strength of one of your participants, and describe what opportunities you created and supports you provided to assist him/her in leveraging that strength to meet a developmental outcome. 

Raniya is the newest 4^th grade addition to the SLAM Program this quarter. Her mother removed her from a previous afterschool program because there was little to no focus on academic reinforcement or homework assistance. Upon entry into the program, Ms. Williams met with Raniya’s mother and teacher to discern her academic weaknesses. Raniya is reading slightly below grade level. This causes her to experience difficulty with reading comprehension, decoding and fluency.  In math she needs to demonstrate more confidence in expressing her knowledge and capability. The SLAM Team drafted a rigorous Educational Development Plan in an effort to reinforce gaps in grasping the material.

Since she has been with SLAM, Raniya has begun practicing reading strategies both in a group setting and one on one with a SLAM staff member.  Math Instructor Preston Peoples is working with her on reasoning abstractly and quantitatively. He’s reviewing math words problems using flash cards, worksheets, and games and integrating the on-line program Cool Math.  To date, according to her teacher, Ms. Bradford, there is a difference in Raniya—she shares in class discussions, and is constructing viable arguments and questions, which reflect knowledge of the subject matter she iss reading.  Her mother is extremely appreciative, since Raniya is getting the help she needs and having fun.

Please provide examples of how your organization has created opportunities for participant "voice" in this program during the reporting period. 

Student voice has always been a significant element in our program. This quarter, SLAM students are organizing our End of Year culminating event – the SLAM STEM Carnival. This youth led effort   transforms students into leaders, organizers and conveners of the event. SLAM students are deciding everything from the selection of the colors and building robots to directing each table game.

Our program is a testament to how students make their own choices in their behaviors and what they want to, or can, learn.  SLAM activities instill students with skills—layer by layer—that empower them to create a product, or demonstrate mastery in a way they couldn’t before. Activities enable youth to express their ideas and interact positively with adults and their environment. Our other student-led clubs which are still going strong include: Robotics, Library Remix Book Club, SKYPE Story Pals, Art Zone, Culinary Scientists, Comic Book/Super Hero Club and Career Explorer. These clubs continue to give students opportunities to compete, excel and have fun.

Section C: Upcoming Activities, Projects and/or Events:

Please describe any new and noteworthy program activities, projects and/or events for the next reporting period. Please also describe how they will assist your organization with meeting the outcomes described in your work plan.

Activities, projects and/or events (description including start and end dates):

Some of the activities designed to help students develop skills that ensure success in the future include:

January 2016

• Science Career Exploration with Club Sci Kids - Will encourage positive youth development by exploring career fields in science and identifying their interests through interactive, authentic learning experiences.  (Outcome #1 – Mastery and Future)

• Launch of Reading Click (Outcome #1 – Mastery and Future)

• Trip: Temple Hills Skate Palace offering a STEMTASTIC learning experience - combining math, science and roller-skating fun!  Students will conduct experiments using inclined planes and roller skates to gathering organized data concerning the effects of gravity.  (Outcome #3 – Physical Health)

February 2016

• Romans Robots Tot Bots younger SLAM students ages 5-7 will construct, new robots to build each week.  They will view an on-screen animated video that brings the robot to life and shows them exactly what the finished robot can do. After constructing the robot with LEGO® pieces, they will connect it to a laptop computer via a USB cable and program it with easy-to-use software to program the robot,  (Outcome #1 – Mastery and Future)

How will each activity, project and/or event above assist in meeting the work plan outcomes?

Through each activity strand (literacy, science, robotics) we emphasize strategic thinking to help students become independent learners. Our offerings incorporate visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile learning styles that promote learning.

Science, technology, engineering art and mathematics (STEAM):

Camp Special EFX was a dynamic STEM activity devised to help campers learn the science behind Hollywood’s special effects.  Activities demonstrated concepts related to light, sound, perception, illusion and model building. Lessons included plot development, storyboarding, set building, filming, and sound effects. Students also learned various special effects makeup techniques working with the same materials used by professional make-up artists. They simulated cuts bruises, artificial blood and old age. Students wrote, built characters, and directed their own stop motion animation movies. Everyone’s artistry was showcased in creating their own cinema masterpieces!

An excursion to SparkLab! at the National Museum of American History inspires invention!  The creative environment at The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovation invites children to create, collaborate, explore, test experiment and invent. SparkLab! activities are designed to incorporate traditional STEM  with common art themes that connect to Museum collections.

Hands-on crafting and art centered activities kept everyone busy. Throughout the summer campers created jewelry boxes, tribal masks, crafted origami animals, drew pictures of nature, created balloon animals and painted portraits.

Health:

Storybook Kitchen was introduced to provide unique cooking experiences for our budding cooks. Using literature related cooking experiences to foster the development of many learning and social skills in math, reading, language development, nutrition and cooperative group work. Led by Mark Henry of Healthy Living Inc. he served up lessons on delicious alternatives to unhealthy favorites. Each cooking experience was a whirlwind of fun and culture. Students made Moroccan rice, lentils, cabbage and pulled BBQ chicken.

Campers engaged in a wide range of sports and cardiovascular centered activities; from kickball, jump rope, ultimate frisbee, skateboarding, Zumba and tag. During outdoor exploration, students participated in nature talks in the school’s green garden space.

Weekly field trips became one of the many highlights of the CBM Sumer Camp Experience!  Rock climbing at Climb Zone, bicycle safety course, and swimming at Great Waves Water Park made the summer complete.

Literacy:

CBM placed a strong emphasis on reducing summer learning loss by incorporating unique literacy based activities with a focus on reading. With the Summer Bridge Exploration series, students entering grades K- 5 prepare for the new school year through project based learning. Our goal was to keep learning alive by applying skills in fun ways, all while enjoying everything summer has to offer. Lessons and activities span the curriculum supporting critical thinking skills and growth in math, reading, writing, social studies, science and the arts.

As recipients of the 826DC 2015 Summer Literacy Partnership Grant, students had the pleasure of working with these award winning artists. 826DC’s mission is to make kids fall in love with creating! Through savvy literacy projects, campers were taught how to craft a standard sonnet using Shakespeare. As publishers, they worked collectively-- writing, creating alternative scenarios and illustrating their own Choose Your Own Adventure books. While the goal was to strengthen their creative confidence and composition skills, our students walked away with so much more!

Other ways, CBM stretched the bounds of their creative minds was through spoken word and song creation with the help from Bomani Armah, Lyrical Poet and Rapper. His unique and fun approach engaged everyone by tapping into of their learning styles.  In viewing uplifting music videos, students listened to positive lyrics that they would soon try their hand at writing.  Once musical accompaniment was added to each child’s lyrics, the vibe and energy of hip-hop was infectious and memorable.

Jet Blue Airlines offered free books through their “Soar with Reading” Program. Jet Blue placed thoughtfully designed vending machines that dispensed brand-new, free books for children ages 0-14. Excited campers participated at Mathew Memorial Baptist Church location enabling them to take as many books as they were interested in reading! 

Research from the National Summer Learning Association has shown that summers without quality learning experiences and skill building put our youth at risk falling behind. The aforementioned efforts by CBM look to accelerate achievement through summer learning opportunities.