The Daviess County Public Schools district is hosting “Camp Curiosity – Part Dos,” an exciting summer education opportunity for migrant students in grades K-9 in our community. Migrant students are those who experience significant interruptions in schooling due to frequent moving caused by agricultural related job opportunities for their guardians. These students represent a wide variety of diverse ethnic backgrounds, from Hispanic to Burmese, affording teachers and children a heightened sense of commonality and camaraderie.  

 

The DCPS program, now in its second year, provides migrant children the opportunity to enjoy a variety of experiences from fine art to technology, from science experiments to physical education, from music to dance, and from engaging literacy centers to readers’ theater plays. Students realized and developed skills they never knew they had: breaking it down with hip-hop dancing to dribbling a soccer ball across the field. Last year’s camp was a rousing success! Students not only made significant gains in reading fluency and math computation, but, more importantly, came together to form a cohesive unit of community.

 

Special events include a series of plays presented by various grade levels on the following schedule:

·         Monday, July 23 – Preschool and kindergarten

·         Tuesday, July 24 – First grade and second grade

·         Wednesday, July 25 – Third grade and fourth grade

·         Thursday, July 26 – Fifth grade and seventh through ninth grade

 

The camp has three goals: Help each student achieve reading fluency on grade level; help students achieve math computation fluency on grade level; and have fun through creating curiosity!

 

Students work on hands-on activities in small groups to improve their reading fluency and math computation skills. In addition to a focus on math and reading, Camp Curiosity allows students to participate in art and science classes as well as health education classes. Two family fun nights will also be held during the camp. One family fun night takes all migrant students, friends, and family to the whimsical film Brave. Camp Curiosity administrator selected the movie for its focus on character and reinforcing the concept of confidence. During the second family fun night, celebrated Kentucky poet and author George Ella Lyon will share her Appalachian coal mining roots with the kids and how she overcame obstacles, rising above a humble background through revealing her true talents.

 

Patrick Riley, administrator for the DCPS Migrant Summer Program, said, “Camp Curiosity is all about opening the eyes of students to a lifelong love of learning. As a staff, our job is to bridge the gap from spring to fall: the three-month academic loss that happens over the summer. We want to get students excited about learning, whereby this excitement carries over to the new school year. ” The staff of Camp Curiosity developed the following Mission Statement to guide the instruction: “A nurturing and passionate team of educators and lifelong learners who motivate our students by providing engaging, real-world experiences that afford success in the classroom and community.”

 

The camp is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays, July 2 through July 27 at Southern Oaks Elementary School, 7525 U.S. 431.