On Thursday, Ouachita Parish School System finished its third summer hosting the S.O.A.R. program at 20 schools across the district.
Summer and school are not words that typically go together … and they certainly are not followed up by the word “fun”, but the site coordinators, instructors and those making guest appearances had students leaving rave reviews after the 18-day program.
Suzy Spencer, Central Site Coordinator, polled her students about the summer program to which she received replies like “We have dress up days, Kona Ice days and STEM!” STEM and Art Class seemed to be some of the biggest draws, but so were the teachers who put their summer break on hold to engage more with students across the parish.
One student even exclaimed, “The teachers make SOAR fun!”
S.O.A.R. stands for Summer Opportunity to Achieve Readiness. It is designed to provide instruction to address any remediation needs, as well as offering opportunities to front load students by introducing them to math standards and texts to support the curricula they will experience in the next grade they start this fall.
“Surveys have shown the program has been well-received by students, parents, and the teachers,” said Curtis Pate, Director of Elementary Schools, Curriculum, Testing and Accountability. “We have seen an increase in student participation each summer, and we look forward to an even greater experience for our students in our SOAR program during summer of 2024.”
Pate strives each year as he prepares for SOAR to include fun components to the daily curriculum, so students enjoy learning and look forward to coming back each day.
This year, he hired an accomplished music teacher to bring music and physical activity together. Students were introduced to Tinikling, a traditional Philippine folk dance. It involves at least two people beating, tapping, and sliding poles with one or more dancers who steps over and in between the poles in a dance. This involves teamwork and helps the students develop coordination, while promoting the skill of working cooperatively. Large drum sets also provide the students with occasions to move while keeping the beat of the music.
Pate also hired a drama professor from Louisiana Tech University to introduce students to dramatic play. Each of these fun activities was designed to correlate with lessons that the students are studying each day. Many of the professor’s activities and plays went hand-in-hand with the material the students were reading during the program.
“SOAR is an opportunity for students to accelerate their learning with engaging hands-on activities,” Spencer said. “Both students and teachers enjoy SOAR because the activities create a fun, learning environment.”
While certain activities helped execute math and reading lessons, STEM helped integrate math and science with designed lessons that included several activities that introduced the students to programming and coding.
Good Hope teacher Russell White teamed up with West Ouachita instructor Dr. Tony Coker at the SOAR program at Good Hope this summer. They helped students build rockets out of everyday products like straws, tape and clay to explain the lessons of aerodynamics and the laws of motion.
The rocket launch was just one of several projects going on around the parish. Other STEM activities included building bridges and rollercoasters.
SOAR is offered to all students who just completed grades Kindergarten through 8th this past May. Third and fourth grade students who were identified this past school year as reading below grade level were provided an additional thirty hours of literacy during the SOAR Program to help close the gaps.
LEXIA CORE 5 was just one program used for targeted literacy instruction. LEXIA is an adaptive blended learning program that accelerates the development of literacy skills for students of all abilities. This computer-based, high-interest, and engaging program is based on the science of reading approach that is currently used within the K-2 reading curriculum in our Ouachita Parish schools.
In the area of math, students are extending the use of the iREADY Online math resources that are utilized during the regular school year. Students are provided with an individualized path of math lessons addressing targeted math skills that have been identified for each student as a result of diagnostic tests taken periodically throughout the past school year.
Coordinators and instructors also coordinate the visual arts lessons and projects with the math and reading classes to provide a true integrated arts curriculum experience. Perhaps one of the biggest benefits to the SOAR program is the student-to-teacher ratio. With fewer students in each classroom, instructors are able to have more time to engage on a one-on-one basis, and also get to know students they may not have in their building during the regular school year.
“The student-to-teacher ratio of the S.O.A.R. Program has greatly impacted the educational experience for students,” said Dean Smith, Site Coordinator at Swayze Elementary. “With careful planning, the School District has provided an exceptional learning environment that maximizes the potential of each student and teacher.”
See more snapshots of the summer fun on our Facebook page @Ouachita Parish Schools
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