Enrichment
Curriculum enrichment is easily one of the most memorable and important contributions that our PTO makes to the Summer Street School and its students. The Enrichment Committee works closely with the SSS Faculty to deliver more than a dozen programs that integrate with and help reinforce the students' learning.
The Summer Street PTO Facebook page has many photos from previous enrichment activities.
Past Enrichments
We have had many great enrichments in previous years, funded by our many fundraisers. Thanks to all organizations who participated!
Discovery Museum
SSS students get a chance to learn and experiment with the Discovery Museums traveling workshops. These workshops include Force & Magnetism, Force & Motion, Liquids & Solids, Physical Changes of Matter, Sound, Lights & Lasers and Weather & Climate.
Museum of Science
Fourth grade students are given the chance to learn about different biological adaptations from actual live animals in their classrooms. They learn how to identify group and individual adaptations. They also learn how to classify the animals into vertebrate groups based on major biological features such as skin coverings, blood temperature, reproduction and others. They observe the skulls of carnivores, omnivores and herbivores and hypothesize which categories each belong to based on observed adaptations for finding/eating food.
Plimoth Plantation
Third graders are visited by museum teachers who help to recreate history in the classroom. The students learn about the Wampanoag People and the Colonial English community in the 1600’s.
Mass Audubon Drumlin Farm
SSS students love when the naturalists come to visit with different many different animals and reptiles. They get the chance to learn about habitats, hibernation, survival techniques, migration and much more!
www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/drumlin-farm
High-touch High-tech
Second grade students get a chance to learn the basics of engineering bridges, beams and columns. They learn about compression and tension and are given the chance to become me engineers and design a bridge of their own!
Sheryl Faye Presents
Sheryl Faye continues to visit our SSS students to both entertain and educate them on historical women. Her performances include Helen Keller, Laura Ingalls Willder, Clara Barton, Abigail Adams, Anne Frank, Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt and Sally Ride.
Wenham Museum’s Goody O’ Grumpity
Kindergarten students heard the story of how Goody bakes a cake in a colonial New England village. The smelled and ground popular spices of the times. Students learned the differences between colonial and modern life.
Mark Rothstein’s World of Rope Jumping
Our SSS students are always so lucky when they are visited by Mark, a fitness expert who tours the country with his World of Rope Jumping program. Mark was elected into the National Fitness Hall of Fame in 2011 and also set the world record for continuous rope jumping for 36 hours. The day consists of an all school assembly featuring Marks electrifying jump rope exhibition followed by workshops throughout the day. The students are given a chance to have hands on experience learning rope jumping techniques and total fitness by Mark.
New England Aquarium
Second graders were introduced to the concepts of tide pool habitats! They learned about three New England tide pool habitats and the animals that live within them. Using live animals, they were encouraged to compare and contrast the habitats as well as observe the types of animals that are found in each one.
Green City Growers
Third grade classes spend time in the SSS gardens in the fall and spring. They learn the life cycles of plants as well as how to plant and harvest crops.
Kids & Chemistry
Kids & Chemistry is an outreach program of the American Chemical Society. SSS has been visited many times by a scientist who performs experiments as well as allows the students to become scientists themselves. Some of the experiments include creating light, building spectrographs, chemical reactions, walking water and much more!
Sugar Detectives
Fourth graders get to participate in a program that teaches them about finding hidden sugars in food. This program is run by health and wellness coach, Mary Robertson. She offers fun scavenger hunts and games to help teach the facts about sugar and how to make good eating choices.
Tsongas Industrial History Center
Fourth graders participated in a program called Exploring the Immigrant Experience. They examined the experiences of immigrants who settled in New England. Working with primary sources, students looked at elements of the immigrant story, such as the decision to leave, the journey, hardships, assimilation, and preserving culture. Students explored how immigrant groups have helped to shape American culture.
Potato Hill Poetry
Andrew Green presentations and writing workshops are vibrant, dynamic, and full of lessons about writing and poetry. His work, which is student-centered and based on specific writing skills and strategies, is used in classrooms throughout the country.
The Ukulele Scramble
All of the SSS students were visited by the 4 time Grammy nominee Richard Perlmutter and former Joffrey Ballet and Metropolitan Opera dancer Robin Hoffman. They are an acoustic duo who sing and play songs from the Renaissance to the Rock Era all on Ukuleles. They demonstrated their large collection of Ukuleles and engaged the students with questions and answers about the songs, composers and the music they play.
Author Visits
The following authors have also visited the school:
Mordicai Gerstein is the author and illustrator of The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, winner of the Caldecott Medal, and has had many books named New York Times Best Illustrated Books of the Year.
Lita Judge is the author/illustrator of over a dozen picture books, including the modern classic Red Sled, the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Medal winner Born to Be Giants, and the IRA Children's Book Award winner One Thousand Tracings.
Bridget Heos is the author of more than 120 children's books, including the children's choice award-winning MUSTACHE BABY series, STEGOTHESAURUS, and ANIMALS: JUST LIKE US. She visits schools around the country to get kids excited about reading and writing fiction and nonfiction.