A slew of learning opportunities are available for students this summer ranging from face-to-face camps as well as virtual options.

“We have always seen a slide in academics, especially in our younger students because of the summer,” Curriculum & Instructional Innovation Director Dr. Bethany Quisenberry said, as summer break is long for younger students and it takes them longer to get back into the swing of things. “It helps to alleviate that small fall when they go back in the fall.”

In addition, it provides that enrichment that the district is not able to provide during the school year with such opportunities as science and art camps.

“We are able to keep the kids engaged throughout the summer as well,” she said.

With a virtual option, it provides resources for parents.

“Parents want to keep their kids engaged, but don’t always know how, or have those resources,” Quisenberry said.

In previous years before COVID, typically the only summer school programs offered were for third grade students, which was state required for those with low assessment scores. Since 2020, Quisenberry said additional funding enabled them to offer more camps.

The bulk of the face-to-face summer camps will be held from June 13, through July 20, Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to noon.

All summer school options can be viewed at https://sites.google.com/leeschools.net/lee-county-summer-camps/home?authuser=0.

Options are available for English Language Learners through a face-to-face camp offered for kindergarten through fifth grade students. This option is for students who are less than two years new to this country.

“This camp is solely for language acquisition,” Quisenberry said.

There is also an English Language Learner science camp for fourth graders. This is offered because ELL students sometimes struggle with assessments, as they do not have the background knowledge in vocabulary, she said.

There are two virtual camps available for elementary students, Expanded Learning and Scholastic Reading.

The Expanding Learning provides students with the opportunity to bring home a Chromebook assigned to them to follow their iReady learning path each week. The students should try to meet their 45-minute goal in both math and ELA.

Quisenberry said they offer prizes for those who meet their goal every week, as well as a reminder to parents to check in on their child if a goal has not been met.

Again this year, students will be sent home with Scholastic books, so they can continue to read this summer.

For those in kindergarten through second grade, 10 books, as well as a workbook will be sent home with them in the upcoming weeks.

For third, fourth and fifth graders, they will be given five chapter books and a workbook.

The workbook is for the upcoming grade level. For Scholastic Reading a teacher will be live every week to either read out loud to the younger students, or ask questions of the book to older students.

Lee Virtual School is also an option for all students as it offers multiple courses for acceleration and credit recovery.

“You don’t have to be a Lee Virtual student to sign up,” Quisenberry said.

There are many options for ELA and math camps for elementary students, which is by invitation only.

Sunsational Summer Science is available for all fourth grade students going into fifth grade and students going into seventh grade, with registration closing today, May 12.

A science kit will be sent home the last two weeks of May for those registered. Quisenberry said the students do four, or five live labs.

New this year, a Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre Experience is open for students in grades third through fifth.

The “How I Became a Pirate” musical will be held Friday, June 30, with buses departing from Veterans Park, Edison Park and Patriot Elementary School.

Registration closes on Friday, May 26.

As far as middle school, there is an algebra and biology camp for current eighth graders, as well as fifth, sixth and seventh graders.

There is a STEM camp for seventh, eighth and ninth graders offering hands-on science experiment opportunities.

With an End of Course exam in civics required, sixth graders going into seventh grade can attend the civics camp, which is open to all students.

There is also an English Language Learner camp, language acquisition, for middle and high school students

There is a math graduation boot camp, credit recovery program, driver’s education and an SOS (Support our Students) Camp and an Exceptional Education Student camp for high school students.