![\"IMG_3226](\"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_3226-Jett.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cMine was definitely slower than the rabbit\u2019s heartbeat. The rabbit\u2019s was VERY fast,\u201d said Jett.<\/p>\nJett\u2019s prediction proved correct. \u201cA rabbit\u2019s heart beats 300 beats per minute,\u201d Shambo informed the students after they\u2019d visited all the animals.<\/p>\n
Students clamored to offer reasons why: They run so fast. They are smaller than us. They get lots of exercise.<\/em><\/p>\n Shambo\u2019s visit from the SPCA is just one of many activities Jett and his fellow group members are experiencing in Rosemont Elementary\u2019s Summer Jam program. The program is open to rising third-, fourth- and fifth-graders at the school, and, according to program director Laura Silverman, Rosemont began offering the program three years ago to minimize summer learning loss.<\/p>\n \u201cSummer Jam was created to help address this issue while fostering a fun and engaging learning environment.\u00a0It is not summer school, nor is it summer camp, but rather something in the middle because it has the best of both worlds,\u201d said Silverman.<\/p>\n She added, \u201cThe program exposes our students to new and exciting enrichment activities and presentations that address the \u2018whole child.\u2019 Our children are given the opportunity to create meaningful memories that they can connect to new learning that takes place throughout the summer and in future academic years.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really fun, and there are lots of animals,\u201d rising fourth-grader Joseph said of his Summer Jam experience thus far.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, and there were snakes here yesterday,\u201d said fellow fourth-grader Christian.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, Ms. Silverman kissed a lizard,\u201d Joseph exclaimed.<\/p>\n \u201cTHREE TIMES!\u201d shouted Christian.<\/p>\n Visits from special guests, volunteers and program partners, such as JB Rattles, SPCA, Museum of Contemporary Art,\u00a0Mad Science, Krendl the Magician, New Jerusalem Ministries and the Virginia Beach Public Library, are only one component of program.<\/p>\n Summer Jam attendees receive daily classroom instruction in reading, writing and math. Regular visits to the school library are another critical piece of the program.<\/p>\n Hawletta Newsome, a three-year Summer Jam volunteer from New Jerusalem Ministries and retired educator, serves as a buddy reader in the library. What are her observations after three years with the program?<\/p>\n \u201cThe students have consistency and a continuation of their education, and it helps beat the summer slide,\u201d said Newsome. She also noted the students\u2019 enthusiasm for reading and logging their books for the Virginia Beach Public Library\u2019s Summer Reading Challenge.<\/p>\n All Summer Jam attendees participate in the library\u2019s challenge giving them the opportunity to earn free books and other incentives.<\/p>\n Visiting the school library is Nyjeria\u2019s favorite. The rising fourth-grader loves to read, and the long list of books she already has logged in the public library\u2019s reading challenge proves it.<\/p>\n \u201cSummer Jam helps you learn and get ready for fourth grade,\u201d said Nyjeria.<\/p>\n Silverman agrees, based on data she has monitored since the program\u2019s first year.<\/p>\n \u201c[The] results show that students who participate in the program have greater rates of maintaining or improving reading levels when compared to students who did not participate,\u201d Silverman said.<\/p>\n She also noted that \u201can unforeseen result of the program is the positive culture it has created.\u00a0Students, parents and community members have come to rely on the program.\u00a0Summer Jam has opened up doors for children to see that learning can be exciting, and it has contributed to making school a place where our students and staff members want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n It also has made Rosemont a place where former students want to return<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI just love this school,\u201d said Kanaan, who attended Rosemont and is now serving as a Summer Jam student volunteer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe experiments, the field trips and the friends\u201d are what Kanaan fondly recalled of his own Summer Jam experience. Now, he is preparing to be a sixth-grader at Larkspur Middle School.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of our students who\u00a0have moved\u00a0on to middle school the past couple of years have voiced disappointment in not being able to participate,\u201d Silverman explained. So she started a student intern program this year to which Rosemont \u201cgraduates\u201d could apply to volunteer their time to support Summer Jam.<\/p>\n Joining Kanaan as volunteers are Taiyanna and Averyana, who are also Larkspur Middle rising sixth-graders.<\/p>\n \u201cOne reason I wanted to help is because my sister is a rising fourth-grader here at Summer Jam and because I like to help out,\u201d said Taiyanna, who did not attend the program herself.<\/p>\n Averyana, who also has a sibling at Rosemont, echoed that she likes \u201cto help other people.\u201d When asked about her Summer Jam experience as a student, she remarked, \u201cThis year is even better,\u201d citing that day\u2019s visit from the SPCA and two other planned field trips.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir participation provides them the opportunity to be role models\u00a0to younger\u00a0students, give back to the school that educated them, build citizenship skills and cultivate their own passions to benefit others,\u201d Silverman said. \u201cNot only do they help with the logistics of the program, but they also serve as buddy readers in the library and facilitate stations for many different enrichment activities. Often, they create activities that they facilitate which allows them to have ownership of what they contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n Summer Jam intern and rising sixth-grader Trevon incorporated one of his passions, basketball, in an activity for a math field day held in the gym. He called out multiplication facts for solving and the opportunity to shoot a basket, while other stations included a bean bag toss, hopscotch and relay race with math facts to solve for every hop, skip and jump.<\/p>\n Trevon, who was also a member of Rosemont\u2019s Boys\u2019 Club, has three younger siblings attending Summer Jam. \u201cI thought it would be a fun experience,\u201d he explained of his desire to volunteer. \u201cI like helping out instead of playing around, and I like to try new things.\u201d<\/p>\n Is he excited about the transition to middle school?<\/p>\n With an emphatic affirmative head nod, he replied, \u201cI want to meet new people and get a good education.\u201d He also noted with enthusiasm and pride his perfect SOL score in one subject and a near perfect score in another.\u00a0Rosemont seems to have prepared him well.<\/p>\n With that, Trevon shot a nothing-but-net basket and prepared multiplication facts for the next group of Summer Jam participants headed to his station.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>