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HPS Students Have Summer Fun with Reading and Math
The Hauppauge Public School District faculty and Administration is constantly looking for new and innovative ways to enhance students' learning experience. To that end, the English and Math Departments collaborated to launch a fun and focused summer program making use of the District's recent purchase of iPads.
All 4th and 5th grade students were invited to participate in Summer 2017 Reading and Math Challenge. With their iPads in hand, students were able to make use of LightSail and Mathspace. Teaching Assistant Ms. Yvonne Punzone, who helps to manage the Hauppauge Summer Library Program, monitored the use of the program and provided encouragement to students to continue to work and put forth their best effort.
The Director of the English Language Arts/Library Department and co-creator of the summer program, Dr. Christopher Michael had this to say, "I was very happy with the student participation this first summer of the LightSail/Mathspace Challenge. If we can provide students with powerful motivators to read, write, and practice their math skills we are on the way to cutting down on the summer slide - where students lose ground educationally over the summer months. These tools when used correctly can really support students in their growth as learners. It is very exciting to be part of this new program and my hope is that participation will grow over the years."
The Director of the Mathematics and District Data Department, and co-creator of the summer program, Ms. Lauren Knudsen added, "I was thrilled with the student participation for the Mathspace/LightSail Challenge. This was our first summer holding both competitions and each week both Mathspace and LightSail saw an increase of student participants. It is so important that our students keep their reading, writing, and math skills sharp year-round, and both Challenges provided the opportunity for this to occur. Mathspace and LightSail allowed our students to have fun with learning and grow their minds while on summer vacation. It is wonderful to be a part of this experience and I look forward to watching this grow over the years."
With LightSail, students use their digital device to read engaging books that are customized to his/her reading level. As students read, LightSail supports good literacy skills by giving readers tools to write thoughts, look up words, discuss, answer questions within each book, and more. To learn more about LightSail, please visit http://lightsailed.com/tour/ to take a tour of this program.
Mathspace inspires confidence with personalized learning, giving students a learning environment that encourages success. A step-by-step adaptive learning technology automatically adapts questions to meet each student's level and pace. Students can learn by visualizing mathematical concepts in an interactive way. They can also get step-by-step hints as they work through questions.
Both LightSail and Mathspace created a "Fight the Summer Slide" challenge which ran for ten-weeks from Monday, June 26th through Monday, September 4th. Students were encouraged through participation in these programs to read more and practice their math skills more frequently. These programs kept track of students' progress which students could also monitor throughout the summer.
Challenge Guidelines:
LightSail Summer Reading Challenge for Hauppauge S.D.:
- Students began working on the summer challenge on Monday, June 26th.
- Students were asked to read between 30-40 minutes a day during the summer (150-200 minutes per week). The program kept track of minutes read.
- Students were asked to write one or two high-quality annotations each week about something they were reading on LightSail.
- Students were asked to talk about the books they were reading with their family and friends and share their love of reading.
- Additional information related to LightSail can be found on the district website at http://www.hauppauge.k12.ny.us/Page/2948
Mathspace Summer Challenge for Hauppauge S.D.:
- Students began working on the summer challenge on Monday, June 26th.
- Students were asked to work on Mathspace between 30-40 minutes a day during the summer. The program kept track of the points earned.
- Each week, the top ten students from the district were posted through Infinite Campus.
This past week, all participants were presented with certificates. The top participant winners will be honored at an upcoming Board of Education meeting.