Perrymont kids getting a jump on middle school [The News and Advance, Lynchburg, Va.]

July 16--Perrymont Elementary and Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School for Innovation are putting a twist on summer academics: preview instead of review.

The two Lynchburg schools are teaming up for the second time this summer to offer Middle School Academy, a four-week day camp for rising fifth- and sixth-graders.

Through the program, 45 current students and new graduates of Perrymont Elementary School are getting a chance to try out a middle school setting at Dunbar.

Academy students explore Dunbar's computer lab, laser lab, reptile center and sea life touch tank. They also take field trips around the city and try out physical activities in the afternoon like martial arts, rock climbing and dance. Monday is the last day of this summer's academy.

"They are getting a jumpstart on the next grade rather than a rehash of the previous grade," Dunbar Principal Brian Wray said, also mentioning that the academy helps students adjust to middle school class schedules and behavior expectations. "I'm able to send the message: Guess what-- we don't do that in middle school."

Admission to the program is free and open to any rising fifth- or sixth-grader coming from Perrymont. Some students participate in lieu of remedial summer school, while others are honor roll students.

Wray said that current rising seventh-grade students who attended the Middle School Academy last year rarely wound up in his office for discipline problems; fewer times in comparison to the sixth-grade class as a whole and in comparison to Perrymont graduates of past years. He credits the chance to get to know the teachers, building and principal with removing some of the anxiety that can cause some sixth-graders to act up.

Funding for the Middle School Academy program comes through the federal 21st Century Community Learning Center grants at Perrymont and Dunbar. The learning centers are intended to decrease the achievement gap among students and increase scores on standardized tests that measure Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP. The grants help pay for academic and enrichment activities outside of the normal school day. R.S. Payne, the other main feeder school for Dunbar, does not yet have a 21st Century grant, though Wray said there has been some talk about bringing Payne into the Middle School Academy Program in the future.

On Thursday, the rising sixth-graders got a final chance for the summer to conduct observations of reptiles in Dunbar's herpetology center. At the prompting of a teacher, Matt Penalva and a partner practice "pair and share," a learning tool used a Dunbar. Each one tells the other a fact about the bearded dragon they are observing -- for example that the reptile will puff up the frill of skin around his neck when he is angry.

Penalva said he's learned a lot about the animals at Dunbar through the academy as well as how to switch classes-- a middle school skill. His favorite part of the summer academy has been working on art projects, which were integrated with science lessons.

On the other hand, classmate Brian Lewis said that his favorite parts of camp were playing soccer and climbing at Lynchburg's Rise Up climbing gym. He added that he had learned new ways to work with fractions that he hadn't known about before.

He said he is both a little nervous and a little excited about middle school. He wonders what the other students will be like, but he's also looking forward to different sports, lessons, and people.

"You've just stepped up a whole new level," Lewis said, "and you will learn new stuff."

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