Six year old Connor Farnham, of Williamstown, fires up a shot in a game of "Beat The Blue Devil" last Friday at Elementary School. Connor is one of 24 students enrolled in the Onward Program that is offered for kids in grades one through six this summer.All of the games the kids play have a learning component built in. Helping Connor with his shoting and his math skills is Danielle Manchester, a Williamstown High Senior, who is a Student Aide in the program. Photo by Bill Croney, The Northfield News Twenty four Williamstown youngsters in grades one thru six are taking advantage of a new summer program offered at Williamstown Elementary School to have fun and do a little learning at the same time.

The summer phase of the Onward Program is a new twist on a two year old program that has previously only been offered as an after school event.

The one month program that is running from July 6th to August 6th, , five days a week from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., offers the kids a chance to stay active and prevent any “learning loss” that may occur over the long summer vacation.

Program Director Nancy Chase says that the extended break can cause kids to lose some of the things that they were taught over the course of the school year. “There are studies that show the percentage of learning lost over the summer. One of our goals is to help bridge that summer learning loss. That is done through activities that have an academic component. Our main goal is to provide a learning and enrichment program to offer Williamstown families an affordable program for their children in a safe and structured environment ” Nancy said.

The Onward program is a result of a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant that was written in 2007 and awarded in 2008. Nancy Chase spearheaded the group that wrote the grant along with some Williamstown community members, The principals from Williamstown, Orange and Washington schools and district Superintendant Susette Ballard. “Once the grant was given we got our feet wet with an after school program for two years. This is the first time we have run a summer program,” Nancy Chase said.

April Wortmann, a Williamstown High counselor, and Rachel Branch, a Williamstown second grade teacher are the instructors in the Onward program and they have high school students Danielle Manchester and Mindy Woodworth as student assistants. “April and Rachel are the primary Program instructors. They design the program; they have experience curriculum and lesson planning,” Nancy said.

Because of last week’s heat wave all of the physical activities were taking place in the Elementary School Gym under the watchful eye of April Wortmann, a former Physical Education teacher. “I come at this from a P.E. perspective. We work mostly on gross motor skills.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we worked on long distance throwing for accuracy and we had some relay races. It was our mini-Olympics. Keeping point totals and the measuring of distance helps math skills. The relay races help social interaction. We will also have some team sports but we are always working on keeping their physical skill levels sharp,” April said.

By Friday of the first week the gym was alive with basketballs as the kids took part in such activities as “Dribble Knockout”, passing drills and a spirited game of “Beat the Blue Devil”(a tribute to the High School’s mascot), a basketball shooting game that involved teamwork, adding the scores of the two teams and working with a timed deadline.

All the kids, from six year-old Connor Farnham on up, really seemed to be enjoying themselves.

On most days academics take place in the afternoon after a lunch provided by the Vermont Dept. of Education Child Nutrition program-Summer Food Service Program. (Because of the length of the day, the service also provided breakfast and lunch.) Rachel Branch is in charge of the academic side of things and she has an ambitious curriculum planned.

“Each week has a theme. This week is patriotic week,” she said. “ The kids studied the fourth of July and we will write our own poems for a collage. Other things will involve reading, writing and math. On the 15th of July we will go to a Lake Monsters game in Burlington. The kids are really looking forward to that,” Rachel said.

Williamstown Elementary School Principal Bonny Grant is pleased with the summer program. “I think it’s a fabulous opportunity for kids to be together in a structured environment, learning new things and just having fun. It’s a great opportunity to develop social skills in a more relaxed and a little less structured environment than school. I’m sure the program will grow by leaps and bounds. It will get better each year,” the Principal said.

If you want to know if a program is working eliminate the middle -man.

Go right to the source! Williamstown fourth grader Cooper Varano put

things in perspective. “I think it’s really fun. I’m having a good time,” Cooper said.