The Island Trees School District provides children in the district with a place to go during the summer where they can have fun learning. Some of the programs that the district offers is the YES Program, the Summer Music Program, and a Summer Sports Camp.

Summer YES Program Provides Educational Fun for Grades 1-8

The Island Trees District has offered their summer YES (Youth Elementary Summer) program to children in the district for three years. This program encourages students in academic areas while teaching them to have fun learning. Children in the YES program go to computer, math, arts and crafts, science, recreation, and reading classes where they are taught by a teacher and two student counselors. The children play fun and educational games in these groups that keep them entertained and interested. Everything the children do is based on academics yet it is all stuff that they love doing. The aim of the program is to provide positive programs for students during the summer. Through this program, not only do students not lose anything over the summer but they may actually start the following school year with more knowledge than when they left.

The YES Program is for students entering 1-8 grades. This year the program was expanded to include middle school children because there was such a good response to the elementary program in previous years. The program for children in grades 1-2 runs out of Sparke School and the program for grades 3-4 is run out of Stokes School. Grades 5-8 are in the middle school. The drop off and pick up times for each of the schools is staggered so that parents who have children of different ages can pick them all up on time. This year the program has attracted 772 children.

The leaders are certified teachers but each group also has student counselors. These counselors are students from the high school who have been picked by Steve Connell, the Island Trees athletic director who helps Superintendent Richard Segerdahl run the summer programs. This year 104 Island Trees students are working as counselors. Some students who have already graduated from the high school ask to come back because working at the summer program has been such a good experience for them. Connell said, "The kids love it and the student counselors love it." The program also works with Hofstra University. Hofstra has interns, who are studying to be teachers, go into the Reading Program to help the students. This helps Hofstra because it gives them a place to send their interns and it helps Island Trees because it gives students more one on one attention in reading.

The YES Program is based on academic recommendations for each grade level. Segerdahl has teachers from each grade level suggest areas that are weak for that grade so that students might get a jump-start on the coming year's work. One of the things that makes this program so successful is that Segerdahl requires that all the work is new. According to Segerdahl, "Every day is a new day and it has to be fun." He said that all the reading materials must be high interest for the students and there cannot be any dittos. He wants the children to enjoy themselves while they are learning.

The district asks parents of children who attended the program to fill out an evaluation of the program for future reference. The complaint that they get most is that the program, which runs for three hours and 45 minutes on weekday mornings from June 30-July 31, is not long enough. Parents and children are so enthusiastic about this program that they wish that is would run through August. All this, and a YES T-shirt, is offered to the children in the Island Trees School District for only a $3 registration fee. The rest of the money comes from the school taxes. For an additional fee the district, in cooperation with SCOPE also offers an extended day program for parents who cannot pick their children up in the early afternoon. These students can stay at this program up until 6 p.m.

Fifteen Different Summer Sports Camps Offered

Island Trees also offers, in cooperation with the Levittown/Island Trees Youth Council, summer sports camps for students entering grades 4-8. The camps will give girls and boys a chance to be instructed in the fundamentals of the sport of choice by certified coaches. Each camp runs for three hours for one week. Each 15 hour camp costs $35.

A different sports camp is available each week from June 26-August 14. Students will be offered camps in Boys Basketball, Girls Softball, Boys Lacrosse, Girls Basketball, Football, Girls Volleyball, Baseball, Girls Soccer, Boys Soccer, and Wrestling. Students in grades 9-12 are also offered an opportunity to participate in camps in Boys Basketball, Boys Lacrosse, Girls Basketball, Baseball, and Boys Soccer.

These sports camps are run by Connell and coached by Island Trees coaches. The coaches are assisted by Island Trees High School students who are on the particular varsity team. There are currently 392 campers enrolled in the different sports camps.

Students can attend as many sports camps as they want or can participate in the Summer YES Program in the weeks that they are not doing a sports camp. The sports instruction takes place at various Island Trees schools and uses the fields, gymnasium, or weight room.

In the first year of the sports camp the program generated only 80 kids. This is a huge change from the nearly 400 students that they currently have.

Summer Music Program for Students in Grades 4-8

The Summer Music Program offers students entering fourth grade a course of intensive study on the instrument of his or her choice. It also offers lessons to students entering grades 5-8.

The students can be instructed in band instruments which include the flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, baritone horn, french horn, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, and percussion. They can also be instructed on orchestra instruments which include the violin, viola, cello, and bass.

The program started on June 29 and finishes on July 24, from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. The young musicians are given a half hour lesson and then have a half hour of supervised practice with college students. These college students are music education majors who come in as a sort of internship program. This music program has attracted 160 children this summer. The cost for the music program is $75. Students can rent an instrument for the entire summer for $15.

This program affords children who are just learning to play an instrument an opportunity to get a jump start and makes sure that children who have already begun to play an instrument do not fall behind over the summer.

These programs are all wonderful and affordable opportunities for local students to attend a camp without having to leave their own town. The district has been approached by other districts who want to send children to this program but Island Trees does not have enough room to bring in additional students from other school districts.