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Early students get a twist Mail Tribune/Bob Pennell Bridget Benitez checks out a stereo viewer Monday while other members of her kindergarten and first-grade summer school class at Jackson Elementary School hit the books. Some Jackson kindergartners now attend summer school in a unique program in its second year. Summer session pairs littlest ones with first-graders By Vicki Guarino School starts early for some west Medford kindergartners. A dozen or so youngsters who will be in kindergarten this fall began school on Monday at Jackson Elementary in a unique twist on the traditional summer school. The students-to-be are joining first- through fifth-graders in four weeks of lessons concentrating on reading and math. Among the youngest students, like Francisco Rodriguez, this early start combines all the newness of school with some familiar lessons. Francisco ably counts to five for teacher Mary Donnelly, but he isn�t at all sure what grade he�ll be in come September. His kindergarten classmate Lizeth Caloca, on the other hand, counts to 42, pausing only momentarily to correct Donnelly�s spelling of her name. "Are you ready for that?�� Donnelly asks, clearly impressed. "That is incredible.�� While the summer school program targets youngsters who need extra help or seem at risk of falling behind, the classes draw students of mixed abilities. The kindergartners are assigned to classes with first-graders, with the idea that students will help one another. For the first day�s lesson, the letter "O" and the number "1," kindergartners and first-graders worked in small groups, tracing the shape on poster paper. As simple as the project was, some important lessons in getting along in school were being practiced. "They�re learning to cooperate, to work together,�� says Donnelly, who teaches first grade at Jackson. Even more basic, Donnelly adds with just a hint of exaggeration, "They�re learning what it is to sit in a chair.�� And they are getting to know all the other important ways of school: where the bathroom is, where to wash up, where to get a book to look at quietly when work is done. The only thing missing here is recess. With classes running only two hours a day, there just isn�t the time, says Jackson Principal Tom Ettel. Ettel opened Jackson�s summer school program to kindergartners for the first time last year as an experiment. Parents and teachers had pressed for the early enrollment. Twenty-three youngsters participated, and that fall the kindergarten teachers were so pleased with the results, Ettel decided to include them again this year. He says the demands on students have been mounting year by year. It has become crucial now for youngsters to know how to read by the end of second grade. By third grade, Ettel says, so many lessons are dependent on the ability to read that the students who can�t quickly fall behind their reading classmates. To keep students on track, Jackson�s kindergarten teachers now introduce reading at mid-year rather than have students wait until the first grade. Kindergartners now are introduced to concepts like "over" and "under.�� They learn about rhyming, letter sounds and the process of breaking words into parts to pronounce them and figure out what they mean. And kindergartners are taught the basics of sentence structure. With those academic demands in mind, Ettel says, the school needs to provide all the early and extra help possible. "We just want to catch students as early as we can,�� Ettel says. "We would get them as 3-year-olds if we could.�� This summer, the term has been extended from three to four weeks. Also, Jackson School opened its doors to students from nearby Washington Elementary, doubling Jackson�s summer school enrollment from a year ago. About 150 students in all six grades are attending. Students were recruited during the school year and at registration in May. Both schools pay for the program by saving portions of their federal Title I funds. Congress allocates the money nationwide for the educational needs of students living in families or neighborhoods of poverty. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA