All About Academics!

Operation Shoestring’s Reconnection Summer is here! Our students will reconnect, rediscover, and re-engage with their friends, teachers, and community members through six weeks of outdoor activity, social-emotional learning, arts, and mentoring supports. A key component of our programming is academic enrichment. This summer, we’ve partnered with education expert Dr. Stephanie Harper to ensure our academic programming best supports our students after a year and a half of remote learning. Our summer curriculum is fully aligned to the Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards and has a special emphasis on learning recovery and empowering our summer teachers to facilitate meaningful learning experiences. 

At Operation Shoestring, we’re committed to providing hands-on learning, and we value creativity and student empowerment. An example of this are the interactive notebooks that campers use throughout summer camp. An interactive notebook is a student-created learning guide that allows students to create and track their own learning. These notebooks focus on topics like vocabulary studies, math, science, and literacy. “We want to make sure they are successful in whichever school and school district they attend next year,” says Lakesha Partee, who coordinates Shoestring’s summer camp.

Another essential component of our academic program is integrating literacy and math skills into a real-world context. Instead of teaching math concepts like measurement and fractions in isolation, our teachers help students master these skills through cooking and gardening among many other examples. Students also journal daily and reflect on their experiences with our many partner-led activities. “Students learn best from lived experience,” says Dr. Harper. Here’s to an amazing experience at Reconnection Summer for our campers!