Thirteen incoming kindergarten students recently sat on the rug in a classroom at Broomfield’s Birch Elementary to listen to the story of the “Three Little Pigs” and then learn to build their own house from marshmallows and toothpicks.

Teacher Becky Spear showed them how to use a grid to help them count 10 marshmallows, then how to squish marshmallows on the ends of the toothpicks. There were a few hiccups, with one boy eating a marshmallow while another insisted on lying on the rug instead of participating. But at the end, with lots of encouragement and a replacement marshmallow, all had built something they could test by “huffing, puffing and trying to blow it down.”

“If I’m stuck and really frustrated, what do I do?” asked Spear, who is a Louisville Elementary kindergarten teacher during the school year. “I stop, and I take a deep breath, and I say ‘I need help.’ “

The Boulder Valley School District is in its third year of offering a full-day, four-week Summer Summit program for elementary and middle school students. Students attend four days a week in June, for 15 days total, at four elementary school sites and one middle school site.

Altogether, about 2,100 students are enrolled in district summer programs, including about 100 students in special education in an extended school year program and about 375 high schoolers participating in a summer credit recovery program. In Summer Summit, there are about 1,600 district students plus 200 soon-to-be kindergartners.

Last summer, a federal, pandemic relief grant paid about half the $1.2 million cost for summer school. This year, Summer Summit is funded through a combination of Boulder Valley general education funds and a donation from Impact on Education, the district’s foundation. Impact on Education provided about $195,000 to cover the incoming kindergarten students, plus another $136,000 so the district could continue to offer a middle school program.

Extended Learning Coordinator Cameo DeDominces, who oversees Summer Summit, said last school year’s middle school program had a 97% attendance rate and provided students with a safe place to spend a big chunk of the summer. This year’s program, which was limited to 250 students, had a wait list of about 100 students.

“We said we can’t cut middle school; look at this attendance and engagement,” DeDominces said. “But the summer school budget will have to be a continued conversation.”

Summer Summit is free for families, other than a $50 registration fee, with transportation, breakfast and lunch all provided by the school district. The $50 registration fee is reimbursed for students whose attendance is 80% or higher.

Given the limited spots available, DeDominces said, the district was strategic in inviting students. The district generated an initial list of about 4,000 students based on test scores and other data, then sent the list to school principals to narrow it to students who they thought would most benefit. Principals also could add students who didn’t need as much academic support but could benefit from a consistent summer program.

The district provides most of the curriculum for teachers so it’s consistent across sites. The district hired about 90 current and retired Boulder Valley educators hired for Summer Summit, plus additional teachers for the special education program. Teachers who are looking to become administrators are hired as the leaders at each site.

“We’re really intentional with our hiring,” DeDominces said. “These are the students who need us the most, which means they’re probably going to be some of the most challenging.”

At the elementary level, classes cover social and emotional lessons, literacy, math and science. Students also rotate to different elective classes, including art, music and PE. Para-educators provide additional support, as does a counselor who rotates among the schools. Class sizes generally are limited to 20 students, though for rising kindergartners it’s capped at 18.

Nathan Spencer, the teacher leader for Birch’s program, said he draws on his experiences as a special education teacher at Broomfield High to provide extra support during the summer classes. In Spear’s classroom, for example, he created a sticker chart to help motivate the incoming kindergartner who didn’t want to participate.

“This definitely gives them a boost,” he said.

Kirsten Allison, who’s teaching a summer class of rising fifth graders, is asking her students to read three stories they read last school year but go deeper into those stories for the summer. For math, she looked at their scores to find the gaps so she can focus on what they didn’t pick up in fourth grade.

“It’s a little more relaxed and a little more fun in the summer, but it’s still an extension of the school year. “We want to get these prepared to hit the ground running when they come back in the fall.”

The Kinder Bridge program for rising kindergartners expands on a previous Impact on Education early education program that was held at Boulder Housing Partners sites. This is the third year Impact has partnered with the district to offer the program as part of Summer Summit.

Current Boulder Valley preschool students are recommended by their schools. To reach students who didn’t attend Boulder Valley preschools, Impact depends on targeted outreach in partnership with local organizations, including Sister Carmen, Boulder Housing Partners, Community Food Share and Head Start. The goal is to enroll students who have never attended a formal preschool, have family risk factors, attend Head Start preschools or are new to the country.

“It’s access to opportunities for students,” Impact on Education Program Director Katie DiMercurio said. “Early childhood education can really make a difference in a kid’s life.”

She said Impact continues to fund the program because it’s producing positive results.

All of last summer’s Kinder Bridge participants enrolled in a Boulder Valley kindergarten class, 80% reached or exceeded kindergarten readiness benchmarks, and 80% improved in literacy and numeracy assessments.

At Lafayette’s Angevine Middle, the 250 middle school students start the day either in a homeroom or in a once-a-week all school assembly. Students then go to language arts, math, science, elective and intervention classes. In the intervention classes, they work on literacy and math skills using computer programs. Those who don’t need the extra support are tapped as peer mentors for the special education program.

Jim Freund, a middle school math teacher at Boulder’s Horizons K-8, asked his rising sixth graders to try geometric shape puzzles. As students asked for help finding the hidden trapezoids, parallelograms and right triangles, he reminded them that “learning is good for you. It’s hard, but it’s good for you. Keep going, keep thinking.”

He said he’s in his third year teaching summer school because he wants to help struggling students get unstuck.

“In math, you’re just learning how to think and how to problem solve,” he said.

He added taking time to build relationships with students is important, even in a 15-day summer program.

“To learn, you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable,” he said. “Building a relationship is really valuable for me and the kids. You can see kids starting to put the pieces together. I love helping them learn.”

Susie Dykstra, a Monarch High science teacher, helped a class of rising eighth graders set up solar experiments using plastic bins, water, sand and plastic wrap to build mini greenhouses.

Her class includes six students who are beginning English speakers plus multiple students with disabilities, including one student with significant needs who just graduated from high school and is part of the special education program.

She said her main goal is giving students exposure to the science topics they’ll see as eighth graders, as well as teaching them some key skills, such as how to write a scientific conclusion, analyze data and organize their work.

“We’ve been doing a lot of hands-on science, a lot of teamwork, a lot of vocabulary, a lot of practice writing in full sentences,” she said.

“We can flex to cover what they need. They don’t always want to be in summer school, but we try to focus on their potential to grow. Hopefully, they’ll be more confident in the fall.”