Timberline PK-8 teacher Ambera DeLash helped incoming second graders solve word problems last week during her Project Launch summer class, reviewing the math strategies they learned during the school year.
With the problem projected on the white board, the 15 students started by reading the problem out loud together and circling key information. Then DeLash asked them to write an equation, followed by drawing pictures, bubbles, a number line or tally marks to solve it. Finally, students volunteered to write their strategies on the board.
“Use whatever you need, whatever strategy works for you,” DeLash said.
St. Vrain Valley School District’s Project Launch is operating at 16 elementary school sites this month, extending the school year by four weeks for about 2,400 elementary students. Another 1,000 incoming middle school students are attending the secondary version of the program to get extra support before entering the next grade.
Classes are taught by about 350 teachers, who are helped by para-educators and high school and college students in the district’s P-TEACH teacher preparation program. Class sizes are small, generally between 15 and 20 students.