See below for Free Refresher courses for third and fourth graders. The church is located in Somerset County, NJ.
Thank you,
Parentspotlight
First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens
www.fbcsomerset.com
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Contact:
Aug. 17, 2010 Chandra M. Hayslett
FBCLG
(732) 839-2432
(732) 816-4650 cell
FBCLG offers refresher courses for third and fourth graders
Students begin losing content in the first 48 hours of summer vacation
(SOMERSET, NJ) – According to Sylvan Learning Center, loss of content begins within 24 to 48 hours of learning unless new information is reinforced or immediately applied. And after a month, 80 percent of what a student has learned can be lost.
So, with summer vacation being nearly three months, students go back to school struggling to catch up.
First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens is offering refresher courses in math and reading this Saturday and Aug. 28 for third and fourth graders. Third graders’ sessions are from 10-11 a.m. and fourth graders will be taught from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. All of the session are free and open to the public and will take place in the Fellowship Hall at the church, 771 Somerset St., Somerset, NJ. Students must be registered to attend. Please call Victoria Crawford at (732) 828-2009 to register.
“We will test the children to find out where they are and assign them worksheets so they will know what’s expected when they go back to school. I want the children to go back to school ready,” said Victoria Crawford, who works with the youth ministry at the church.
But according to the National Summer Learning Association, research shows that students aren’t going back to school ready.
“Students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer. For students who are already struggling or reading below grade level, this retention gap can be seriously detrimental,” according to the association.
To get parents and students back in the mindset of returning to school, here are some helpful tips by Dr. Richard E. Bavaria, an educator with more than 40 years experience and more than 10 years with Sylvan Learning Center, which offers tutoring and supplemental education services.
Be positive. Show you care by having a positive attitude about the new school year. Talk about your school days, the happy memories (keep the bad ones to yourself, even if they’re now funny), the things you learned, the interests you developed, the friends you made, the teachers you remember fondly, the activities you participated in. You don’t want to make a lecture (or worse, a sermon) about it, so keep the conversation informal.
Set goals. With your child, set realistic goals for what you each want to accomplish this year. Goals should require a bit of a stretch to create a feeling of accomplishment. These goals can range from improved grades to making new friends, from trying out new after-school activities to making the soccer team. Encourage, support, and most important, listen.
Help prepare. When we’re prepared, we feel so much more confident than when we’re just winging it. So, give your child the confidence she needs by helping her prepare for this new adventure. If she’s going to a new school, visit it. Learn where the classrooms are, the bathrooms, the lockers, the cafeteria, and any other places where she’s heading. Get all the materials she’ll need for class. Review the school calendar with her and mark your own kitchen calendar – displayed where everyone can see it – with important dates like report cards, due-dates for projects, PTA meeting, and the like.
Help establish healthy routines. Routines make youngsters feel secure and confident. Reset summer routines for fall ones. Cut way back on TV. Set meal times, study times, homework times, play times, quiet times, bedtimes, wake-up times. Show that you have routines, too, and stick to them. You’re a role model, remember.
First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens (FBCLG) was founded in 1937 by a congregation that embraced the black church tradition and doctrinal style, but today is best understood as a multi-cultural church. Over the years, FBCLG has grown from a handful of members to 7,000. Inspired by its senior pastor, the Rev. Dr. DeForest B. Soaries, Jr., who has a history of community activism, FBCLG has become a church without walls by reaching out and impacting the community in areas of housing, employment, health care and youth and economic development. The focus of FBCLG is to provide a three-dimensional ministry that nurtures spiritual growth, supports academic excellence and promotes economic empowerment.
