What do an adorable baby kangaroo, a flock of skittish emus and a surprisingly speedy tortoise have to do with summer school?

They definitely don’t feel like summer school – and that’s the point.

On a beautifully breezy, sunny day, about 30 Baker Middle School students meandered a few blocks on the quiet streets around their school to an urban farm, of sorts. Tucked away at the end of the block, you’d never know it’s there, except for the occasional honk of a goose.

One by one, the students stepped into the backyard of Gena Hicks and possibly the surprise of their life. Faced with 6 goats, 4 geese, and 7 chickens within arms’ reach, each had their own unique reaction, ranging from awe to extreme trepidation.

“I touched an animal!”

“Eww. There’s poop everywhere.”

“I’m ready to go back.”

The students petted, took pictures, and studied the animals for the better part of an hour. And they did it without even realizing it was lesson in the benefits of growing your own food and using urban farming to provide for yourself and your community.

Camouflage - that’s all part of the plan for summer school at Baker, said principal Amy Latimer.  Her vision is the result of her own experience.

“I hated summer school when I was a kid,” Latimer said. “I ended up hating math, and I shouldn’t have. I want different things for our students.”

Together, she and teacher Larry Kennedy have built a flexible, fun summer program that welcomes Baker students as often as they can make it through the doors.

“We make a real conscious choice to make it not feel like summer school,” she said. “We have lots of learning going on, and we are helping kids make social emotional connections, but the learning is hidden.”

The goal is to create space where kids can come and enjoy learning without sitting in a class labeled math, reading or science. They do that work, but it’s masked in engaging activities.

For example, students do statistics projects based on success of their basketball free throws. They learn about scale by transforming a small art project into a large one. They learn about physics by building cars with propelling mechanisms. To understand the concept behind suspension, they study the history of the Narrows Bridge and build their own small suspension bridge.

This summer’s themes were stewardship, peace and innovation in Tacoma, studied through art, science and writing. 

Kennedy’s plan included asking students to examine their belonging and responsibility to their community while covertly instructing them on opinion writing. This work helped him identify writing standards in which students might need support at the start of the school year. But it’s also a way to help them learn about and express themselves.

OPEN TO ALL, ON THEIR TERMS

Baker’s summer program is optional for students, and open to any of them.

“We want all students to feel like they can benefit from being here,” Kennedy said. “We have kids who might be behind grade level or struggled some. We also have students who are leaving with a 4.0 grade point average. We want to have a great representation of our student body.”

To appeal to middle schoolers, Latimer and Kennedy shifted the schedule later in the day to be more teen-friendly, and they made attendance drop-in as desired, as opposed to a daily requirement. Those changes have increased student attendance, with this summer's numbers averaging 30 students each day. 

“We understand that our families may have to make daily decisions at the last minute, and we want to accommodate their needs,” Latimer said. “We want to serve the students in our community the way they need it. School should be a part of the community.”

They also worked with the YMCA to get two extra hours of staff coverage at school, so students have more time in this welcoming, familiar space.

“I really noticed last year the allure of having nothing to do in the summer wears off after a week or two,” Kennedy said. “With this program, kids feel like they have a safe place to go and be around other kids their age, but with structure and nurturing. Some kids can have lunch and dinner here, and stay all day. We’re just happy to see them.”