Registration for Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills District 181’s popular summer program is open for district residents and opens April 7 for non-residents. Registration closes at 2 p.m. April 17.
As has been the case in the past, the summer program is parent funded via a registration fee. Teachers propose courses each year, and if the minimum registration is met, the course is offered.
Classes take place at Clarendon Hills Middle School, 301 Chicago Ave., with the exception of Extended School Year, which is a grant-funded, two-hour program for students who receive Special Education support during the school year and who have ESY included in their individualized education program. All district ESY classes will be at Prospect School, 100 N. Prospect Ave.
Along with the regular summer class offerings and the ESY program, the district is offering:
Time To Shine (Reading), a grant-funded two-hour program for K-7 students who receive Tier 2 or Tier 3 reading support throughout the school year. Students are invited to participate and there is no fee for participation. TTS classes will be held at CHMS;
Math Camp, a grant-funded two-hour program for students who receive Tier 2 or Tier 3 math support throughout the school year. All District 181 Math Camp classes will be held at CHMS;
Math Bridge, a parent-funded two-hour program for students who have met initial requirements to move up an instructional level in math. These classes will be held at Prospect School Classes will be held at Prospect School.
Summer courses will be held Monday-Friday, June 8-26, with a few exceptions.
The 52 summer classes being offered is similar to the number available last year. Each class lasts for one hour.
“Many students enroll in multiple classes, so they have two or three different classes back to back,” said Karen O’Connor, District 181’s communications director. “Most kids enroll in our classes because we offer fun classes.”
Some of the “fun” summer offerings are: crochet and beads and string in art, Chef’s Corner in family and consumer sciences, language arts classes of Mythology, Poetry Party, and Would You Rather: Book vs Movie; Disney and Dance, Broadway Bound and Show Choir in music; Basketball Skills, Rowing for Fitness and Fun in physical education/health; Mission Math: Skills Boost in math; Spanish in World Languages; and Legos, Robots, Coding, Code Cracking, and Intro to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) in the STEAM program.
O’Connor said the goal of the summer program is unique to each participating student.
“Some students are enrolling in fun classes, like Crochet or Basketball Skills, while others are taking academic enrichment classes to stay on track or to accelerate their placement in math,” she said.
O’Connor said June 19 will be an at-home asynchronous day in observance of Juneteenth National Freedom Day. This asynchronous work can be completed anytime between June 18 and June 22, she said.
Additional information about the District 181 summer program is available online at www.d181.org/departments/learning/summer-programs.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
