WEIRTON - Family and friends came out to Oak Glen Middle School Tuesday for an open house to see exactly what their children have been doing in Energy Express.
Energy Express is a six-week reading program organized to assist children with reading and comprehension for students who will be in first through sixth grade in the fall of 2012. The free program gives students the opportunity to make new friends, eat breakfast and lunch every day, express themselves through art, writing and drama activities and spend time with a mentor.
Patrice Cain, site supervisor, welcomed those in attendance at the open house Tuesday. She said the students and volunteers had a good summer and were excited to show them what they had been doing in the last several weeks.
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SUMMER PROGRAM — During an open house at Oak Glen Middle School on Tuesday, AmeriCorps volunteers and site coordinators demonstrated what a typical day was like for students enrolled in the Energy Express program, a summer reading program offered to area students. -- Angelina Dickson
Cain said when students arrive at the school for Energy Express, they are greeted by the mentors and taken inside for a nutritious breakfast in a family style setting. Next, they head off to their rooms to begin their day of reading and learning activities.
Books are read throughout the day and then the information in the book is reinforced through a graphic organizer - something to help them understand what they read - and then art projects begin, said Cain. She said students write, draw and act out what they learned from the book which helps them comprehend what they read.
Once the day of learning is complete, students head off to lunch where they continue to express themselves and talk about their day before heading home.
"Students leave just as they arrive, with a wave and a smile from their favorite mentor," she said.
Following the performance of the AmeriCorps volunteers, each class performed a special play for entertainment which ranged from "The Billy Goats Gruff" to an original play written by the students. Participants were then permitted to take family and friends on a tour of the various classrooms.
The program, which also is held at Weir Middle School in Weirton and Jefferson Primary School in Follansbee, will continue to take place each day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. until July 27.
For more information on the programs visit hancock.ext.wvu.edu/ or call the Hancock County Extension office at (304) 564-3805.
(Dickson can be contacted at adickson@weirtondailytimes.com)
