WARSAW — The majority of the Warsaw School Board meeting on Monday, Sept. 19, was devoted to a recap of how summer school went this year.

JoElla Smyth, Principal of Edgewood Middle School, gave the board an update on summer school activities.

The Warsaw School district had about 2,000 kids in summer school this past summer. Students who typically attend Washington Elementary and Edgewood Middle School, schools which are currently under construction, attended classes at Lakeview Middle School.

The summer reading programs included Kindergarten Countdown, Reading Readiness and I-READ.

Kindergarten Countdown consisted of 50 students this summer. An average of 45 students attended per day. Students showed high improvement. Fifty percent of students learned to count to 20 or higher and 94 percent showed growth in number recognition.

The Reading Readiness purpose is to prevent regression in reading skills over the summer. Ninety-six percent of students showed growth in sight words. One hundred percent of kids showed growth in decoding skills.

I-Read is a program that helps students struggling with reading gain the skills they need to succeed. Of the 37 students that attended, 35 showed improvement over their spring scores.

Ninety-five students in fourth through seventh grade participated in the summer literacy program. This program is for students who are behind on basic literacy skills for reading, writing and math. Students in the program improved their reading skills.

This summer, 37 students, fourth through sixth grade, participated in STEM by taking part in inquiry lessons and project based learning.

Fourth and fifth graders who have served on student council at Claypool Elementary gave a presentation to the board about the 21st century skills they have acquired through service projects. The students explained they have worked at the animal shelter, participated in debate club, organized shoe and coat drives, made cards for residents at Miller’s Merry Manor, helped at food drives and participated in other service projects during the previous school year.

The kids explained through the projects, they have been able to learn communication, critical and creative thinking and collaboration.