Summer Early Focus Program Overview

Boston Public Schools (BPS) takes the lead on summer learning with Summer Early Focus, a 5-week summer program designed by the BPS Department of Early Childhood. Summer Early Focus is open to Boston students entering pre-k (K0 and K1) through third grade in the upcoming school year.

The Summer Early Focus program is held at the following sites:

Curley Lower School K0-2 (Jamaica Plain)
Ellison-Parks EES (Mattapan)
East Boston Early Education Center (East Boston)
Higginson K0-2 (Roxbury)

There is no cost to parents/guardians for their child to attend this program, but full attendance for all 24 days is required in order to attend! There will be breakfast, lunch and snack time, academic and enrichment components, as well as neighborhood walking tours.

Summer 2024 Registration

Summer Early Focus will take place July 8-August 9, 2024.

Registration opened April 25, 2024.

You can find more information, including the application link on the BPS Summer Programs website. Please note to register to Summer Early Focus, you have to chose one of the following 4 sites: Curley Lower School K0-2, East Boston EEC, Higginson K0-2, Ellison-Parks EES.

Eligibility and Requirements:

For enrolling at K0 for the 2024 Summer, the child has to be 3 years old before September 1, 2023.

For any questions on Summer Early Focus, contact Solange Marsan at smarsan@bostonpublicschools.org.

Summer Early Focus Program Details

The Summer Early Focus program builds on children's learning during the school year. It is highly engaging and child-driven. Typically, two BPS teachers support up to 20 students in each classroom with our Summer Early Focus curriculum. We serve Boston students entering pre-k (K0 and K1) through third grade in the upcoming school year. Students continue to engage in high quality instructional practices, take field trips, and have structured and unstructured play opportunities.

Children have classes in dance and physical education, have visitors who teach them about what they are learning in class, and go on neighborhood walking field trips. Summer Early Focus builds children’s skills in critical thinking, creativity, social awareness and relationships, teamwork, and self-regulation - all while having fun!

Curriculum

Click the links for the project-based, student-driven curricula:

Rising third grade students explore bicycles, thinking about the different functions of a bike, how a bike works, and bicycle safety. For a final project, children envision a more bicycle-friendly neighborhood.
Rising second grade students think critically about food, through the exploration of food from various cultures and how food gets from a farm to people who cook and eat it. For a final project, children create a way for community members to have increased access to fresh, local food.
Rising first graders learn about insects, through observation, reading, exploring, and playing about bees, butterflies, and beetles. This study offers new and continued learning related to the school year Focus on K2 curriculum. Children consider what insects are, what they need to survive, and their own relationships with them. To finish the summer session, children plan and set up exhibits in an Insect Museum.
Incoming kindergarten students explore ocean and seashore animals native to Massachusetts. This curriculum helps prepare children for kindergarten in the fall through exposure to the structure of the day, literacy, math, and center-based activities.
Incoming Pre-K children explore how plants and animals grow, using a selection of the new Focus on 3s curriculum adapted for the summer program. Children raise live butterflies, plant seeds, and investigate flowers as they think about what living things need and how humans can care for plants and animals. This curriculum helps prepare children for kindergarten in the fall through exposure to the structure of the day, literacy, math, and center-based activities.

Summer Early Focus History

In 2013, DEC launched the Kindergarten Ventures Early Focus program. Designed for children who have never had a formal preschool experience and who would be attending BPS K2 (kindergarten) in the fall, this program introduced students to the structure of the K2 day, including curriculum and transitions. The program later expanded to serve students entering grades K2 to 3rd. Check out research and publications about Summer Early Focus.

Proven Results

An evaluation of the 2009 Summer Early Focus program (then called Summer Reading Academies) showed students who attended exhibited significant gains in three out of the four DIBELS subtests. More, the evaluation showed that ELL, African Americans and boys showed compelling progress after participating in the SRA. Internal analyses have shown these results repeating year after year. Summer Early Focus is also highlighted in an issue brief by MDRC focusing on the ExCEL Network.

Registration

Registration will open in April for Summer 2024

You can find more information on the BPS Summer Programs website. The direct application link is here. (When you register, select “Summer Early Focus” as your first choice in the application).

Summer Early Focus will take place July 8 - August 9, 2024.