SCHOOL IS OUT, BUT THAT DOESN’ T MEAN THAT LEARNING STOPS rentwood Borough SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS
Students often think of summer as a‘ time off’ from learning. Summer is a great time for students to recharge their minds and to connect with their families and communities. The time off in the summer is an opportunity for students to use and further develop the skills that they learned during the school year, too. Although the summer may not follow the structure and schedule of the school year students can still maintain their skills.
During the school day, students spend most of their time in class and learning. Social times are limited to lunch and recess. During the summer children should deepen their friendships through play. Play does not need to be organized and it does not need to be sport related. Grab some toilet paper and paper towel rolls and some tape and let the kids imaginations take over. Rainy and excessively hot days are the perfect time to build a pillow and cushion fort and play some board games. Engaging in play allows children to test out what they are learning and practice problem solving. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting screen time for elementary aged students to 1 to 2 hours per day. This would include watching YouTube and using the device as a screen. Encourage your child to play first, then use the screen time as a treat and not the main activity of the day.
Brentwood has a lot of great resources that children and families can access over the summer. The library has great
16 BRENTWOOD-BALDWIN-WHITEHALL
TAKE YOUR CHILD TO WORK DAY
programming for students of all ages. At the end of the school year librarians from the Brentwood Public Library visited the schools and explained the summer reading program and encouraged students to join. Every year there is a new and exciting program offered at the library so stop by and check out this year’ s program. While you are at the library, take advantage of the park and run off some of that energy, too!
Reading is one of the best activities for students. Every student should be striving to spend 20 minutes daily reading books independently. Let the children pick books that are of high interest to them. Book choices can range from comics to chapter books. The main point is that it is interesting and can be done on their own. When students read they learn new words, build their comprehension, and they can explore topics and themes that they may not encounter in their day-to-day activities. Reading truly can take you any place!
While the formal reading, writing, and arithmetic may be on pause for a few weeks, students can still learn from their environments. Encourage your child to spend time with playing with friends, exploring the resources in our community and reading. Summer does not mean that learning stops but that learning just takes on a different form. Parents, mark you calendars, the first day of the 2025 – 2026 school year for students is Friday, August 22, 2025!
Pennsylvania is facing a significant teacher shortage with 38 % of school districts in the commonwealth having at least one teacher vacancy as reported by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette on March 29, 2025. Contributing to the shortage is a significant decrease in the number of new teachers receiving certifications. In PA, teachers must hold a certificate to teach. The sharp decrease, down almost 10,000 new certificates since 2010, means that less people are going into the teaching profession. Not only are less people going into education, but the current teachers are leaving the profession in the highest rates seen in years. What can we do to increase the number of young people going into the profession? Expose them to the career early. Our current teachers showed their own children the ins and outs of the teaching profession on Take Your Child to Work Day. There were many happy young faces working in the classrooms alongside their parents this year. We are very lucky that the Brentwood Borough School District provides staff the opportunity to share their love of teaching with their families!