Thanks to a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, Des Moines Public Schools is pleased to announce summer programming available at eight middle schools beginning June 9 and running through July 18.

DMPS is preparing to serve 1,000 incoming students in grades 6-8 with this grant in collaboration with a generous gift from the United Way of Central Iowa. This is a program for all DMPS Middle School students including ELL students with English proficiency. It does not replace ELL summer school for newcomers in the district, and a separate registration will be available for that program.

Schools that will have 21st CCLC programming are:

• Brody
  
  
• Callanan
  
  
• Goodrell
  
  
• Harding
  
  
• Hiatt
  
  
• Hoyt
  
  
• Meredith
  
  
• McCombs
  
  
• Weeks
  
  Parents have three registration options for their students:
  
  

• Full day (9:00 to 5:00)
  
  
• Morning only (9:00 to 12:30
  
  
• Afternoon only (12:30 to 5:00)
  
  McCombs and Hiatt students must sign up for their programming through the Boys and Girls Club at their locations.
  
  This grant, along with generous contributions from United Way of Central Iowa, will serve over 1000 students each summer in arts, culture, STEM, intramural sports and service learning programs.
  
  Administrators and staff at DMPS will continue to build and create innovative, fun and academically-sound out-of-school time programs for our youth. The 21st CCLC summer program promises to be just that. 
  
  Community and district partners such as AmeriCorps, United Way, CultureAll and Community!Youth Concepts and are working with program coordinators, teachers, and coaches at each school building to offer a summer experience for our students about which we can all be excited. From global cooking to martial arts, technology, robotics, sports, and everything in between.
  
  Programs will be run by community partners and teachers/coaches from each school building, which means this is a terrific way for new 6th graders to make connections and our 7th and 8th graders to strengthen bonds before the school year even begins.
  
  

Hillis Elementary kicked off their new 21st Century Community Learning Centers programming with high note hitting summer fun! Soccer camps and musical theater along with intensive reading and math tutoring rounded out a perfect summer at Hillis.

Monroe Students Turn Lemons into Dollars
Tuesday, June 25th, 2013
Mike Wellman
 
It was supposed to be hot and sunny Tuesday, the kind of weather that makes thirsty folks pull over when they see an enterprising bunch of kids with cool drinks for sale at roadside stands. Instead the day broke cloudy, muggy and occasionally leaky, but not enough to dampen the spirits of the summer school students at Monroe Elementary. They opened for business right on schedule at 8:30 A.M. and
started hawking lemonade to raise money for Heifer International. In a
roundabout way they are doing their part to help the poor in third world
countries turn their lemony lives into first lemonade and then into cows,
chickens, sheep, rabbits, bees and trees.

Heifer International began its work in 1944 and operates on the principle
that giving hungry people a loaf of bread feeds them for a day but teaching them
to bake feeds them for a lifetime. Donations are used to provide them with
impregnated cows whose calves are paid forward to neighboring villagers or bees
whose hives produce honey that’s imperishable.

“Did you know that honey lasts forever?” beamed 5th grader Yanas Morgan
to one of the group’s satisfied customers. He and the rest of the natural born,
irresistible sales staff had already reaped more than a hundred dollars by 9:30,
the uncooperative weather notwithstanding.

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