Amityville students got a leg up on the coming school year when they participated in the Summer Academy.

Held at Northwest, the program ran until the end of July and was operated under the guidance of Principal Vincent Todisco. It provided students with interactive lessons to keep them sharp over the summer break.

Northwest librarian Tina Smith led her class of incoming kindergartners through a lesson on sounding out words such as “shark” and “thumb.” She had students color images of those nouns and then post them to their respective sound boards. Students also used Play-Doh to roll out shapes of letters.

In Mackenzie Sipp’s class, technology and literacy were combined in an interactive lesson where students took turns to circle key words on a Smart Board with their fingers. The exercise helped kinesthetic learners make deeper connections with words and their starting sounds.

The Summer Academy also included weekly field trips that made real-world application to the lessons taught in the classroom.