23 May 2002
DALLAS–One hundred Dallas Independent School District second- and third-grade students from bilingual and English as a Second Language programs will hone their English-language skills while learning how to set up a company and create a product during the Think Kids Project summer camp May 27-31.
The camp, part of the Title VII Building Capacity for a Better Future grant, will take place daily from 8:30 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. at William Lipscomb Elementary School, 5801 Worth Street. The children who will participate in the camp were chosen from among students in the Think Kids Project at Lipscomb and Oran M. Roberts elementary schools.
During the one-week summer camp the students will learn to create a company, set up a board of directors and choose project managers. They will also learn about banking, checkbooks and budgets. The students will be divided into groups of four to come up with the concept for a new board game, create it and market the new product.
"They are learning the thinking process of how to work together and do a project," says Dalia Gonzales of the Multi-Lingual Enrichment Program at DISD. "In class, this was translated into learning to do research to write a report. At the camp, they have to research and complete a project. They follow the same steps they learned in the classroom, but instead of a report, the end product is a board game."
The camp seminars and materials will be in Spanish and English to continue language enrichment activities. The curriculum for the camp also will allow students to practice their math skills, Gonzales says.
The camp will be staffed by teachers and parents who have been helping in the Think Kids Project classrooms during the year.