Learning Starts and Ends with Mysteries at AMD Summer Academy

More than 100 students progressed in English and math this summer by reading and writing mysteries and cracking codes as they learned about foreshadowing, cliffhangers, integers, fractions and other topics.

Participants in Anne M. Dormer Middle School’s Summer Academy shared their work with their families during an Aug. 2 celebration at Ossining High School. Students giggled during a slideshow of candid photos taken by staff members during the four weeks. Afterward, they took their parents upstairs to their classrooms.

The theme of the program was Crack the Code: A Collaborative Approach to Math and English as Tools for Solving a Mystery. Attendance was excellent, and students improved significantly, said Elizabeth Mercado, co-principal of the Summer Academy, along with Craig Dreves and Dean Parker. The three are AMD assistant principals.

“Their writing improved dramatically. The best part is they had fun while doing it,” Ms. Mercado said. “The growth was unbelievable.”

Math teacher Rebecca Sutton said that in addition to integers and fractions, students learned about probability, data analysis and proportions. “We’re really hoping that this is a nice springboard, no matter what grade your child is going into, for them to be successful in the next year,” she told parents.

“We had a lot of fun,” she said to students. “You guys are awesome.”

Ms. Sutton told one student’s mother that her son is gifted in math and worked hard during the program. “He’s really good at math,” she said. “Math is his jam.”

Understanding math was a lot easier for 10-year-old Ivan Diaz because he was engrossed in the curriculum. He worked on an assignment the last day of school in which he had to crack numerical codes to find out which “suspect” in the scenario committed a crime.

“When I learn in school, math is hard for me,” he said. “Now it’s easy and fun.”

Martin Jimenez, 12, said he liked the “You Be the Detective” book his class read, particularly the story called “The Case of the Edible Evidence.” Food goes missing and it turns out that children took it to help decorate their snowman.

“I like investigating who’s doing the crime,” he said.

In English and language arts, students looked for techniques and strategies that writers use to create suspense and mystery, such as foreshadowing and cliffhangers. “Students created excellent writing pieces where they pulled evidence from the text to support their writing,” said teacher Lesley Pimentel. “And they did a really great job.”

Carlos Merly, 14, said his writing skills improved from a 2.5 to a 4 on a scale of four during the Summer Academy. He told his story in a PowerPoint presentation that he shared with others. He researched what it takes to be a dedicated person, and some of the qualities he included in his PowerPoint were grit and empathy. “I became a better writer,” he said.

Students in the English as a New Language class also focused on mysteries, and they did a lot of work on spelling, said teacher Andrea Nielsen. On the last day, they were rearranging a jumbled up paper “jigsaw puzzle” at the end of the story to get clues about the guilty party.

“I like to learn English and I like to solve mysteries,” 13-year-old Nayeli Merchan said. “I like every mystery we did.”

Sebastian Quezada, who arrived from Ecuador eight months ago, said he was focused on learning English during the program. “That is the most important thing,” his father said.