SALAMANCA — Throughout the summer, the Prospect Elementary and Seneca Intermediate schools are hosting Camp Scholar, a program to help kids stay mentally active during the months school is out.

Camp Scholar is a free academic program through the Salamanca City Central School District for students between kindergarten and sixth grade that infuses STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities with an exploration hour.

“We are focusing on reading, math and STEM and then the students have an exploration hour where they choose a topic they want to learn about,” said Prospect Elementary Principal Gayle Pavone.

Camp Scholar runs from 8:30 a.m. to noon, Monday through Thursday. Students entering fourth through sixth grade this fall attend camp at Seneca and students entering kindergarten through third grade go to Prospect.

Between both schools, Pavone said there were between 75 and 80 kids signed up so far. Although she was hoping more, Pavone said she was pleased with the attendance in the program’s first year.

“The program is open to any parents who want to sign their children up,” she said. “It’s been so wonderful for our kids and the teachers. Both are enjoying it thoroughly.”

Pavone said families could sign up for just one to all four of the weeks the program runs, giving parents flexibility in case of other plans during the summer. She said teachers had that same flexibility option of signing up to teach one to all four weeks.

“The flexibility really makes it fun. It makes it really different and kids are able to explore topics they’re interested in,” Pavone said.

For the exploration hours, students can choose from a variety of topics throughout the week — board games, card games, messy science fun, sewing, reader’s theater, basketball, swimming, laser tag and more.

During exploration hours, students of different grade levels are able to interact with each other. Pavone said that opportunity could also give younger students another familiar face to see in the fall when classes resume.

“To me, this has been one of the bonuses. Each week, those exploration hours change,” she said. “With our STEM focus, we’ve just been having so much fun with the different science topics, and it’s all been hands-on.”

THE IDEA FOR Camp Scholar began earlier last school year with discussions about student reading levels sliding over the summer. Pavone said the administrative team brainstormed what to do while some teachers expressed the desire to bring back a summer program.

Pavone said her team worked with Dr. Mark Beehler, the district’s assistant superintendent for academic services, to acquire some funding to support the program. Another brainstorming session took place, putting together everything they wanted the program to be — “fun, flexible and manageable” for families and teachers alike.

“And we don’t want to look at it as ‘summer school,’ because we really wanted every child to attend,” Pavone explained. “We think it can be beneficial for all of them.”

Although students would attend Camp Scholar at either Prospect or Seneca, depending on which grade they’d enter in the fall, Pavone said the program was set up to mirror each other at each building so students are doing the same rotations at the same time.

“They’re doing a 40-minute ELA rotation, 40 minutes of a math rotation, 40 minutes of the STEM rotation and then an hour of exploration,” she said.

What is different is the groups of students that teachers have so they aren’t with same kids the whole time, Pavone said. For example, the teachers that do the math rotation do it for the entire morning, teaching a different group of students with each rotation.

“It’s giving teachers the opportunity to know kids beyond their grade level and build relationships in different ways,” she said. “The teachers have been very creative with it and having just as much fun as the kids are.”

Pavone said they had some kindergarten attendees who didn’t go to pre-K in Salamanca, so the program has given them a chance to see the building and be familiar with it before school begins. She said last year’s third graders go to Camp Scholar at Seneca for the same reason.

“It’s a great transition piece for them to get to know the teachers, the layout of the building and all of that,” she said.

Positive reception and measured success have already convinced Pavone that the program should continue next summer. To get increased attendance, Pavone said she’d like to try providing transportation opportunities for families who may not be able to bring their kids themselves.

“We’re very fortunate as a community to have so many options for kids,” she said. “Between Arts Alive, swimming lessons and now this program, there’s a lot of positive things going on.”

Camp Scholar’s final week ends Aug. 3, but parents can still sign their children up. There are forms available at each building if they would like their child to join.

(Contact reporter Kellen Quigley at kquigleysp@gmail.com.)