2019 Summer Programs
Sotron Summer Programs is an educational module designed and implemented yearly by OvidiuRo, staring 2001, during the summer holiday – aiming to create learning communities for children and teachers, that encourage collaboration, autonomy, and open children’s perspectives on learning, especially for those who do not have other learning experiences during the summer holiday. The activities are organized by volunteer teachers, and the educational materials are provided by OvidiuRo.
This summer (July – August 2019), 1200 volunteering teachers organized 480 Sotron Summer Programs, in 37 counties. In total, 6000 preschoolers participated in this 2-week educational module that offers less advantaged children rich summer learning experiences, and 18.000 picture books were distributed – for children to use in class and to take home. This year edition – which registered the best results ever – was supported by Grupul Fildas-Catena, Raiffeisen Bank, and GlaxoSmithKline România.
The 1200 volunteering teachers, promoters of access to quality early education for every child!
The teachers who organized a Summer Program this year: (1) took part in literacy and science-based regional, county or local trainings (2) received quality educational materials to use during the summer module and also in kindergarten, starting September; (3) became part of the national Early Education Network; (4) got a certificate signed both by OvidiuRo and the Ministry of Education.
Who could organize a Summer Program? All the teachers that enrolled this summer for the program, and: (1) work with disadvantaged children, or agreed to organize a Summer Program in a poor community, where there was a need for educational resources, and also for this kind of interventions; (2) took part in (at least) one of the 50 regional, county or local training sessions held by OvidiuRo in June; (3) rearranged their classrooms, and posted the pictures (before & after) on Facebook.
This year, the Sotron Summer Programs have added a science component based on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths), with the support of Raiffeisen Bank Romania – continuing the successful 2018 Povesti sub Lupa project. From magnifying glasses, maps, magnets, germination kits, or geometric sets to non-fiction books, both children and teachers were engaged in a large range of science-related activities and experiments, for two weeks.
2018 Summer Programs
In 2018, around 3600 children in poor communities in 32 counties benefited from Sotron Summer Programs. In total, 630 preschool teachers volunteered to lead this two-weeks module, in 250 rural villages.
For each community project, OvidiuRo provided:
- Kit for each child that contained picture books, earth magnets, Sotron workbook, a ruler, and stickers;
- Teacher’s kit that contained Big Books, small illustrated, educational cards sets, exercise-book, and geometric building sets);
- Kit of experiment elements: seeds, seashells, toothpicks, magnifying glass, clay, etc);
- Money for a daily nutritious snack.
Today [a Saturday] at 8:15 am, one of the mothers called me: “Doamna, will you be in the kindergarten today? My boys [two brothers who had participated in the program] asked me to take them to kindergarten.” Words are simply unnecessary. THANK YOU!”. Teacher in Sarata, Bistrita-Nasaud
Today we ‘graduated’ from Ateliere de Vara. Children presented the ‘Activities Museum’ to their parents, while the grownups promised they will read aloud to their children every day.”Teacher in Vrancea county
Teacher Training Caravans
Each year, OvidiuRo’s Summer Programs are preceded by regional training sessions organized by OvidiuRo to support preschool teachers facing the challenges of teaching in marginalized areas of Romania. The goal is to equip these teachers with a set of best teaching practices, and a generous supply of educational resources to enrich their classrooms in the fall.
Each one-day interactive workshop is led by a dynamic team of veteran educators. The training sessions focus on child centered teaching methods, promote literacy through early Reading-Aloud activities and provide thematic science activities.
Between June and July, 2018, 630 teachers from 32 counties attended regional trainings for the Sotron summer educational module, conducted by OvR and Master Teachers, part of the National Early Literacy Network.
Before the training, I never thought about using an apple to help children understand more about shapes and footprints. By using fruit and modelling clay, we had a great hour long activity. Teacher Valeas Stanciului, Dolj County
See more details on past years’ Summer Programs, including feedback from participating teachers and children, here.