Preview Image for August Update

August: Summer Camp in Sunset Park!

by News and EventsYouth and Community Development & School Partnerships

This month, our newsletter highlights the action-packed days of our CFLSP summer camp programs. These programs run full day, 5 days a week in July and August and include field trips to museums, pools, parks, and other sites throughout NYC. Our summer camps engage children in consistent group and community-building activities that promote social, physical, academic and artistic development and offer a diverse range of activities that provide opportunities for children to practice and master skills while having fun.

Here are some of this summer’s highlights!

Students took a trip to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden where they adventured beyond urban life to explore the garden’s rich vegetation and blossoming flowers. These PS 169 campers pictured on the right expanded their knowledge of plants as they observed different trees and flowers during a scavenger hunt throughout the garden.

Summer campers at PS 94 were busy restoring a garden space which had fallen into disrepair after the pandemic and an extended construction project. STEAM specialist, Margaret Wang, and a group of participants got to work planting sunflowers they grew from seeds, along with flowers, green, and tomato and squash plants. This gardening project taught campers how continuous hard work and patience can transform a space into something beautiful and prosperous.

A highlight of our camp program is our summer Olympics, an annual tradition that excites campers and staff. With the goal of promoting sportsmanship and building community across the program, campers were divided into teams and engaged in healthy competition through water challenges, classic field games, sports, obstacle courses and more.

The summer Olympics at PS 503/506 ended with a team-building feat of strength and perseverance as campers “pulled together” in a friendly tug-of-war.

Campers also had the opportunity to explore their creativity in a variety of media, dance, music, acting, and visual arts. Culminating performances delighted family and community members who were proud of the skill development and stage presence of the large cast of performers.

We are thrilled that this summer we served a total of 1,501 children in our summer camp programming!

In addition, 356 young people gained paid work experience as SYEP camp counselors through the NYC DYCD Summer Youth Employment Program. These talented SYEPs worked alongside our dedicated year-round staff to provide enriching activities for children that built essential skills and contributed to our strong and vibrant community here in Sunset Park.

Preview Image for August Update

With love from all of us at Center for Family Life in Sunset Park to everyone who made this a most magical and memorable summer!

Teachers and CFL Artists-in-Residence worked with students to incorporate math and ELA in the designing of a quilt

April: “Life Lines” Interdisciplinary Arts Projects

by News and EventsYouth and Community Development & School Partnerships

At Center for Family Life in Sunset Park we emphasize the important role that the arts play in promoting skill development, creative expression, community-building and educational progress. We are proud to partner with MS 136/Charles O. Dewey and MS 821/Sunset Park Prep giving 6th grade students the opportunity to participate in the “Life Lines” Interdisciplinary Arts Projects which integrate the arts with social studies, science, math and/or ELA, fostering active participation and enthusiasm for learning.

During this program, which is funded in part by the New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA), each 6th grade class participates in a 10-12 week-long project. Classes receive two Interdisciplinary Arts sessions per week facilitated by CFL teaching artists in partnership with MS teachers. Each class combines two academic subjects with two art forms (dance, theater, music and/or visual arts), resulting in unique projects that immerse students in an in-depth artistic process.

A student using stencils to cut out pieces of the class quilt
A student using stencils to cut out pieces of the class quilt!

The primary objectives for the Interdisciplinary Arts Projects are for students to engage in group cooperation, develop communication and self-expression, try new activities and expand their art skills, create and perform a presentation and deepen their understanding of academic subjects through the arts.

Working in small groups, students develop skills as they create, compose and choreograph. They build a vocabulary to discuss, critique and communicate ideas and to learn to interpret art in a cultural and historical context. Students collaborate in designing and implementing each aspect of semester-long Interdisciplinary Arts Projects, in a process that promotes leadership and teamwork, engages students with diverse learning styles, reduces anxiety around learning and requires active participation.

Students learning core subject material through dance!
Students learning core subject material through dance!

To support students’ learning and their process, CFL artists and their teacher-partners meet weekly to map a framework of activities for each session that aligns with student-designed projects. In addition, programming, logistics and curriculum alignment are coordinated by MS principals and assistant principals in collaboration with CFL Interdisciplinary Project Partner coordinators.

Each project culminates in a presentation of students’ work exhibiting the broad scope of students’ learning to an invited audience of family members, school staff, artists, agency staff and community. Presentations are interactive and engage audience members in student-led demonstrations, gallery walks and through questions and answers. At the conclusion of each project, students, teachers and artists engage in self-assessment, peer feedback and program evaluation.

Student artwork integrating science with art!
Student artwork integrating science with art!

Jessica Mercado, a 6th grade math teacher at MS 821 and a former MS 136 student participated in the in-school program as a student. Of her experience as a child, Jessica said:

“I participated in CFL as a 6th grader. We learned about science through music and dance. MANY years later, I still remember the song/dance from that unit (it goes something like…”amoebas live in water and in soil”). As a kinesthetic learner, I benefited from movement. It was great! Now, I get to participate in the CFL as a 6th grade math teacher. My students get to learn about plotting coordinates through art and drama! CFL has been such a blessing to Sunset Park and I am thankful to play a small role in what they are doing.”

Students during the fall semester created mobiles as part of a library beautification project which tied together an academic subject, the arts and the class's library period!
Students during the fall semester created mobiles as part of a library beautifucation projection which tied together an academic subject, the arts and the class's library period!

The “Life Lines” Interdisciplinary Arts Projects not only provide a hands-on approach to learning but are also an opportunity for students and teachers to get to know each other better and to work as a community. We are so grateful to our partners at MS 136 and MS 821 for collaborating with us to implement programming that is instrumental to youth development in Sunset Park.