Programs

We offer an elementary afterschool program, summer camp, and a parent engagement program.

Programs

We offer an elementary afterschool program, summer camp, and a parent engagement program.

The Fishing School

Elementary Afterschool Program

Participation in high-quality out-of-school time programs can help to improve academic performance. Our Elementary Afterschool Program operates during the academic school year every day of the week. Our cohort model allows us to build relationships with students and parents from 1st through 5th grades. Students are grouped into “cohorts” upon enrollment and progress through a multi-year program continuum together. Our programs follow each child through critical milestones in their elementary school years to help ensure a successful transition into middle school and beyond.

Summer Program

In our Summer Camp, participants build and maintain academic and social skills through the summer months, in an effort to prevent summer learning loss. Research indicates that students, on average, lose between 25 and 30% of their school year learning over the summer. Additionally, Black and Latino students tend to gain less over the school year and lose more over the summer compared to white students. 

Our Summer Camp runs from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, five days a week (40 hours weekly) for a minimum of five weeks during the summer. Our summer curriculum maintains learning objectives from our afterschool program and engages program partners to deliver specialized content, providing hands-on enrichment and learning opportunities through demonstrations and field trips. Enrollment is open for students who attended our afterschool program during the academic year.

Parent Engagement Program

We are committed to helping parents and guardians support their child’s education. Following key industry research, including Dr. Joyce Epstein’s Six Keys of Parent Involvement, we designed our parent engagement program to create additional opportunities and events that help create stronger advocates for our students. Parents participate in year-round activities to build the knowledge and skills needed to support the academic success of their students. These include:

We also invite parents to three engagement events throughout the year – Literacy Night, Math & Science Night, and our End of Year Showcase.

If you are interested in learning more about our parent engagement programs, please contact our Parent Engagement Manager, Nick Marshall.

Program Curriculum

Our curriculum increases math and reading performance develops life skills, and helps parents to better support their student’s success. All students experience these key curriculum elements:

Our curriculum increases our students’ exposure to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM). We help keep our budding scientists, artists, and leaders engaged while developing critical problem-solving skills.

Our Life Skills programming focuses on five disciplines: School Success, Conflict Resolution, Perseverance, Etiquette, and Careers & Service to Others. We guide students through fun activities that help them understand the value or skill and how to apply it to their day-to-day life.

We encourage students to think about college at an early age. We discuss Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and teach participants about notable figures that attended HBCUs. Students learn the steps to apply for college and think about how they can prepare today for a lifetime of success.

Clubs develop talents, reinforce math and reading skills, and foster social skills. Students choose options such as Tech Club, Do-It-Yourself Club, and Fitness Club. Students guide what the group works on, building leadership skills in the process.

We focus on building our students’ literacy skills and turning them into lifelong readers. We use reading materials with content that is interesting and culturally relevant to our students so they look forward to reading activities.

School Partners

The Fishing School partners with DC Public Schools, independent schools, and public charter schools to deliver our programming. Our current sites are:

In addition to providing program space and enrollment support, partner schools provide access to student performance data, our instructors work with school-day teachers so that we can tailor our instructions as needed.

15 to 1 Student to Teacher Ratio

400 Students Served Every Day

14 hours of weekly instruction

Without The Fishing School, my family’s struggle would have been greater, and we wouldn’t be where we are today.

-Alicia Stewart-Smith, TFS parent

Copyright Ⓒ The Fishing School 2022 – All rights reserved.