The final school bell rang and most kids tucked their books away for the summer, but those at The Learning Lamp in Johnstown are working to reduce the loss of reading and math skills over the three-month break.

“It’s great because they get to do things in the summer that are more organized and more structured.  They’re not just hanging out at home playing videogames,” says outreach teacher Amanda Peretin.

Their free summer camp lasts for six weeks.  It spends two weeks in each location and is aimed at helping some of the disadvantaged kids in the area.

“They don’t necessarily have positive role models to see around them all the time, so we focus a lot on making the best choices,” Peretin explains.  “For example, how do I decide that maybe my friends are doing something that I shouldn’t do and it’s okay to say no, I don’t want to do that.”

Around 30 kids attend each day, and while they say it’s fun, they’re also learning while they’re off from school.

“We write about stuff that we like,” Essie Williams tells us.

“We learn new things that we didn’t know because they teach about science stuff and it’s really fun,” Jyelle Miller says.

Those at The Learning Lamp say that summer learning loss is a significant factor in the achievement gap between higher and lower income kids.

“Students are at risk and they don’t necessarily have all of the resources to go to all the places that we take them.  We’re going on a field trip to the Carnegie Science Center and so a lot of these kids wouldn’t have that opportunity without this.”

It’s open to all kids from kindergarten through eighth grade in the community. 

They will be at the Moxham location for one more week before they move on to the Prospect and Oakhurst neighborhoods.