Students in the Peaks Mill Elementary School summer program got a break from the books Thursday " they hiked to Cove Spring Park for fun in the sun.

More than 15 students hiked from the school to the park for the trails and the critters in the creek.

Christian Thompson, a self proclaimed animal expert, turned over a rock and found a crawdad.

"I flipped over a big rock and (the crawdad) didn't even care," said Thompson, 8. "It was just in a little pond and it was looking at me. I was afraid it was going to pinch me, hard!"

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders ended their two-week Extended School Services session with the trip, which they were required to write about back at school.
The program is designed to ensure students are prepared for the upcoming school year in reading, writing and math, said ESS teacher Tierelee Logan.

"You know how (students) lose ground over the summer, they all do, this will help them maintain and go a little above," Logan said.

Teachers recommend students for the program, which may be eliminated next year due to budget cuts in the district.

"These are (students) that teachers have identified as capable but maybe need to hold that momentum or with a little more confidence could have a better start," Logan said.

Logan said the program has worked well with past students.

"Students that we've had in this program have been more confident and kind of helped others catch up, so it has been successful," she said.

When the students returned to Peaks Mill they wrote about what they saw to practice communicating through writing, Logan said.

"They might choose to write a letter, they might choose to write a little article, they might choose to make a little brochure, just something informational," she said.

As the students were leaving, some of them found a salamander in the water, a sure subject for a writing assignment.

"We named him Squirmy!" exclaimed Justice Eastman, 8.