Encouraging Collaboration Among Students

The main goal of our summer program at the Bob Burdette Center is creating a safe and fun environment for our students. That doesn’t mean we discourage a little friendly competition, though! We divide our students into classes by grade level, and each week those classes compete to earn the Spirit Stick. The Spirit Stick encourages students to be on their best behavior because they want to win it ... Continue Reading »

We’re Halfway Through the Summer Program!

We are reaching the halfway point of our Summer Program! That does not mean it is too late to sign up, though. We are still accepting applications for summer students and will soon begin accepting registrations for our after-school programming. Our Summer Program is lots of fun for our students. Students begin arriving at 8:00 a.m. and leave our program by 5:30 p.m. each day. They are provided with breakfast, ... Continue Reading »

Art at the Bob Burdette Center

While we’ve shared information in the past about programs like STEM and Social Emotional Learning, one area we haven’t highlighted as much is our art program. We’ve featured visits to local art museums on our blog, but we haven’t talked much about how art is incorporated into our everyday curriculum. Art is a dedicated part of our schedule every Thursday morning during our Summer Program, but ... Continue Reading »

Our Program in March

The Bob Burdette Center’s monthly theme for March was reading, and this was reflected in the lessons we taught, the activities we led, and the blog posts we shared. Each week, our lessons and activities were centered around a different literary genre, including fantasy, nonfiction, science fiction, and comic books. Having weekly themes that connect to the overarching monthly theme allowed us to break down our lessons into more ... Continue Reading »

Positive Behavior Incentive Program

In our first blog post of 2026, we discussed the launch of a new behavior incentive program at the Bob Burdette Center. Now that we have been implementing this program for a few months, we would like to share how it has been working. The behavior incentive program is designed to improve student behavior through positive reinforcement. There are two main ways we encourage and reinforce positive behavior. One method is ... Continue Reading »

Looking Back at Past Summer Programs

As we begin preparing for this year’s upcoming summer program, we are taking a look back at past summers that students have spent with us. Our summer program provides full-day childcare beginning at 8:00 a.m., and students must be picked up by 5:30 p.m. Throughout the day, we serve breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack. We follow the guidelines of the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) to ensure that ... Continue Reading »

Feeding Young Minds

How CACFP Helps Us Make a Difference

At the Bob Burdette Center, we are committed to supporting our students in every way we can. One way we do this is by providing a meal and a snack to them every day. To help us provide food for our students, we participate in a program called the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). The CACFP ... Continue Reading »

Ready, Set, Go!

Pinewood Derby at Bob Burdette Center

Recently, Scouting America brought excitement and creativity to the Bob Burdette Center with a classic Pinewood Derby event. A Pinewood Derby is a racing competition where participants build small, gravity-powered cars from a block of pine wood, following specific size and weight guidelines. It’s a fun and educational tradition that encourages craftsmanship, problem-solving, and a little friendly com Continue Reading »

A Day In the Life of an Afterschool Program – NCCC Part 1

My name is Shirley Petretic. I’m a site coordinator at North Charleston Community Center for the Bob Burdette Center. I arrive at work by 11:30am. I work on setting up my attendance list, food lists (everything that will be served to kids that day), and get my lesson plans set up. By 1:00pm my staff walks in and tables and chairs get set up. At 1:30pm I pick up ... Continue Reading »

Success stories from our afterschool

Names of children have been changed to protect their identity and comply with COPPA. I have a child in the Bob Burdette afterschool program named Andrea. Andrea was very shy and quiet. It was difficult encouraging her to stand up for herself. This year, she started to open up and has become more vocal. During homework time, I noticed something. She was writing her numbers backward. In fourth grade, that ... Continue Reading »