It’s hot. It’s most definitely summer. But classrooms at 13 school sites around Baltimore City are full of students who could be doing anything from practicing multiplication tables through rap, to learning sign language and singing, or creating art that encompasses a particular educational standard in the style of a famous artist.

This is Summer Arts for Learning Academy (SALA), the free, 5-week summer program for students in PreK-8th grade at Title 1 Baltimore City Public Schools. Student artwork lines the hallways and hangs on the walls of literacy and math classrooms. You might hear singing or chanting. Drumming, painting, sculpting, dancing. You see movement and collaboration. These aren’t traditional classrooms.

At SALA, students learn through arts integration, a teaching method that uses an art form as a tool to teach subjects like math, social studies, science, or literacy. Here, students don’t just explore and practice new art forms—they use them to make meaning of what they’re learning in class. That makes the content stick. It becomes theirs.

But there’s something else that makes SALA special, too.

On a summer morning at SALA at Pimlico Elementary Middle School, a young student was called for early dismissal. The student gathered their belongings, turned to the class, and waved, “Bye, everybody! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

The class did not hesitate. “Bye! See you tomorrow!”
Site Director Matthew Owens smiled at the exchange and said, “That’s Squad.”

Squad is SALA’s version of CREW or Morning Meeting, taking place at the start of each and every day. It’s during this time that the class engages in Social Emotional Learning (SEL) practice and sets the tone for the day–the space to ground every day in love and understanding.

The teachers and teaching artists at SALA cultivate community. That’s the other quality that distinguishes a SALA classroom from a traditional classroom–the something else: community. Squad creates the space for building authentic and meaningful community, and for connecting on a human level.

No matter how a student’s day has started–or a teacher, artist, or staff member’s day–when someone walks through the doors to SALA, they know they are seen. They matter.

“We pride ourselves on affirming, empowering, and inspiring our students,” Mr. Owens explained. “We make sure they have a safe and nurturing space for them to thrive.”

And it starts with Squad.