DECATUR - Kaleb Hall has a ready answer when he's asked what he's learning in summer school.

"To be good," the 5-year-old said, while twin brother, Kendel, nodded in agreement.

Being "good" is, in fact, part of the reason for summer school at Pershing Early Learning Center. The students there are entering kindergarten in the fall, and the summer classes, heavy on literacy activities, will give them a head start toward academic success. One of the things they're learning, said Principal Jessica Ellison, is appropriate behavior in school.

On Thursday, literacy combined with an early Fourth of July celebration. An inflatable Uncle Sam, misidentified by several of the little ones as Santa Claus due to the white beard, greeted students in the foyer, and in nearly every classroom, activities had a red, white and blue flavor.

Sarah Keyes sported a paper headband (she called it a "crown") decorated with red, white and blue stars, and the children learned to follow and recognize a pattern by making them.

"We've been working on sight words and talking this week about stories about the Fourth of July," Ellison said. "In all the different classrooms there's something going on with literacy and the Fourth of July."

Students are learning their letters, how to write their names and to recognize common words on sight. Anna Woolsey, 5, can rattle off the spelling of her first name. Her last name's a little tougher, but that will come, too.

"We're doing guided reading books," Ellison said. "We're sitting in small groups and read small books to get them to learn how to read. This gives them a jump-start when kindergarten starts so they won't be falling behind."

Summer school ends July 9, but after that, many of the children will head off to kindergarten camp, where more early reading and activities will give them an additional boost before school begins in August.

The children just think they're having fun. Kaleb and Kendel said they enjoyed a book on the Berenstain Bears that their teacher, Karen McFadin, read to the class this week, and while learning about fireworks, they learned how to spell a new word.

"P-O-P," Kendel said.

That doesn't mean a soft drink, Kaleb explained. That's the sound a firecracker makes.

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