This year marked the debut for an unusual summer camp in Pacific Beach. Two Pacific Beach Elementary School teachers, Paul Gallo and Jennifer Cromar, created the new camp.    Dubbed “Sum Fun Math Camp,” the activity was designed to keep students tuned up on math skills during the summer months to better prepare them for their new grade level in school.  The program offered a unique camp experience with an academic twist. “This year, we had about 15 campers each week,” said Cromar. “The seven-to-one camper-to-teacher ratio en-sured that each child received an enriching experience while learning more about math. “The camp focused on real-world experiences and number sense,” she said. “Our hopes are that we can plant the seeds for higher-level algebraic thinking. When students connect math to real-world situations, they look at it differently than when they learn math skills out of a book or in isolation.” Each day focused on different types of math skills, according to the camp’s creators.  “We tried to make the camp interesting by having specific themes every day,” said Gallo.  “The kids especially loved sports days and eating fractions.”  Day One was all about money, and through the week campers earned fake dollars and put them in a pretend savings account. “We wanted to demonstrate why math is so important in their lives and hopefully teach them life-long skills,” Gallo said. Since this is the first year for the camp, Cromar and Gallo said they are still working out the kinks.  “We listened to our campers and their parents, and if something wasn’t working, or they had better ideas, we re-evaluated our program and made adjustments,” Cromar said.     The half-day camp ran for two weeks: Aug. 1-5 and Aug. 8-12, and was for children entering the first through sixth grade.  “The camp was a such a success, we are already discussing plans for next summer,” Gallo said.               For more information, visit http://www.sumfunmath.com.  — Contributed by “Sum Fun Math Camp.”