Below are some resources to support parents and families in working with their children during the summer months.
Avoid Summer Reading Loss
The best way to avoid summer reading loss is to increase the time students spend reading texts outside of school. It’s a simple solution, but one that’s easier said than done. By laying some groundwork now, we can ensure that students have access to high-quality texts, and we can extend invitations for parent and family support for the summer months.
Downloadable Resources
Parent and Afterschool Resources
Reading Record Chart
High School-Recast Writing
Keep Math Skills Sharp
These Days are Numbered--Eight Summer Math Ideas
- Go for the Gold
- Watch Those Stocks
- Get out of Town
- Race for the Pennant
- ...And the White House
- Parse Personal Data
- Track Weather Patterns
- Chart Summer Blockbusters
Summer Learning Fun
Ideas for summer learning fun from Reading Rockets
Offer recommendations for active learning experiences. Check with your local department of parks and recreation about camps and other activities. Find out what exhibits, events, or concerts are happening in your town over the summer. Create a directory or calendar of local summer learning fun to share with your students and their families. (Be sure to note any costs involved.)
Encourage parents to build reading and writing into everyday activities.Some ideas to pass along: (1) watching TV with the sound off and closed captioning on, (2) reading directions for how to play a new game, or (3) helping with meals by writing up a grocery list, finding things in the grocery store, and reading the recipe aloud for mom or dad during cooking time. More ideas at PBS Parents (in Spanish, too) and ReadWriteThink.
Summer trading cards. Kids can dive deeper into summer reading by exploring characters with the Trading Cards activity from ReadWriteThink, which provides students with the opportunity to expand their understanding of the reading by creating new storylines and characters. A nifty Trading Card interactive tool provides additional support.
Encourage writing. Give each of your students a stamped, addressed postcard so they can write to you about their summer adventures. Or recycle school notebooks and paper into summer journals or scrapbooks. Another way to engage young writers is to encourage your students to spend some time researching and writing community stories — not only does it build research and writing skills, but helps kids develop a deeper sense of place. And check out the pen pal project at Schwab Learning.
Everyone's blogging! Arrange for a safe, closed community so that your students can blog over the summer. Edublogs offers teachers and students free blog space and appropriate security. Students will need an e-mail address in order to create an account. Free, disposable e-mail accounts are available at Mailinator. Students can create an account there, use the address long enough to establish the blog and password, and then abandon it. Or have parents check out SparkTop (originally created by Schwab Learning) for blogging and other writing opportunities.
Be an active citizen. Kids who participate in community service activities gain not only new skills but self-confidence and self-esteem. Help them zoom into action! Resources from ZOOM can help them get the most out of helping others this summer.
Active bodies. Active minds. First Lady Michele Obama is leading the national Let's Move initiative — with the goal of raising a healthier generation of children.Let's Move Outside has lots of ideas to help kids get the 60 minutes of active play they need everyday. At Your Library has suggestions for fun outdoor games — everything from the classics (remember Capture the Flag?) to how to invent your own, plus a list of books that will inspire you to "let the games begin."
Get into geocaching. Everyone loves a scavenger hunt! Get in on the latest outdoor craze with geocaching, where families search for hidden "caches" or containers using handheld GPS tools (or a GPS app on your smart phone). Try a variation on geocaching called earth caching where you seek out and learn about unique geologic features. Find more details about geocaching plus links to geocaching websites in this article from the School Family website, Geocaching 101: Family Fun for All, in Every Season.
Watch a garden grow and build research, reading, and writing skills with thissummer project from ReadWriteThink. Children are encouraged to write questions and observations in a summer garden journal. Or check out the Kids Gardening website for lots of great ideas and resources for family (and school) gardening.
Make cool things. "Dad, dad, dad, can we make a samurai sword?..." Dad Can Do is a wonderful site full of crafty ideas that bring fathers and kids together. Make a wizard's wand, paper planes, spaceships, ex libris, and quirky things like an origami cowboy shirt (think Woody from "Toy Story") — mostly from inexpensive or recycled materials.
Help parents plan ahead for fall. Work with the teachers a grade level above to develop a short list of what their new students have to look forward to when they return to school. For example, if rising third graders will be studying ancient cultures, suggest that parents check out educational TV, movies, or local museums that can provide valuable background information on that topic.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE SUMMER LEARNING IDEA? POST YOUR COMMENTS BELOW.
Shout Outs
To the recipients of over 208 scholarships at the Dollars for Scholars Awards Night--and to the educators, businesses, and community members who raised over $200,000 for this event. What a collective effort to support education!
To the Willowbrook teachers collaboratively scoring their writing prompts.
To the 5th grade students at Mitchellville Elementary using the 'share' feature in Googledocs for peer editing!
To the Spring Creek teachers who are working with our literacy coach on their first 20 days of routines for productive group work.
Coming Up Next Week......
The schedule for the May 25th professional development day. The focus for the day: data analysis and the implications for instruction, Smarter Balanced Assessments and NCLB Waiver, and an overview of the curriculum unit revisions. More details to follow!
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