Preventing Summer Slide (Guest Post from Cindy Alder)
Many thanks to Cindy McKinley Alder, co-author with Patti Trombly of 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents and 10 Quick Homework Tips, for this guest post
Preventing Summer Slide
Cindy McKinley Alder
Summer Break is long and, often, when kids go back
to school in the fall, they have lost a bit of learning. This is called “Summer Slide”. While the amount of time out of school is not
likely to change, you can absolutely cut down the amount of learning loss over
the summer months. The key is to make
things fun and authentic. Handing out
workbooks might be fun for some kids.
But if you think your kids would just roll their eyes and protest, try
to find some real-life (and fun!) ways to get them practicing their skills.
For most kids, having some READING time every day
during the summer is an excellent way to keep skills current over the months
without school. You can read to them if
they are young or they can read on their own. Work together to set a goal. Write the goal down. (ie: Read before playing with technology,
Read 3 books per week or month, Read 30 minutes per day…) Reading
aloud is good for many reasons, comprehension among the most important;
sometimes when kids can hear themselves read they retain more. If your kids are hesitant about reading aloud
to others, have them try reading aloud to a pet or a stuffed animal! The benefits are the same, without the any of
the stress!
Doing fun projects with books can make reading and
writing even more fun. Here are a few
things you can suggest to do when your child finishes a book:
*She
can write a sequel to the book. (What did the characters do after you closed
the book?)
*
Have your child write a letter to a character.
You can then pretend to be that character and write back to your child.
*
Make a play: Write dialogue, gather props, and have the whole family act out
the book!
*
Make up a limerick (or another type of poem) about the book or a character.
*
Check out your local library. Many offer summer reading programs with
incentives for reading lots of books.
Doing a little WRITING each day is a great way to
keep skills fresh, too. Here are a few fun ideas:
* He
can keep a journal of places he goes and things he does and sees. Write in it for 5 minutes each night before
he goes to bed.
* Make
a family chain story. One person begins
and writes the first sentence to a story.
Then, the page is passed to another family member who adds to it by
writing her own sentence to continue the story.
Continue until everyone has had a chance to add to it. If the story is not yet finished, let everyone
have more turns until the story is “done”.
(This can be done all at one sitting around the dinner table or over
days or even weeks!) Read it together. Kids love how their ideas get changed around
by other writers and have fun seeing how it all turns out!
* Write
a letter to your child and make a bunch of mistakes. Ask your child to read it and fix it up!
* Pick
one topic for the summer- something your child is very interested in learning
about. Have her research online and at
the library. Gather info and write a
report or make a poster of the information.
Try to help her go through all the steps of the writing process, from
brainstorming, to drafting, to revising and editing, to “publishing”.
MATH is another skill that needs practicing during
the summer months. In elementary and
middle school, there are always some basic facts to practice memorizing. Instead of boring flash cards, play some
games with the math facts:
*
You can play “War” in a new way when every card flipped is added to or
multiplied by a certain number. (ie:
write x2 on a sticky note. Every card
flipped gets multiplied x2) Or, flip two cards each time to add, subtract, or
multiply.
*
Get some 12-sided dice and make up games where you roll them and then add,
subtract, or multiply the numbers.
*
Use fact cards and answer cards to play “Memory” or “Go Fish”.
*
Time your child as he races to match answer cards to their facts. Try this every day and see how his speed
improves!
* Cook
meals together and discuss fractions and other measurements.
To
prevent summer slide, it’s all about making learning fun. Making practicing seem like homework will probably
not motivate your child. Making it fun
by offering different types of projects and activities does. Think about what your
child loves to do and find ways to squeeze some reading and writing into
it. Learning is everywhere… if you just
start looking for it. And by practicing
a bit over the summer, your child can go back to school in the fall needing
less review time and very ready to learn!
Kops-Fetherling International Book Award in Education
For more posts about Cindy and her books, click HERE.
For more posts on summer slide, click HERE.
Note: Cindy's books can be purchased on 25% discount with code FF 25 at the MSI Press webstore.
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