3 Ways to Avoid Summer Brain Drain

Summer is an exciting time and  being a teacher-mom, I love this time of year.  Routines can be more flexible, outside time is plentiful, and camps and activities burn lots of busy-kid energy.

However, one week into summer vacation, I realize that my kids can be uninspired to do anything academic.  While I really want them to spend as much time outside and getting their energy out with friends, to help them avoid any dip in their learning or brain drain, we have worked to come up with some non-conventional ideas to keep them thinking throughout the summer months. Summer fun is essential, but it never hurts to keep up with writing, reading, and math skills so the return to school in August is a breeze.  Currently, my daughter is most excited about our vacation that is in August...

I have to keep my kiddos on the ball, so I have found a few ways to make sure they are consistently keeping up to speed with all they have learned this past school year.  It was a great school year and I want to keep them geared up for fall.  Here are the three ways we are working to incorporate writing, reading, and math into our fun summer days to avoid BRAIN DRAIN...

I encourage my kids to write!  My kiddos have spring birthdays.  This year their parties were scheduled late due to sports and other events that pushed parties back.  Thank you notes are an essential when a gift is given, so for each gift received, a thank you note is thoughtfully written and sent.  Another fun activity is writing thank you notes to teachers and letters to cousins and family members we don't get to see as often as we like.   You know your kids best, but encourage them to write...

My kiddos and I take weekly library trips to check out high-interest books to maintain or enhance our reading.  One fun idea I use to go along with daily reading is "Thought Graffiti" in order for my kiddos to share about what they have read in a non-structured way.

Here is what we do...
Each kid has book to read and a notebook with markers.  During reading or after reading, they jot down their thoughts in words and pictures about what was read.  There are no comprehension questions to answer, just thought blurbs and drawings to share their books and provide a springboard for discussion about their reading.  This idea is a tweak from a Reading Graffiti pin I found that you can check out here.

My kids love organizing a lemonade stand at the bottom of our driveway.   In order to have a lemonade stand my kids need to plan and organize.  They make a list of items needed from the store, mix lemonade and make a snack, create signs for advertising, count money, provide correct change, and divide the profits.  STEM at it's finest! 

My kids also LOVE to spend money.  At our neighborhood block party, they talked with our different neighbor friends about jobs they could do if they needed help while they went on vacation.  My son is a regular pet sitter and lawn mower.  My daughter gathers mail and waters flowers.  In our house you need to make money to spend money, so they have found a way to earn the extra spending cash they love to have.  When they buy something, they sort their money, and pay.  They won't learn if I don't give them the opportunities to take part in these life skills.

For my family, summer is a time to enjoy being a kid.  We play, we swim, we travel, we hang out with friends, and...we don't lose sight of all that we learned during our school year!  I wish you a wonderful summer full of fun and enough writing, reading, and math to keep the brain charged!

All the best!

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Avoiding the Summer Slide (Great Tips and Ideas)

Hi Everyone! It's me again, Kathleen, from Not So Wimpy Resources! To say that this summer has kept me extremely busy is an understatement! I decided to pursue my goal of running a reading clinic for beginning and/or struggling readers- so this summer I've been tutoring four days a week. I found it important to work with struggling readers over the summer because the "summer slide" is real! My goal was to help as many students make progress over the summer (each private tutoring session was 90 minutes). I wanted to help them make academic growth during the months that students usually regress. 

The term “summer slide” or “summer slip” is used by many researchers and educators to describe the regression of skills many students may experience during the summer months. Unfortunately, the “summer slide” affects millions of children each year. The really sad part is, if a child already struggles in June, the regression of skills could set them almost twice as far back in September. This means that when school starts, they are not only playing catch-up, they are losing valuable instructional time. Teachers have to spend time reteaching prior skills instead of being able to jump right into the current curriculum. 

Sitting idle for 2-3 months or, encouraging kids to "take a break" does more harm than good. Does this mean that a child should be stuck behind a book everyday doing tons of work to avoid losing important skills? No....but they should at least be reading for a minimum of 20 minutes everyday! Experts share that students who read during the summer gain reading skills. Those who do not read, consistently slide backward. According to Scholastic, research shows that struggling readers who read at least 6 books will have a better chance of not regressing over the summer months. 

If you are wondering if it is too late to get your child reading before school starts, the answer is no. In fact, now is a great time to start good reading habits that should carry over into the school year. Here are a few things you can do: 

•  Make sure your child has an active library card. During the school year some students may lose their card. In addition, they may accrue fees due to overdue or lost book fines. Make sure that your child has a “clean bill” and that their borrowing privileges are in tact. Make it a point to visit the library regularly. Some libraries offer summer reading programs for children to participate in. Your local library is a primary summer resource; be sure to take advantage of it! 
•  Build time into your child’s daily schedule for reading. Just like during the school year, it is important to keep your child on a reading schedule.
•  Keep a book in a bag! Take advantage of “wait time” (i.e. dentist appointment, long lines, etc.). Also, long car rides, train rides and time on the beach are great opportunities to read.
• Provide a variety of reading materials for your students/children to choose from.
• Lead by example. When your child is reading, show them that it something that the family can enjoy. Pick up a book and read along with them, or, get engrossed in one of the books that have been sitting on your reading list.
• Read to your child. This helps to model fluency, strengthens vocabulary, and helps to improve listening comprehension.

Parents ask me for suggestions all of the time regarding how to get their child reading or about what they can do to keep their child interested in reading. My professional advice is very simple. 

• #1--TURN OFF THE TV! Set aside a time each evening where the house is quiet and everyone is reading. 
• #2. Read the same book your child is reading and talk to them about what they read. Not easy recall questions like, "Where did Sharon go after she left school?". Instead, you want to engage your child in a discussion and ask more "think about it" type of questions like, "why do you think Sharon went to the park after school?", "How do you think the events in the story would've been different if Sharon didn't go to the park after school?" Encourage your child to dig deeper, make predictions, ask questions, make inferences, and draw conclusions about the characters and events in the story.  
• #3. Set a goal. Use a calendar or some kind of reading log to challenge your child to go above and beyond what is expected. Provide an incentive (maybe one that they choose) and hold them accountable for meeting their target. You can do this based on the amount of minutes or the amount of books read all summer. 
• #4. Help your child choose a book that has cultural or historical relevance and then take a trip to a historical landmark or museum that teaches about this particular topic. Make the story real. Help your child make the text to world connection- you will literally see lightbulbs go off! 
• #5. Encourage your child to write. By keeping a journal they can highlight what they’ve read and/or their summer adventures, students continue to use important strategies for reading/writing. 

I'm preparing for my family vacation and I have two books packed that aren't professional books! I plan on reading for fun. I haven't read a good book in a long time. In fact I haven't read a really good book since the last time I was on vacation (last year around this time). What are you reading? What books are your kids reading? Feel free to share below! Also, feel free to share any tips or strategies that you've used to help keep your child motivated to read during the summer months. 

I hope you found this post helpful, 

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