As the school year comes to a close and summer break begins, it is easy to think it is ALL fun and games for the next three months, but it is important to continue to foster learning over summer break. We want to ensure students retain all of the important information they have learned from the most recent school year, and are ready to tackle new concepts in the next grade! Here are 5 easy ways to continue to foster learning in FUN summer style.
MAKE A SCHEDULE
Do you (or your kids) have a giant list of fun activities you would like to accomplish over the summer? Well, take those fun activities and make a summer schedule! Your summer schedule can be filled with all of the exciting summer activities and will help your summer fly by more smoothly. When kiddos have a break that is a little TOO relaxed they tend to lose motivation, become bored, and a little restless (enter rowdy behavior.) With a schedule, you can accomplish ALL the fun that you want in a more structured way! This will give kids something to look forward to, a consistent schedule they can rely on, and allow for you to incorporate learning into your activities! Trust me, a schedule will make your life easier! If you want some quick academic activities to do each day, check out my summer calendar. It’s editable, so you can type in the skills you want your students to practice.
I personally like the idea of having an activity/theme each week that you are focused on. All learning activities can center around this theme!
SUMMER SCHEDULE EXAMPLE:
Morning routine (make beds, brush teeth etc.)
Calendar
Breakfast
Learning task card
Read Aloud
Family Fun Activity
Lunch
Outdoor play
Journal (Daily Reflection)
JOURNALING
Summer days are filled with exciting activities and memories to remember for a lifetime! Journaling is a great way to foster learning over summer break by writing about your fun-filled days. Have your child think about their day and reflect. This will not only help with writing skills, but will encourage creativity and help them to process their emotions. It is also fun to look back at journals as the years go by to see what you were doing/thinking at this age! Provide your child with journaling paper. If they are feeling motivated to write on their own – let the writing flow. However, sometimes a writing prompt may be helpful to get those creative juices flowing! Here are some summer writing prompts you can ask your child.
SUMMER WRITING PROMPTS
- My favorite part of the day was when…
- If I could travel anywhere, I would go to…
- My favorite place in my house is…
- Describe the perfect summer day
- My favorite storybook character is…
- How to make an ice-cream sundae
- How to build a sandcastle
FAMILY FUN DAYS
While continuing to foster learning through academics over the summer is key, remember that a lot of learning can come from FUN. Sometimes it is just as important to get your hands dirty, play, have a little fun as a family unit, and make memories together! As you work on something as a team, children will learn how to be good sports, how to cooperate with others and communicate appropriately,
PRO TIP: Add academics into your family fun day! For example, if you are completing a DIY art project, use adjectives to describe the art as you go, describe the colors, and foster vocabulary. If you are making cookies together in the kitchen, count the chocolate chips, introduce adding and subtracting as you add and take away yummy toppings! Find small ways like these to incorporate learning into your fun time as a family unit.
READ READ READ
Choose a book for each day that you will focus on with your child. Maybe it is a read aloud that goes along with the activity you have planned for the day/week. For example, if you are going to the zoo that week, focus on read alouds that center around animals that children may see at the zoo. Read together and learn about the animals throughout the week before your visit. If you are going to the park, read some stories about playing at the park. Amazon is a great resource to find quick books to read together. Help your child sound out any words that may be difficult on their own and when you finish reading, be sure to ask questions about the reading to help foster comprehension. Here are some simple comprehension questions that will help your child in the long run!
- What happened at the beginning, middle, and end of the story?
- What was the setting of the story?
- Who were the characters in the story?
- What was the problem/solution in the story?
- If you could recreate the ending of the story, how would you change it?
- When _______ happened in the story, how did that make you feel?
- Can you retell the story in your own words?
FLUENCY AND FITNESS
A great way to review learning concepts from the year is with FLUENCY AND FITNESS! This website has endless activities that will get children up and moving while reviewing skills from the school year. Simply choose a concept you would like to review and students can watch on any device (tv, ipad, etc) They will follow along and even have some fun dance moves to complete as they review! This is a fun activity to do as a family unit too – show off those dance moves! In addition to the Fluency and Fitness slides, there are games and digital task cards. For added review, choose a few task cards for each day that your child can complete!