I have been writing articles for parenting and family magazines throughout the U.S. This article appeared in Northeast Pennsylvania Family in their June 2012 issue. Here's the link:
http://www.nepafamily.com/articles/school%E2%80%99s-out-but-learning-is-still-in/page-3.html
School’s out for the summer and the cheers of children can
be heard far and wide. Summer is a time to relax and enjoy the endless days of
sunshine and play. It is also a time to reinforce all the skills learned during
the previous school year.
According to the National Summer Learning Association, all
young people experience losses in learning when they do not participate in stimulating
educational activities during the summer. Research spanning 100 years shows
that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer
vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer.
Maybe
parents are somewhat resistant to the idea of summer learning, too, for
different reasons. Some parents do not quite know how to reinforce the skills,
while others simply do not understand the benefit. “Let kids be kids and enjoy
their summer vacation,” some parents might say remembering their own youthful
summers full of play. However, according to a study by Dr. Harris Cooper,
professor of psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, when students
return to school after a long summer vacation, they've lost one to three months
worth of learning.
“Academic
regression is real,” says Dr. Richard Tomko, Superintendent of Schools in a
K-12 public school district in NJ and partner of Tomko, Tomko and Associates,
an educational consulting firm. “Parents who do not foster plans to extend
their children's learning into the summer are usually parents of children who
struggle at the beginning of the school year.”
Summer
is a time for fun and relaxation, and keeping learning in summer can be just
that, too. “It is important for every parent to realize that it is the summer,
and summer must be fun!” Tomko says. “Children have worked hard all year and
now they feel the payoff is the fun-filled days of summer vacation. The
learning component must be incorporated in summer fun activities and cannot be
hours in length. Quick learning interventions will help reiterate topics and
stall regression.”
Start
thinking creatively and allow your child to learn naturally in real-life
settings. When you think about the various topics your child learns about in
school, you will be pleasantly surprised at how easy and fun it can be to
incorporate “lessons” into everyday summer life.
Ready, Set, Read!
Get
the whole family involved and start a Family Book Club. Depending on the age of
the children, assign 10, 20, or 30 minutes per day (or most days of the week)
to read together as a family. “Parents must emulate the learning activities
with their children,” Tomko says. “Independent reading is the best source for
children to maintain a level of literacy. Parents should make sure that they
are also familiar with their child’s book so they can discuss themes,
characters, likes and dislikes about the book with their child.”
Elementary school teacher Juliann Meletta agrees that
reading is the best way to reinforce skills during the summer. “My number one
priority for students in the summer is to read, read, read. There is no other
product or procedure that packs more for its punch than getting kids to read
independently.” As for her own two children, Meletta says, “I do everything I
can to get books in the hands of my kids. We visit the local library and devour
as many books as we can before taking a pile home.” In addition, many libraries
offer summer reading programs with various incentives for completed reading.
The Write Stuff
There
are many creative ways to keep children writing throughout the summer without
asking them to write a book report or an essay about the Civil War. Kids can
write emails to grandparents about their summer plans and activities. Parents
can work with their children on a summer scrapbook and have the child write the
captions for the pictures. Even something as simple as having a child write the
grocery list will help engage children, especially younger ones, in forming
letters and sounding out words.
Math Matters
Flash cards might be fun, but don’t forget about everyday
activities to engage children in math. Preparing a recipe helps children use
measurement. “Asking a child to make his favorite recipe will strengthen his
ability to process, create, and complete an important project,” Tomko adds. Encourage
your child to do a few chores if he hasn’t started already and to save money
for something special. This will help teach math skills as well as necessary
life skills in budgeting and financial responsibility.
Technology Tie-In
Kids love all things techy – computers, iPods, and smart
phones are all great ways to keep children interested in learning throughout
the summer. There are many websites like mathblaster.com and abcya.com as well
as apps available to facilitate learning in all academic areas and for various
ages. Kids can practice the alphabet and sounds, review multiplication facts
through games, and watch videos about their favorite jungle animals. Simply
search academic games according to age or grade level on the internet and get
started.
Magical Materials
The most basic skills can be reviewed in creative ways when
different kinds of materials are used like sidewalk chalk, fingerpaints and
window markers. On a sunny day, sit on the driveway with sidewalk chalk and
write a story. “My 4 year-old draws a different picture on
each sidewalk block, and then I tell the story based on what I see,” Meletta
says. “The best part is that he often disagrees with my story, and he'll say, ‘Mommy,
that's not what I mean!’ and then he's using his own vocabulary to narrate his
story. For my 7 year-old son, I do the same, but sometimes I change it up with
a spelling test, math problems or true and false quizzes. They love these!”
When summer days are gray, camp
out by a window and use window markers to write rainy day stories, solve word
problems, or play a game of Hangman using rainy day words like “thunder,”
“lightening,” and “raincoat.” Even a simple review of addition facts becomes
much more fun when kids are writing on the windows!
We all know that a plain cardboard box can lead to hours of
creativity. Add construction paper, markers and paints and children have all
the necessities to create sets for plays and puppet shows. “Creating summer
plays helps younger children enhance diction and interact with dialogue,” Tomko
says. “This type of activity can incorporate friends, costumes (as an art
component), music, and other learning tools to help maintain and even advance
literary skills. One can even use historical characters and stories with this
as well.”
Newsworthy
The newspaper is a powerful
resource for cross-curricular, everyday learning. Where else can you find
reading, math, science, history, geography and the arts all in one place?
Children can report on the weather
in their town as well as in a city in another state or country, depending on
the newspaper. Sports fanatics can look up their favorite baseball team’s most
recent batting statistics and keep a record for the summer. The newspaper
includes tables and graphs as well as information about cultures not only in
their region but around the world.
With some creativity and a little
planning, summer can be fun and relaxing while keeping children’s minds active
and enjoying lessons learned in everyday summer settings. With mom or dad as
the teacher, summer days can go from hazy and lazy to getting kids yearning for
learning!
