6/9/2014 Beat the Summer Slide!

For many classrooms across the country, the school year is now, or will soon be complete.  However, for many students these summer months mean summer school, continuing school within a year-round school schedule, or finding ways to fight the summer brain drain, aslo known as the “summer slide”  According to the U.S. Department of Education “Summer is the perfect time for students of all ages to relax, but it’s also a time when summer learning loss can occur. This learning loss is called the “summer slide,” and happens when children do not engage in educational activities during the summer months.”

The web is filled with helpful ideas for keeping kids engaged and learning during the summer months, including Six Great Online Games for Summer Learning, Ten of the Best Virtual Field Trips, and Free Ways To Beat The Summer Slide

Keeping kids reading consistently throughout the summer is one of the best ways to beat this dreaded “summer slide.”  Why not keep them reading with some of my original readers with relevant summer themes, such as What is Juneteenth?  This 4th grade Level Q reader tells the story of Juneteenth - a day celebrated at the end of the Civil War. From this story, students will about the oldest known celebration of the ending of slavery in the United States.  Around the Fourth of July, kids can learn more about the beginning of our country with my Level O reader The Founding Fathers.

Students can also have reading and acting out original plays, such as A Mixed-Up Bedtime Story: The Little Gray Wolf and Red Riding Hood.  Written with 13 parts, the students will have fun comparing this fairy tale to the familiar tale they know of Little Red Riding Hood.  Although the play is written for students in grades 1-3, it can be adapted for other grades and abilities.