Preventing Summer Learning Loss 2016

 The idea for this post was originally going to be a Mid-week Morsel.  However, once I started gathering resources and putting it all together, I quickly realized that this was not a morsel.  It's a whole meal!

If you are concerned that your children will forget last school year's lessons over the summer, you're not alone.  It is estimated that students start the next school year 2-3 months behind where they ended the year before.  As a result, teachers spend much of the first month or so trying to get back that lost knowledge.

Preventing summer learning loss doesn't have to be time consuming, boring, or even expensive.  I've compiled a short list of websites that offer summer programs specifically designed to help prevent summer learning loss.  There is something for everyone in the list.  Some are free, some are paid.  Some focus on a specific subject, others combine subjects.  Some are straight forward practice pages, some are game and adventure based.  Check out each one to see what will work best for you.

Did I leave out a website you think should have made the list?  Share it in the comments below!

Karissa


Free Resources:

The Quantile Framework - Math, Reading

          The Summer Math Challenge - The Quantile Summer Math Challenge is a free math skills maintenance program targeted to students who have just completed grade 1 through 7 and is designed to help children retain math skills learned during the previous school year.

          Find a Book - The Lexile “Find a Book” tool is a fun and easy way to select books based on a child’s Lexile measure and interests. You can use this free search tool to build custom lists for readers of all ability levels and then locate your selections at the local public library. 

Khan Academy - Math, Science, Computer Programming, History, Art History, Economics, and more

          Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. Our math missions guide learners from kindergarten to calculus using state-of-the-art, adaptive technology that identifies strengths and learning gaps. We've also partnered with institutions like NASA, The Museum of Modern Art, The California Academy of Sciences, and MIT to offer specialized content.

Ten Marks - Math

          Assignments contain a wide variety of question types across all depths of knowledge to ensure your students understand the core concepts in a variety of ways. Immediate feedback promotes learning and retention. Hints and video lessons are embedded in every question. Scaffolded hints help students remember core concepts. Video lessons refresh foundational skills. 

Book Adventure - Reading

           Book Adventure is a fun, free way to motivate your child to read! Kids in grades K-8 can search for books, read them offline, come back to quiz on what they’ve read, and earn prizes for their reading success.

Brain Flex - Math, Science

           Get active and happy this summer. Build your math and science skills with daily practice.  Pick the subjects you want to practice.  Practice something every day.  Anytime and anywhere.  We will help you stay on track and monitor your progress.  Invite students to get a head start or review concepts they missed.  Track your student's progress over the 8-week challenge.


Paid Resources:

Brain Chase -  multi-subject - $79/6 week adventure

          The Summer 2016 adventure starts at 9 a.m. EST on Monday, June 20, 2016. Students in grades 2 through 8 will log in to the Student Dashboard watch the first animated webisode and meet Mae Merriweather as she and her team of adventurers search for the Mask of Tomoe Gozen. Also, check the mail for a mysterious object that you’ll need during the 6-week adventure.  Each week you have four tasks: earn 10,000 energy points on Khan Academy, write a journal entry, do one bonus challenge, and complete either reading or language assignments. We provide seamless access to all of our online curriculum partners for you, and all tasks are adaptable to the student's level.  This isn’t just fiction—there’s a real treasure buried somewhere on Earth. The first adventurer to decipher the clues and discover the treasure's location will receive a trip to dig it up and a $10,000 scholarship.

LeapAhead! -  Math - $24.95/8 week session

          LeapAhead! offers 4 assignments a week for a total of 8 weeks. Its daily assignments motivate children to log in everyday to find what challenges await them. Children love the interactive nature of online worksheets, and they can find out their mistakes and scores right away!  All worksheets are fully aligned with the Common Core State Standards.  Assignments will be automatically graded upon submission. An online report keeps track of each child's scores and progress. Every child will receive an online printable certificate upon completion of the program.

 Summer Splash - Math - $29.99/8 week program

          Halt the summer slide (students lose 2-3 months of math skills during the summer break if they do not practice regularly).  Review Skills from the current grade and practice key skills from the grade student is entering this fall.  Program is available for students from Kindergarten through Grade 5.  Diagnostics and practice assignments aligned to Common Core Standards.  Individualized report which summarizes the child’s progress and aptitude on both previous and next year’s math skills.  A Certificate of completion at the end of the program.

K5 Learning - Math, Reading - $14.95/month

           K5 Learning is an online after-school study program for kids in kindergarten to grade 5.  We build reading, math and study skills.  K5 kids learn to focus and work independently.  K5 allows kids to progress, unrestrained and un-pressured.  K5 organizes, instructs, and quizzes your child and provides reports to you.  We use simple interfaces, spoken instructions and bite sized lessons.  No ads, no chat, & no external links.  100% online. No downloads and nothing to install.

IXL - Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies - $9.95/month

          Embark on a virtual treasure hunt as you tackle math challenges and reveal colorful prizes. The more you practice, the more you win!  With IXL, it's easy to meet your learning objectives! All of IXL's skills are fully aligned to Florida standards. Get unprecedented insight into student performance with IXL Analytics. View real-time data on usage, trouble spots, and more! 

Writing For Storytellers

As you may recall, I like to have my kids do some sort of school work over the summer.  My kids don't like it as much as I do, but I do try to make it more fun than regular school-year type work.  I try to use the kids' interests to build fun and interactive elective-type classes for summer time.  One year, we spent the summer learning the science behind cooking.  There were some lessons to read, some worksheets to complete, and a lot of cooking & eating.

Lately, my 12 year old has been very busy writing.  She has taken a real interest in storytelling.  She has several works in progress, from short stories to screenplays to full-on novels.  So this summer I thought it would be both fun and beneficial to give her a class on how to write a novel.

Of course, I'm NOT a novelist!  I am, however, pretty good at scouring the internet for information.  I spent a few weeks doing research and gathering resources from people who ARE novelists, and came up with a 7 unit course to take her all the way through the writing process.  I'm still debating whether or not to add a unit to the end about the editing process.  I kind of feel like that could be a whole course of its own.  

The included units are:

• Before You Write
• Story Formats
• Theme
• Character Development
• Set Building
• Subplots
• As You Write

To make all this information easier to access and organize, I compiled all the articles and worksheets into one website.  If you have a budding author in your house, are one yourself, or are just looking for quasi-educational summer activities for your tween or teen, please take a look at Writing for Storytellers.  As always, the resources and worksheets are free for personal use.  If you wish to share them, please link directly to either that website or this post.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Beach Fun (and education)

For many people the summer is quickly coming to an end.  Families are heading to the beach to soak up the last of the summer sun.  Two favorite activities at the beach are building sandcastles and looking for seashells.  This week's mid-week morsel highlights two resources for taking sandcastle building and shelling to a whole new level.  First, Delray Beach, Florida has a very informative section on their website which explains all about sandcastles and the physics behind them.  And then, Seashells.org has an extensive seashell & sea creature identification guide.  Be sure to bring some of the shells you find home with you; this Saturday's post shows you how to preserve your favorite beach memories.

Karissa

Summer Science Fun

Summer is a great time to help children discover their inner scientist.  There are so many things just waiting to be explored.  Things that grow, things that crawl or fly, and things that react.  Science is all around us.  Science is cooking, gardening, weather, and so much more.  You don't need to be a rocket scientist to teach science to your children.  All you really need to do to make everyday activities a science lesson is encourage your children to really observe what is happening, then explain the why and the how of it.  Of course, if you're a supermom you can do a little research on the topic and find an actual lesson plan or some worksheets, but that isn't required in order for children to learn.  All that is needed is some information they didn't know before, and some fun.  For example, our first science project we are doing this summer is making rock candy.  We browsed a couple of websites that taught us how crystals form.  Then we found a recipe and instructions for making rock candy.  We've been observing them for several days, enjoying seeing how much they have grown from day to day.  Learning never tasted so good!  I've been searching the internet for other ideas for science projects we can do over the summer, and decided to share some of my findings with you.

Have a kid or two who absolutely love dinosaurs?  Just think how much fun they will have making their own fossils!  Rock Hound Blog has a great idea for making your own amber fossil.  Dr. Cavanaugh's website lists instructions for making mold fossils, cast fossils, trace fossils, and whole animal fossils.  

Perhaps your children are backyard explorers.  When my boys were little, they could always be found digging in the backyard. They loved bugs and worms.  Home Science Tools sells everything a backyard explorer could need or want.  They also give instructions for making an insect collection, building a wormery, and making your own compass.

My daughter on the other hand, loves to be in the kitchen.  She really wants to learn about the science of cooking this summer.  Education.com shares ideas for baking a chemistry cake, making glue out of milk (which I didn't even know was possible), and a tasty idea for using cookies and frosting to explore how to mix colors.

No matter where you live, you have weather.  It is everywhere.  Children are either fascinated by it or scared of it. Weather Wiz Kids has explanations and experiments that are sure to appeal to both.  I particularly want to try to make a cloud, make a rainbow, and make lightning.  They even have an experiment that explains why the sky is blue!

The world around us is an amazing place, and we can learn so much by simply slowing down and exploring it.  What science explorations are you doing this summer?  Let me know in the comments below.

Karissa

10 Summer Reading Strategies

How important is summer reading to your child's education?  Very.  According to literacy expert Julie M. Wood, Ed.D., "The few months of loss in reading skills compounds over the years; by the time children reach middle school, those who haven't read during the summers may have lost as much as two years worth of achievement."  Those words become even more important when you consider this statement by The Children's Reading Foundation, "Up through third grade, children learn to read. After third grade, they read to learn. If they read poorly, they learn slowly. Academic failure by a student in high school (including dropping out) is almost always preceded by academic failure in middle school or junior high. In turn, academic failure in the mid-levels is generally preceded by failing to learn to read at or near grade level by third grade."  In short, allowing your child to slide back a little on reading each year can contribute to his or her struggling in all of his or her classes in high school. That's a pretty heavy statement.  Don't let the weight of the matter overwhelm you, though.  I have put together a list of ideas to help your child not only maintain the reading level (s)he ended this school year with, but maybe even gain a little.

The first step is to know what level your child is currently reading at.  It is important to choose books that are on level or just a hair above so that your child is continually being challenged to improve.  Think of Goldie Locks & the Three Bears. Books that are too easy will not teach your child any new words, or help him or her understand more complex sentence and story structure.  Books that are too hard will only confuse and discourage your child from reading.  Books that are just right will hold your child's attention while slightly challenging his or her abilities.  If your school has not informed you of your child's reading level, A to Z Homes Cool and The Homeschool Hearth both list free reading level placement tests you can administer at home.  

Great, now you know your child's reading level.  But how do you know which books are at that same level?  It's not as hard as you might think.  There are two common reading level scales, Accelerated Reader and Lexile.  However, reading levels can also be expressed on a letter scale.  Benchmark Education makes it easy to switch back and forth between scales with their conversion table.    Okay, on to actually finding the books.  If you have an iPhone, iPod, or iPad, Level It Books is an app which can scan the ISBN of a book and tell you it's reading level.  If you don't physically have the book, you can type or speak the title, author, or ISBN to do a manual search for the reading level.  Unfortunately, I haven't found a comparable app for android, so...for the rest of us, Barnes & Noble, AR Book Finder, and Scholastic all have databases that are searchable by book level.  Finally, if all else fails, simply ask your local children's librarian.  Ours has been very helpful in finding books that are not only on level, but also very interesting.

Last, but not least is the list that was the actual inspiration for this post...10 ways to make summer reading something your child actually looks forward to doing.

1.  Create a rewards system.  You say bribery, I say rewards; it's all the same.  And children love it!  If reading isn't at the top of your child's to-do list this summer, use the things that are as rewards for completing his or her summer reading.  Perhaps your child is a video game junkie like mine are, simply establish a "time spent" scale.  For example, 1 hour of time spent reading earns 20 minutes of time spent playing video games.
2.  Take turns reading outloud.  Reading outloud isn't just for beginning readers.  Even older children enjoy lying back and listening to a good story.  In turn, having your children read to you builds their reading and public speaking skills, and gives you an opportunity to evaluate their progress and comprehension.
3.  Use series books to encourage reading the next book.  Do you have a child who can never seem to pick out a book because they all might be boring?  Series books are a great way to keep the momentum going.  Find series your child is interested in to keep him or her reading all through the summer.  My sons have used this tactic for years.  It started with Captain Underpants in elementary school. Percy Jackson, and Harry Potter carried them through middle school. It then matured into the Drizzt Do'Urden series in high school.  KidsBookSeries.com is a great place to find series for your child's reading level.
4.  Read comic books or graphic novels.  Reluctant readers may enjoy reading comic books or graphic novels.  They are also great for kids who are typically visual learners.  My daughter is currently reading a series of graphic novels about Norse myths.  Talk about killing two birds with one stone!
5.  Read about their interests. Let's face it, novels aren't for everyone.  If this is true for your child, find books about subjects your child is interested in.  Perhaps your child is a history buff, or is really into a particular sport.  Maybe your child has been swept up by the Monster High cartoon craze.  Help your child find both fiction and non-fiction books related to his or her interests.  Did you know that there are currently 6 Monster High novels, and another one coming out this fall? My daughter has read them all because she is just crazy about the cartoon.
6.  Enlist help.  There are so many new books coming out all the time that it can be hard to keep up with what is out there.  Talk to your local children's librarian.  Children's librarians specialize in knowing what new books are out, who they're appropriate for, and if they are any good.  As I said before, ours has been a tremendous help.  We are on a first name basis, and have even exchanged email addresses to keep in touch.  If you don't have access to a good library, use the internet.  Many great librarians publish lists and recommendations to their library's website, or even have a blog.
7.  Set goals.  This is similar to the use rewards idea, or more accurately, is to be used in conjunction with the use rewards idea.  If your child isn't one who will sit down and read on his or her own, set goals regarding how long (s)he reads. This can be for each day, week, month, or even the whole summer.  Goals can made for how much time is spent reading, how many pages are read, or even how many books are read.  Rewards can be set for attaining various levels of the goal.  For example, meeting the weekly goal can earn renting a movie for movie night, and meeting the monthly goal can earn going to the movies for movie night.
8.  Bring the books to life.  Books are so much more enjoyable and memorable when they become real.  There are so many ways to get creative with book projects that I could write an entire post about it.  I'll save that for another day. For now I'll just say, get creative; think outside the book report.  Have your child write a song or poem, or write an alternate ending for the story.  Create a poster, illustrate his or her favorite part of the story.  Make a lapbook.  One of my daughter's favorite projects for her Literature Studies class was the one she made when they read Beauty and the Beast (not the Disney version).  Her project was to pretend she was a realtor hired to find Beauty and Beast's dream home.  She researched actual home listings and created a PowerPoint for her class featuring pictures of the home and why it was the perfect house for them.  My point is, there are endless possibilities when it comes to projects.
9.  Participate in your local library's summer reading program. Most libraries have summer reading programs that combine crafts, entertainment, and prizes to encourage children to have fun reading.  Sometimes the best encouragement comes from someone other than Mom or Dad.  If your child resists reading because (s)he feels it is something you are making him or her do, maybe seeing other kids having fun reading or being encouraged to read by the librarian will be just the encouragement (s)he needs.  Even if your child is a willing reader, participating in a summer reading program is a great way to share his or her love of reading with others.
10.  Join (or create) a book club.  If your child is a social child, joining a book club is a great way to get your child more interested in reading while making new friends.  Book clubs can be as small or large as you want them to be, and can read books specific to the interests and skill level of the children participating.  Check with your local school, library, or book store to find out about book clubs that already exist in your area.  If you can't find a book club that suites your child's needs, consider creating your own.  Our local library has a book club for adults.  It also already has great programs for teens, and pre-schoolers, but nothing for anyone in between.  My daughter approached our librarian about creating a book club for tweens.  The librarian thought it was a great idea.  They are currently brainstorming ideas, and hope to have it up and running when school starts this fall.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Preventing Summer Learning Loss

My last post talked about what we are doing in our house to prevent summer learning loss.  What are you doing in your house?  Don't have a plan, yet?  That's okay, this article by Barbara Turvett for Working Mother magazine details 8 ways you can help prevent summer learning loss in your home.  Making your own plan is easy, just take a few minutes to think about what subjects your child(ren) need to maintain most, and what your child(ren) like to do for fun.  Combine the two, and there you have it.  If you do have your summer learning plan in place, please share it with the rest of us in the comments.

Karissa

Mom's Summer School

There is one more week of school left at our house.  The kids were so excited for summer break to be here...and then they asked, "We're not going to do summer school this year, are we?"  Oh, yes we are.  Don't misunderstand, though, I'm not a drill sergeant.  I usually try to have a lot of fun and mix a little education into it.  I generally have some sort of math and language arts lessons each week, then fill in the rest of the week with topics they are interested in, or are not taught in school.  For example, in previous years some of the "other" subjects we've studied include art history (which included reading passages about various movements in art, viewing examples of each movement, then creating our own art in that style), cooking (which included lessons on the science of cooking, then creating dishes based on that science), and finance (which included lessons on checking & savings accounts, interest, and the stock market).  

The finance course was one of my favorites.  I printed out dummy checks for the kids and gave them each a blank check register.  They worked for me, doing chores and what not. They could either earn bonuses or get docked based on their behavior.  At the end of each week they received a "paycheck" and paystub printed out by me.  I was also the bank.  They had to either deposit their checks using a properly completed deposit slip, or cash their checks  (I gave them play money.)  They also had bills to pay. I based the cost of their rent, utilities, and car payment off of a percentage of their pay.  They had to pay their bills by check.  Also, they had to "buy groceries".  To determine this cost I had the kids make out a grocery list of what they thought they needed each week to plan out healthy meals.  Then we went to the store and wrote down the cost of what they wanted to buy.  They had the opportunity to revise their list before we finalized their cost.  This was their grocery bill each week.  Oh, and they could spend their extra money on things like buying extra dessert, buying video game time, or hiring a sibling to do the chores. Finally, at the end of each month "the bank" (that's me) gave them a statement for their account and they had to balance their checkbooks.  It was a LOT of prep work on my part, but it was so much fun and they learned skills that they will never be taught in school. Perhaps I'll create a course to post online for everyone else.  We'll see...

Anyway, back to what we are going to do THIS summer.  There is such an age difference between my children that I have two separate schedules.  (If you've never checked out the About Me page, I have two 15 year old boys and a 9 year old daughter.)  

For my daughter:  she needs to improve the speed of her math facts, so I downloaded and installed a free version of Timez Attack from Big Brainz.  She will play for 30 minutes per day, 4 days each week.  This will be her math class for the summer. (See, I told you I try to make it more fun than work.)  There are four areas of language arts she will be working on this summer; inferring, comprehension, handwriting, and writing 5 paragraph essays.  She will have a lesson on one of these each Monday, meaning she will study each area once a month.  I don't have lesson plans for these yet.  I'm still working on that. One day each week will be spent doing some sort of craft-ish activity.  She loves cooking, sewing, and paper crafts, so I thought we would combine home-ec & science and get crafty.  I'll post about some of those as we do them.

For my boys:  they are taking Algebra II this fall.  After taking Geometry between Algebra I & II, I think they could use a refresher course.  I've purchased Algebra and Algebra Practice Book from CurrClick.  We will pick and choose the specific chapters that they need the most help with.  Since this is our first year in Florida, my husband suggested that they take a boating safety course and get certified to operate a boat.  We found a free boating safety course that they will complete one lesson in each week.  Finally, the boys are getting old enough to go get jobs...the tax paying kind, not the work around the neighborhood kind.  I did some searching and found some lessons on Money Instructor that I though would give them a head start on being successful in the workplace.  They include topics like filling out an application, how to give a good interview, filling out a W-4, giving & receiving criticism, and dealing with difficult people.  Note that some of Money Instructor's lessons are free, and others are only available to subscribers.  

For all the kids:  our local library is planning an extensive summer reading program this year.  They are having separate events for younger children and for teens.  Both programs take place on Wednesdays, so we are setting aside Wednesday as reading day.  We will not study other subjects or do other classes that day.  It will be a day for reading and doing activities at the library.  Finally, summer is about getting to play and do some things you don't get to do during the school year. With that in mind, we are setting aside Friday to hold a Video Game Summer Olympics.  We scoured our library's video game collection and came up with a list of competitive games that we've never played.  We will check out two different games each week and hold competitions.  Scores will be tallied, and carried over from week to week, until we have an overall champion at the end of the summer.  Most of these games are for the Wii and are active participation type games, so I don't have to worry about them just sitting on the couch like slugs.

Finally,  I stated Tuesday that I would announce the winner of the $10 CurrClick gift certificate giveaway.  Unfortunately, there were no entries, so there is no winner.  If you tried to enter, but were not able to, please contact me right away.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: My Very First Giveaway!

*Note: This giveaway has ended.*

I'm so excited to hold my very first giveaway that I just couldn't wait to get this post out!  I've been wanting to have one for a while, and finally decided to go for it. I'm using Rafflecopter to manage the giveaway for me.  It is a free service that will accept all of the entries, then randomly and impartially chooses a winner once the giveaway has ended.  Here are the details:

• The prize is one $10 gift certificate to CurrClick.
• The giveaway runs from May 21 at 12:00 a.m. until May 25 at 12:00 a.m.
• Each person can earn 8 entries by completing promotional tasks.
• I will announce the winner in my May 25th blog post.  I will also contact the winner directly.
• The $10 gift certificate will be transferred to the winner's CurrClick account once (s)he has provided my with his/her name and email address used on his/her CurrClick account.
• No purchase is necessary to enter or win.
• A free CurrClick account is required in order to receive the electronic gift certificate.

If you are not familiar with CurrClick, it is an online marketplace for curriculum, worksheets & teaching aids, lapbook & notebooking templates, live online classes, free clubs, and more.  Products are great for all types of students from pre-k through high school, and include every school subject in addition to a large selection of faith-based subjects. There are over 52,000 products to choose from, including over 37,000 products available for $10 or less and nearly 800 free items.  Take a minute to browse their products and see what you might want to spend the $10 on.  $10 worth of curriculum and teaching aids is a great way to gear up for summer learning.  Please note that I do list my teaching aids on Currclick for sale under the name The Bright Ideas Company, and that I am an affiliate of the website.  As such, I receive a small percentage of sales generated by my promoting the website.

As I said, this is my first giveaway.  I think I've covered all the details, but if I've left anything out or you have any questions, please just leave a comment.  

Karissa

a Rafflecopter giveaway