Parents, the summer slide is not a fun playground activity! It is the very common summertime loss of several months' worth of academic progress. Please make sure your child is not a victim of this slide and can keep making progress even over the summer months. You can find my summer iPad tips and activities here as well as links to Cannon and GCISD reading activities and fun challenges.
Have your child use Istation reading and RAZ-Kids on their iPads this summer. Istation will present lessons and practice older skills. Their login is usually first name last initial (iPads are set to remember this) and their password is their first name. RAZ-Kids passwords are also their first names. In RAZ-Kids students can listen to and read books on their level and then take a short comprehension quiz. They can also make a recording for me and I will give them feedback (even in the summer!)
If your child ended the year reading at a level 18 or above, they are prepared now for 2nd grade. To be sure they stay prepared, they need to read daily all summer for at least 15-20 minutes. You can go to the public library and use books in RAZ-Kids on their iPads. Students at these levels need to work on their fluency and deeper comprehension. Talk about what they are reading. Can they tell you the main events of a story? Can they explain what a character feels or why they do something? Can they make inferences about things the author doesn't state directly? Have them read aloud to you. They should be reading smoothly so the words are grouped into phrases (not word-by-word) and using expression so it sounds more like talking. Working on Istation 1 -2 times a week will give them some lessons in new concepts and a variety of kinds of reading.
If your child ended the year reading below a level 18, they need to continue reading and make progress over the summer. They need to read daily all summer for at least 15-20 minutes. They need to continue to work on Istation at least 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes! (This is the expectation during school in class.) You can also go to the public library and use books in RAZ-Kids on their iPads. Students at these levels need to build their automatic knowledge of sight words. They can use flash cards with you or one of our sight word apps. They also need to improve their fluency (reading smoothly and in phrases instead of word-by-word). Rereading books more than once helps practice their fluency. They can also get on RAZ-Kids and read aloud while they listen to a book. Talk about what they are reading. Can they tell the main events of a story in order? Can they tell how a character feels and why? Can they predict what might happen next?
In addition to reading, students need to keep up their writing and math skills. There are some good math ideas on my iPad list. Leave notes for each other on the fridge. Starting a 2-way journal between parent and child is another way to make writing meaningful for young children. Write to your child and have them write back to you.
Play games with your family that involve words or numbers. Dominoes builds counting by 5 and addition skills. Hangman, Scrabble, and many other games are built on spelling concepts.
Go places and try something new! Museums, parks, fishing, sports, anything that broadens their experiences and builds their background knowledge and vocabulary. You don't have to spend money! Go on a nature walk and talk about what you see. Start a collection of something that interests your child. Walk around a park and look for all the words on signs that they know. Make up math stories about things they like to do. Staple some pages together and let them write and draw about things they do. If they are begging for a new toy, have them submit a request in writing giving you 3 good reasons. Read in new or weird places. Build something together. Cook something together and talk about all the math involved. People watch at the mall and read the mall map together. Take something apart and see how it goes together. Pick something you are both interested in and learn more about it.
Go places and try something new! Museums, parks, fishing, sports, anything that broadens their experiences and builds their background knowledge and vocabulary. You don't have to spend money! Go on a nature walk and talk about what you see. Start a collection of something that interests your child. Walk around a park and look for all the words on signs that they know. Make up math stories about things they like to do. Staple some pages together and let them write and draw about things they do. If they are begging for a new toy, have them submit a request in writing giving you 3 good reasons. Read in new or weird places. Build something together. Cook something together and talk about all the math involved. People watch at the mall and read the mall map together. Take something apart and see how it goes together. Pick something you are both interested in and learn more about it.
If you have any trouble logging in or using iPad apps for learning this summer, you can reach me through Class Dojo or at my email and I will try to troubleshoot! I hope you have a wonderful summer of fun and learning and that all our kids are ready for a new year in August!
