Prevent Summer Slide!

Summer Slide is Real and Devastating!

Which yearly event :

• Impacts younger students and those at risk of falling behind their peers the most?
• May cause students to lose up to 20% of their reading skills and 30% of math skills?
• Is cumulative over the years?
• Is preventable if kids keep learning all summer?

Will summer ‘break’ your students’ academic momentum?

Not if you take action now.  Summer is great for a relaxing change of pace. However, it is important for families to include academic activities, too. This summer, let the only slide be on the playground. Let families know how to bring scholarly subjects into daily living.

• Shopping, measuring, and timing bring math into meal prep and cooking.
• Collecting (leaves, shells, rocks…), observing, and questioning easily slip math into neighborhood nature walks, a day at the beach or Sunday afternoons.
• Car rides are great for mental math (how many wheels on three cars? on four cars?), singing, or playing games like Say Ten to Win or Don’t Say It!
• Play games to build up students’ working memory.
• Make time for drawing, painting, and other art projects.
• After the matinee, or movie night, have students recall the events of the story in order. Sequencing, organizing information according what happened first, second, and so on, is an easy way to sharpen academic skills at home.
• Gardening is useful and educational. Get kids involved with a family garden or plant some seeds in a pot and see what happens.

Information to Share with Families

• This article from Outschool tells parents what they need to know ~ includes free and paid ideas.
• This article about preventing summer slide is also available in Spanish.
• Here are some imaginative ideas from Scholastic.
• Free Summer Reading program from Scholastic.
• 10 ways to prevent Summer Slide from metro family.

Ideas and Resources to Share with Families

• Check your local library for great summer programs.
• OR check out books online.
• Toy Theater has engaging games for all subjects.
• Your students don’t have to be in the UK to benefit from these ideas.
• OR these from NRICH. maths.org.

Lists of Math Resources

• Money IS Math: links to engaging resources for teaching kids about money
• Some of these math resources for teachers could be shared with the folks at home.
• Origami IS Math: links to information and resources.
• Music IS Math: Waltz the whole summer!

DIY Summer Learning Experience for your Students

Why not send home a letter notifying parents about Summer Slide and provide the solution at the same time?

1. Gather up all the left over math worksheets from the past year. If you’re like me, you always make a few extras just in case. It is time to recycle them.
2. Count the number of weeks in your school district’s calendar.
3. Create packets for your students that include 2 worksheets per week or an amount that seems doable. Kids don’t need to get the same pages ~ just the same number of pages.
4. Staple, clip, or folder them together with each student’s name in front.
5. Explain that students can return a completed packet at the beginning of next year for a small prize.
6. Get your prizes right now while they’re cheap ~ temporary tattoos ~ summer stickers ~ glow bracelets!
7. Rather than score the entire packet, I suggest that you spot check one problem on each page and ~ as long as a sincere effort was made to complete the summer work ~ give the kid a prize!

The most success I’ve seen in terms of combatting summer slide was as a Chapter 1 interventionist. One year we assembled summer tote bags for elementary students. Each bag included a letter to parents/caretakers, a book, information about the local library program, pencils, erasers, and crayons, a deck of cards with instructions for some age appropriate games and a stuffed toy ‘study buddy’ for the kids to read to and play cards with over the summer. Obviously, we had funding from the PTA and some individual donors. The next fall, more of those students tested out of the program than we expected.

All the best!