Children will lose some academic knowledge over the summer months unless you provide them with learning opportunities.
- Research spanning 100 years has shown that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of the summer than they do on the same tests at the end of the school year/beginning of summer. All young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer.
- Most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months.
Check out Reading Rockets for Adventures in Summer Learning at http://www.readingrockets.org/shows/launching/summer_reading/ This is a great place for parents to learn how to create a literacy rich summer.
Scholastic offers great resources for parents who want to keep their children engaged in reading this summer. They have launched their Scholastic Summer Challenge which is “Read for the World Record”. You can sign your child up as well as great reading book lists at: http://www.scholastic.com/ups/campaigns/src-2013/parent
Great Schools offers “10 Ways to Build Math Skills this Summer” at http://www.greatschools.org/students/homework-help/103-build-math-skills.gs. They suggest ideas such as creating secret codes and cooking with math.
Education World is also full of great activities and includes links to other math websites and online activities. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/mathchat/mathchat006.shtml. Their recommendations include using sports activities to teach math skills as well as taking a “math hike” to look for math in nature.
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