SUMMER LEARNING IS VITAL

Whew! We have completed a school year with all its ups and downs. Teaching and learning are both challenging and require our best effort everyday! Now we (teachers, students and parents) are ready for a break.Yes, it is vital for all of us to get away and do something completely different for a bit - it is good for our brain, emotions, and our body.

But, alas, we should only take a short break from all things academic. We know that when we allow too much time to go by, we begin to forget or at the very least, get rather rusty at what we once did well. Same for your child's academics. In order to not have to deal with intensive review in August, your child really must maintain skills this summer. 

Your child's teacher is the best person to ask for ideas of what should be reviewed or retaught in these two short summer months. Besides purchasing a workbook to practice reading, writing, grammar or math, there are some good (and beware - not so good) online tools. Free are best, but free can also just be a waste due to all fun and no real challenge in learning, repetition and true instruction in weak skills.  

To provide free reading practice that also has comprehension questions and writing, check out www.readworks.org    ReadWorks is free and a parent can register themselves and their child, if you want him/her to work online. Online is easier to grade, in my opinion, but you can also print out the passages and grade that way.  Specific reading skills are targeted as well as all reading levels and interests. It is important to provide practice, improve fluency, and remediate skills.  

Another valuable site, which I believe is still free to parents/kids, is www.mobymax.com
I love this one as it targets ALL sorts of academic areas from K-12. It has phonics, reading, vocabulary, grammar, math, science, social studies, test prep and so much more. Again, a parent may register themselves and then their child. When there is an assessment, please just get your child started, but then STEP AWAY FROM THE CHILD and allow them to finish complete with their own errors.  This allows the program to adjust and begin at the child's  level of need - which you want.  If you provide 'help' it can adjust to levels too high and not be beneficial at all. Just choose the icons of greatest need in which to work...do not have your child do them all. That would be too overwhelming. 

Finally, if you have not checked out these two helpful resources, you MUST! First, I love this parent friendly site as it covers so many learning needs with resources and parent advice. It is www.understood.org  Even as a teacher, I love its informative articles and tips! Then, if you have any concerns about your child's language impairment or dyslexia, you must visit www.dys-add.com/   which has important information about what dyslexia is, how to  identify it and steps to take. I love that it will read anything printed on that site to you as well as all the helpful videos available. 

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE is the best way to keep those skills sharp.  You can do that is so many FUN ways.  Have fun, learn, keep skills sharp and begin well in that next grade in August!

Have a blessed summer, 
Mrs. Stewart, FMCS LRP