What is Summer Slide?
PARENTS! This is for you! Give your child a head start and a review of last year’s content. Teachers, you can use this, too, to support parents for those long summer months! According to Super Teacher Worksheets, “Every summer, something invisible happens to your child’s learning. It’s called “summer slide” – and it means that during those sunny months away from school, kids can lose up to one full month of what they learned during the year.
That might not sound like much, but here’s what makes it serious: summer slide adds up. Year after year, small losses can stack on top of each other. By the time your child reaches middle school, the gap can be huge – and hard to close.
The sneaky part about summer slide? You probably won’t notice it right away. Your child might start the new school year just a little behind. Their teacher spends the first few weeks reteaching last year’s material. And the cycle continues.
Summer slide doesn’t happen because your child isn’t smart. It happens because the brain needs regular practice to hold on to what it’s learned – just like a muscle needs regular exercise to stay strong.Why You Can’t Afford to Wait
The achievement gap that shows up in high school often traces back to what happened – or didn’t happen – during elementary school summers.
Not the school year. The summers.
That means what your child does during summer break matters just as much as what happens in the classroom. And the time to act is now – during the elementary years, when your child’s brain is building the foundation for everything that comes next.
The good news? You don’t need to be a teacher. You don’t need hours of free time.”
At the very reasonable cost of $24.95 you get access to these resources! Before the back to school season starts, you can obtain these materials to help your child. You can get access to multiple subjects and multiple grade levels! That means you can purchase for children who are at different grade levels! Not only that, but you can give your child a head start in so many areas during the school year with many more resources on the website!
Happy 250th Anniversary America!
A few years ago I drew fireworks and sent fireworks cards at New Year’s instead of Christmas cards. You will need some chalk oil pastels and black cardstock. I followed a video such as this on and got rave comments from the recipients of the firework cards! The video I am sharing is one of the best after I watched several. I hope you enjoy making some fireworks cards as well with some children!
Get Ready for Father’s Day
A good father is hard to find and such a noble thing. If you are working with kids this summer, try this craft to celebrate fathers! I recommend it for older children because the origami is a bit challenging.
Also, check out the great selection of cards and Father’s Day ideas on Super Teacher Worksheets!
Peaceful Memorial Day!
Have a peaceful Memorial Day weekend! I’m sad to say that it was only this year that it occurred to me that it is insensitive to say “Happy” Memorial Day. That is inconsiderate of all who have lost someone who served. Instead I have honor and respect for anyone who has served or who has lost someone who has served. If you are not yet out for summer vacation, this is something you can try to communicate to your students while most of us are consumed with a BBQ grill and lemonade. I truly appreciate those who served!
Happy Mother’s Day
Read this book to celebrate Mother’s Day!
These make meaningful gifts for mothers on Mother’s Day! I have children wrap them and give them for surprises! Click the picture above to see how we accomplished this.
Pun Fun!
Consider this fun pun to go with May 4th. Ask students if they can think of a pun to go with another day of the year. Doing so can add some pun fun and critical thinking to your lessons!
How Can You Weave Creativity into Literacy
First have a mystery box with a glass object inside or maybe a shoe. Give students clues until they guess the fairy tale Cinderella. With a mystery box, I hide something inside and tell the students that they can ask 10 yes/no questions and after that they can guess the object. A yes or no question could be something like: Is it living, is it red, is it outside, etc.?
Next, show some clips of the Cinderella story. I like these.
After you discuss a clip or two of the Disney Cinderella cartoon movie, you can introduce the project of building a shoe to wear to a fancy ball. At my school, we have a “Daddy Daughter Dance” and a “Mother Son Dance”. When these occasions arise, it provides another connection. It is important that you emphasize that the shoe needs to be life size. Children need to be able to fit the shoe onto their foot.
You will end up with a variety of shoe designs. Children are able to design and finish in about two one hour sessions. I give them two colors of paper to start with and let them add different colors from my scrap box. Here are some simple examples that the children made.
Happy Easter!
If Easter egg hunts teacher you nothing else, let them teach you that children love anything hidden. As the end of the year approaches, if you can hide an item to make the lesson more interesting, do it! Children will beg for more…even if it isn’t in an egg!
Fun Low Prep Lesson for Spring!
Investigate sunrise and sunset times with a calendar. Have students look at the sunrise and sunset times to see what they notice. Does the sunrise at the same time every day? Is it earlier or later than the day before? How much time does it change by each day? You can ask the same questions about sunset and see what children discover. We are doing this since the children are being pretend meteorologists. Ask questions like, how do you think this will affect the temperatures in the spring or winter? Discuss seasons. If you go to this website, you can produce a calendar for different cities at different times of year.
