Most of us have heard of the “summer slide” that occurs when students are out of school for 2 plus months. Here are some tips for making the most out of your summer and keeping your child’s brain engaged!

Read, read, read and read some more this summer! Take weekly trips to the library and help your child select high-quality books in a variety of genres (realistic fiction, fantasy, informational, historical fiction, mysteries, biographies, poetry, traditional literature, etc.). Keep building those comprehension skills. Your child is bringing home his/her Reading Notebook which contains all of the strategies and skills we learned about this year. It is a wealth of knowledge and perfect for a summer review. Have your child create a “Reading Strategies Journal” to record their thoughts as they read. This is something we do in class, so your child should be familiar with the idea. During or after reading, tell your child to record his/her visualizations, connections, questions and predictions. This will keep your child engaged as he/she reads and will boost comprehension.  Summarizing and retelling are great comprehension builders, as well. Also, remember to have your child read aloud to build fluency.

3rd-5th grade students also get to participate in the Sunshine State program! Summer is a great time to get a head start on reading these award-winning books. Students who read and pass AR quizzes on all 15 books get to vote for their favorite and attend a special party at the end of the year. Here is a list of next year’s 15 books (it is from a different library system, but the books are the same).  http://www.myclearwater.com/cpl/kids/books/sunshinestate/sun_state_15-16.asp

Here’s a copy of the interactive reading log I handed out during parent conferences: IndependentReadingLogs

And here are some question/answer stems to use as you read with your child. I love the format of these because they have the students answer in complete sentences by “flipping the question” to begin their answer. The students have heard me say “flip the question” a million times this year so this will keep that habit fresh! You can also have your child answer these questions in writing to keep their writing skills up, particularly those pesky conventions (capitalization, punctuation and spelling). Just print the cards and cut them apart. Your child will read the question and then literally flip (turn) the card to answer it. FlipItRLAskandAnswerQuestionsFreebie

We have been reading the book series The Sisters 8 by Lauren Baratz-Logsted. We have already read the first 2 books in the series, as well as about half of the third book, and many of the students have expressed interest in finishing the series over the summer. These books might be a bit challenging for your child to read independently (most of them are written on a 4th grade level), but they would be great to read WITH your child. Here are the books in the series: Book 1: Annie’s Adventures; Book 2: Durinda’s Dangers; Book 3:Georgia’s Greatness; Book 4: Jackie’s Jokes; Book 5: Marcia’s Madness; Book 6: Petal’s Problems; Book 7: Rebecca’s Rashness; Book 8: Zinnia’s Zaniness; Book 9: The Final Battle…For Now. The publisher’s website has tons of fun resources and activities to enrich your reading. I definitely recommend checking it out! http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/sisters8/

Keep building vocabulary by creating your own “Juicy Word of the Week” program at home! You can find “juicy words” anywhere- television, movies, radio, newspapers, magazines, children’s books, advertisements, signs, etc. Pick one word a week to focus on. Complete one of these word maps about the word to help you really analyze its meaning: Juicy Word of the Week Word Map PDF. Then keep track of how many times you hear it, say it, or use it using this chart: Juicy Word of the Week Tracking PDF.

There are TONS of math websites and apps to help your child review 2nd grade skills and even get a jump start on third grade skills. IXL is a terrific website with games broken down by grade level, subject area and specific skill. I highly recommend checking it out: http://www.ixl.com/