Beat the Summer Slide!

It's that time of year again. Finishing up end of year testing, celebrating the 10 months of learning that has taken place. 

And then you remember. Those 10 months of hard work, the huge growth you see as you test, will all start to slide away over the summer. Its so frustrating sometimes. And then it's hard to know what to do.

I've tried it all. 

The packets of work/activities that I am pretty sure the majority of them never get opened or touched. 

Reading challenges with all kinds of prizes. Only three kids return those.

Doing nothing at all. But some how that doesn't seem like the right thing either.

The last couple of years my team has gathered our first grade parents to give them some tips and ideas to help make summer practice fun. 

This year we did a mid year parent night as well. We focused on GAMES parents couple play to help reinforce skills while the kids just stay focused on the fun! We always gives tips about some great stuff to buy at the dollar tree to help support the learning. We pull the laminator into the library and then make some file folder games with the parents to take home.
We always talk about doing more parent nights, but the year always runs away form us. It is such a good way to connect with parents.

This year I am not sending home a huge packet. I'm going to send home a couple of things. Less copies, but ideas that will benefit my kids more.

Copies of Game Instructions:

Lots of fun activities using games they already have or cheap materials from the dollar tree. These first couple games were ones that we downloaded from Kelly's Kindergarten.

Jodi Southard's Summer Activities Calendar

What a great freebie!! Check it out here. I think it is great for those parents who want a little more focused practice!

Reading Information

I just hope my kids read lots over the summer. I am going to send home the kids current reading level with a list of books/series that might be of interest (our school is working on some lists, but you can find some online too! I am definitely sending home some decoding bookmarks and info for the parents too!  Grab that here!

Technology Tips

We always remind our parents to use RAZ kids over the summer. I will make a list of some of my favorite apps...

(find a full list here!) and send home this great website list from A Year of Many Firsts!

Journals

I plan on sending home either a writing journal we have already started or a new one to encourage writing over the summer. Even writing a couple sentences about what they did that day is better than no writing at all. Or they could use it to write letters back and forth with their parents.

Well, that is what I am trying this year! Hopefully with giving parents the right tools, we can work on beating the summer slide! What are you going to do this summer to beat the slide?