With summer approaching, you may want to share resources to help parents prevent summer slide. Maybe you have parents asking what they can do to help their child stay ahead of the game during their long break. Or, perhaps you are a parent searching for screen free summer activities. Either way, this is the post for you! Let's dive into these easy to implement academic ideas to prevent the summer slide.

What does your child need to work on?

Use our quick links to hop to the section you need.

Reading & Writing Help

My Child Needs Help with Sight Words

I want to Motivate my Child to Read More

We Need to Work on Spelling Words

Let's Work on Writing Sentences & Stories

Math Help

Let's Work on Addition & Subtraction Facts

Help My Child Tell Time

Work on Word Problems

Money & Coin Counting Ideas

Social Studies & Science Screen Free Fun

Science & Social Themes for the Summer

Easy & Affordable Field Trips

Reading Ideas

When you think of summer reading practice, undoubtedly having kids read a book is what pops into your mind. While it is vital to have your child(ren) continue reading over the summer, there are other ways to keep reading skills and excitement alive over the summer.

My Child Needs Help with Sight Words

Sight words are words that are occur frequently in books and passages your child may encounter. Some sight words do not follow conventional spelling or phonics rules and cannot be sounded out. Even though the drill & kill flashcards method was more than likely what your teachers used back in the day, research has shown this is not the best way. Here is a more hands on idea.

Hands on Heart Words

Sight words are also called heart words. Follow this step by step routine to make learning sight words a breeze for your child! (All you will need is a piece of paper to make your chart, a marker and something your child can move around for the letter sounds like game pieces or little toys.)

I want to Motivate my Child to Read More

Summer is a great time to log extra reading minutes, but what if your child is reluctant to read? Here are some top tips from our team!

• Let them choose a topic they love and get a load of books at the public library. For example, my reluctant reader loves bugs. We headed to the library and he poured over and chose about 10 picture books featuring his favorite creepy crawlies. He couldn't wait to dive into those books!
• Make reading a family affair. Each night, sit down together and read a book or a few. Have short discussions about each book to make reading a more meaningful experience.
• Use art as a motivator. When your child finishes a book, have them draw their favorite part, redraw the cover or imagine a new character. While they are enjoying their art, you can sit back and enjoy the comprehension and reading skills deepening.
• Try online books! Storyline Online and Vooks are great options.
• Read with a goal in mind. Even though we want students to eventually read for enjoyment, a few praises and rewards might not hurt along the way. Print off a reading log and talk about what sort of family experience to do when the log is full. (I love rewarding with experiences over things!) Last summer when my child filled his log by reading tons of bug books, we went on a bug hunt in the local park!

We Need to Work on Spelling Words

Believe it or not, spelling practice can be fun! If the little learner in your life has been struggling with spelling this school year, ask their teacher for a list of sounds that gave your child the most trouble. Once you know which sounds to work on, here is an easy spelling routine:

Day 1: Practice reading words with that sound.

Asking your child to sound out or break apart words with this sound will help cement that sound in their brain.

Day 2: Read the words again, then write them.

I like to keep the day 2 routine the same, this time with less guidance from you! Then, remove the word list from your child's view and have them practice writing/spelling the words.

Day 3: Hands on Spelling

To add variety to the spelling routine, take your kids outside to use sidewalk chalk or sticks to spell their words.

Day 4: Quiz time!

Give a little spelling quiz to see if they have mastered their phonics skill of the week, or if they need to work on the same sound the following week.

Let's Work on Writing Sentences & Stories

Perhaps at conferences this year, your child's teacher shared that there are some writing struggles. These issues could range from forgetting capital letters or sentence end marks all the way to not being able to write more than one sentence. Let's break this category into two sections.

Sentence Structure Hack

Forgetting to capitalize the first word of the sentence or forgetting to add an end mark at the end of a sentence are common struggles. Here is a hack that has proven successful a time or two! After your child writes a sentence (make it a simple prompt: “What did you eat for breakfast?” or “What did you do yesterday?”), have them circle the capital letter with green and the end mark with red. If there is nothing to circle, they need to edit that sentence.

When they are ready, have them practice editing someone else's sentences. Tell them they are now the teacher!

Improving Writing Quality & Length

If your child is struggling getting ideas onto paper, the most important thing you can do is have them write about what they love. When they are interested in it, they will write it! Other ideas: provide a writing prompt or have them write a letter to a loved one. You can also take them outside to write about what they see.

Other Hands On Ideas

Any kind of academic practice can be brought outside! Here are some favorite ideas:

• Try reading under a tree or in a special outdoor spot.
• Go on an alphabet scavenger hunt.
• Create a collage with found natural materials

Math Ideas

When you think math practice, a math workbook probably comes to mind. However, working on math skills can be much more engaging than sitting at a desk plugging away!

Let's Work on Addition & Subtraction Facts

Mastering addition and subtraction facts is vital to future math success. There are several fun & catchy YouTube songs or engaging online fact practice games your child could play to help with this skill, but what are the screen free options?

• Flashcards: get free flashcards here. I like to start with only a couple levels of facts, like +0 and +1, or -0 and -1. When your little one has this mastered, move on to the next set of facts.
• Practice with hands on items, like small toys, marshmallows or pennies. Show your child with addition or subtraction actually looks like by adding or taking away an item. This can help them grasp and better understand the concepts of addition and subtraction.
• Use worksheets for a guided practice.

Help My Child Tell Time

Learning to tell time can be a momentous struggle for many young learners. They often confuse the clock hands, and forget to count by fives when reading the minutes. A great way to practice this skill over the summer is to purchase an analog clock and check the time throughout the day with your child. Here is a little phrase that worked wonders in my classroom:

“Let's check on hOUR little man!” This reminded kids that the hour hand was the littler one.

Also, a little saying to remember what to do if the minute hand lands between two clock numbers,

“When it's in between two, what do you do? Here's a little hack, you always go back!”

After reading the clock for a few days, check their skills with an activity page like the ones pictured below.

Work on Word Problems

Word problems can be tricky for kids! To younger learners, they may just look like a jumble of words and numbers. The first thing to teach your child is to circle the numbers they see in the word problem. This helps them break apart the problem and see it in smaller, more manageable chunks. After circling the numbers, read the word problem with your child and discuss what it is asking you to do (addition or subtraction). It can be fun to write math word problems off of things you see outside. For example, “There were two birds eating seed. Three more came. How many birds are there in all?”

Money & Coin Counting Ideas

Not only are young students asked to identify the different coins, they need to be able to count them as well! If this is an area your child is struggling in, an amazingly fun way to practice this is through playing store! Have your child set up a store at home. They can price the items however they wish, but I suggest keeping it under $1.00. They become the cashier as they have to count the coins from their “customers”.

Before the store opens, be sure your child can identify the four main coins, and knows the value of each. It can be helpful to create a coin type chart to hang up in their store area.

There are poems you can use to teach coin value as well:

Penny Penny, easily spent. Copper brown and worth one cent.

Nickel, nickel, big and fat. You're worth five cents, I know that.

Dime, dime, little and thin. I remember, you're worth ten!

Quarter, quarter, big and bold. You're worth twenty-five, I am told.

Other Hands On Ideas

Math can be incorporated naturally throughout the day for additional practice. Try these ideas that are so fun, your child won't know they are learning.

Cooking

Allow your child to measure and dump in ingredients while cooking. Have them use measuring cups and spoons. This works on fractions!

Take it Outside

Just like reading, math can be done outside. As mentioned above, take your young one outdoors to write and solve word problems with things they can see. You can also practice addition and subtraction with natural, hands-on maninpulatives.

Science & Social Studies Ideas

We can't forget to include summer practice in Science and Social Studies.

Science & Social Themes for the Summer

Sit down with your child(ren) and write down a list of themes for the summer. These themes should be things they are interested in or topics they want to learn more about. To make these themes exciting and meaningful, here is a list of theme incorporating ideas:

• Get library books on the theme.
• Do activity sheets based around the theme.
• Write about the theme.
• Go on a small “field trip” based on the theme.
• Do art projects on the theme.

Themes can make learning more enjoyable!

Easy & Affordable Field Trips

Try turning day trips into educational opportunities. Some great educational trip options include:

• The zoo
• Museums
• Natural areas
• State or national parks
• Beaches

Summer Practice Pages

If you want to take the guesswork out of summer learning activities, try this summer themed learning packet featuring practice pages for ALL subject areas! With so many resources included, this pack is sure to help parents prevent summer slide! (It includes almost all activity pages shown in the images of this post.)

Need help with anything else this summer? Leave us a comment, we would love to help you and your child along in your learning journey.