Summer Learning at Home!

Every year at this time I start to have mixed emotions about summer vacation. After fourteen years of teaching, I can honestly say that I love my job, every single day, but I’m ready for a break from my school kids, and I’m ready to have a few adventures with my girls. And, like clockwork, parents (not just from my class, but all sorts of parents at school) have started asking me what they should do over the summer to ensure that their kids’ brains don’t turn to mush.

After talking to teachers in several grade levels, as well as pouring through a few textbooks, I’ve come up with a list of suggestions to ensure that children at all grade levels are in a learning frame of mind over the summer and prepared for the upcoming school year. Many of these concepts are taught at the previous grade level, but essential for success, especially in the beginning of the school year.

Incoming kindergarteners:

• Tie shoes
• Phonemic awareness (letter/sound relationships – “a” says apple and ape)
• Write first and last name
• Hold a pencil
• Hold & cut with scissors
• Identify shapes, colors and numbers
• Hold a book properly, find the title, author and know where the title page is
• Identify letters of the alphabet when they are scrambled (not just the ABC’s song!)
• Count from 0 – 20

Incoming 1^st graders:

• Cut along straight lines
• Understand sequence (yesterday, today, tomorrow)
• Recognize and identify upper and lower case letters
• Spell name with correct capitalization
• Recognize basic sight words (grade level appropriate Dolch words)
• Know address and phone number
• Write c-v-c (consonant-vowel-consonant) pattern words (cat, hot, run…)

Incoming 2^nd graders:

• Follow multi-step directions
• Tell time on the hour and half hour
• Count basic change amounts
• Write sentences with initial capital letter and end punctuation.
• Complete 2-digit addition and subtraction without regrouping
• Recognize grade level appropriate Dolch words
• Know left from right
• Add and subtract with sums up to twenty
• Read orally

Incoming 3^rd graders:

• Begin to use a primary dictionary and understand what the parts of each definition stand for (pronunciation, part of speech, definition)
• Add and subtract with regrouping
• Basic understanding of the concept of multiplication (repeated addition)
• Tell time to the quarter hour
• Identify and explain story elements (characters, setting, problems, solutions)
• Read fluently and orally with expression
• Recognize grade level appropriate Dolch words
• Read appropriate chapter books

Incoming 4^th graders:

• Master multiplication facts (THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT!!!)
• Read appropriate chapter books
• Tell time in 5 minute increments
• Multiply and divide multi-digit numbers by one-digit numbers
• Be able to write three focused paragraphs on one topic

Incoming 5^th graders:

• Be able to write five focused paragraphs on one topic
• Multiply multi-digit by multi-digit numbers
• Divide 4-digit numbers by one-digit numbers
• Recognize cause and effect
• Recognize fact and opinion
• Summarize stories with multiple characters, settings, problems/solutions
• Add and subtract decimals
• Understand fractions to 1/8.
• Tell time in 1 minute increments.

Although standards vary from state to state, this list is fairly comprehensive and covers basic reading and mathematics concepts that all students will be introduced to from the first week of school. Honestly, I could push my girls over the summer to follow a more academic schedule, but I don’t.  However, I will say that I’m a stickler for one thing: reading.  Kids need to read, it’s the number one way to build vocabulary, and provides them with much needed down-time.  If you aren’t sure what types of books your children should be reading, there are lots of fantastic summer reading lists out there – just visit any library or book store to find everything from classics to brand new books hot off the press!

– So. FL Correspondent, Erin

Here are a few links to keep your kids going over the summer:

http://www.dolchword.net/

http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/summer

http://www.justreadfamilies.org/SummerReadingList.pdf

http://www.scholastic.com/summer/parents/

http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb

http://notebook.lausd.net/portal/page?_pageid=33,1005246&_dad=ptl&_schema=PTL_EP

http://www.funenglishgames.com/readinggames.html

http://funschool.kaboose.com/index.html

http://www.multiplication.com/

http://hoodamath.com/games/

http://www.mathplayground.com/games.html