According to experts, kids who don’t read over the summer can lose up to two months or 22 percent of instructional time over the summer if they don’t keep reading. Parents can play an important role in supporting out-of-school learning by involving children in fun, everyday activities. Below are a few suggested activities that can help students practice critical academic skills during the summer months:
Reading and Writing
• Sulphur Springs School District students can participate in the SSSD’s Curriculum Correspondence Program.
• Sulphur Springs School District students can participate in the Summer AR Reading Program by contacting kgrim@sssd.k12.ca.us or lmatulich@sssd.k12.ca.us
• Share the joy of books by reading aloud to your children every day, and having them read aloud to you. Students can find books through the AR Book Find ( http://www.arbookfind.com/usertype.aspx )
• Subscribe to magazines/newspapers: discuss current events with your children
• Praise your children for reading.
• Make weekly visits to the local public library and participate in the Canyon Country Library special reading summer programs that is offered. ( http://www.santaclaritalibrary.com).
• Encourage your child to write a letter to a relative or a friend once a week
Math and Science
• Encourage your children to watch educational television programs about
science and nature. Ask them questions about what they watch.
• Try science experiments at home.
• Bake cookies to practice fractions and measuring ingredients, and make homemade ice cream and other foods to show them about the properties of salt, liquids and solids, and how to measure temperature.
• Visit a local park and observe different types of rocks, animals, insects, leaves
• Use an outdoor thermometer to track weather and observe patterns.
• Plant a garden to show how seeds develop into plants and how fertilizer
and weather can affect growth.
• Participate in a local recycling program.
• Access Scratch to begin coding on the computer. Solve problems with building
materials or Legos.
Just spending time together as a family and having discussions together are important for all children. Enjoy these summer days!