It’s summer again, time for changing the routines of the school year and slowing down a little. It’s also a great time to encourage or indulge a love of reading.
Today, I’m sharing the thoughts of one of my favorite educators, a Sylvan Learning Center franchisee who’s not only a teacher but the mother of five – if those aren’t qualifications for keeping kids busily happy and learning and having fun during the summer, I don’t know what is.
Colleen Dunlavy, of the Chicago suburb of Homewood, has some great ideas for family reading tips. She shared these with me not long ago, and now I want to pass them on to you. They’re among the best I’ve seen.
1. Allow kids to read what they like. Pick book topics that relate to their interests. Try heading to the library at least once a week and if your kids are young, look for times when they may have a guest reader to read to a group of kids.
2. Offer a variety of publications (magazines, newsletters, books, etc.) so kids can make their own literary choices. Availability is key. Try Highlights for younger children, for teens and tweens tweens try finding magazines by their interests.
3. Encourage your kids to read everything and read aloud – food labels, movie disclaimers, street signs, store names, music lyrics, restaurant menus, etc.
4. Make mail time fun. Give young readers “junk mail” and ask them to circle the words that they recognize. Become the family’s mailman. Ask your child to read the names printed on the mail and have him or her “deliver” the mail to the specific family members.
5. Ensure books are always on –hand. Keep books in each car, at the house, at the homes of family members, etc. This ensures that a child can amuse himself or herself if a sibling’s sports practice is running late or if you are caught in traffic.
6. Schedule “library time.” Just as a family schedules swimming practice, set a specific time aside for visiting the library.
7. Create a book-on-tape. Encourage your child to read a book aloud and tape it. As a special gift or surprise, send the book-on-tape to a loved one with a special message.
8. Write your name in your books. When children write their names in their books, it gives the child ownership. Store the books in a special place to create a personal library.
9. Read before bedtime. Reading is relaxing. Allow your child to stay up 15 minutes later each night – as long as he/she is reading.
10. Read aloud to your children. No matter the age of the child, reading together can create a lasting family memory.
Sylvan Learning Directors and teachers from Flemington, New Jersey dish on the latest educational trends and what you can do to help your child achieve academic success!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Summer Math Tips for Kids
A major reason we keep our kids busily learning during the summer is to maintain their confidence for when classes start. Confidence equates to quicker learning. It’s that simple.
Here are a dozen tips for summer math learning. Adapt them to your family’s needs.
1. Grocery store math. Counting, estimating, and making change are good math exercises. What can we get for $10.00? Will you count the change for me, please? Let me know when we’ve reached fifteen items in the cart, please.
2. Menu math. What’s the most expensive meal on the menu? What’s the least expensive? We have $20.00 to spend – what can we get? What’s the proper tip?
3. Kitchen math. Practice fractions by using recipes or reading cookbooks. Practice numbers by counting the cutlery we’ll need for dinner. Measuring ingredients is a perfect math lesson. Don’t tell them, though.
4. Map math. What’s the distance from home to our destination? How long will it take us if we travel the speed limit? What’s the most direct route? What do you think is the most scenic route? Why?
5. On-the-Road math. Numbers are all around roads if you look for them. Add or subtract license plate numbers, speed limits, or route numbers. Keep track of time traveled or how long you’ve been reading aloud to encourage learning how to tell time.
6. Money math. Teach about making change. Count change in a piggy bank. How many ways can I make 45 cents? Open a savings account and watch the amount rise with deposits and interest. Talk about the advantages of saving for a big purchase or for a rainy day.
7. Reading and writing math. Read books about math and mathematicians. (A good website is www.mathmamawrites.blogspot.com. The June 26, 2009, blog, “Dozen Delectable Math Books” gives recommendations for ages 2-adult.)
8. Calendar math. Count down the days to special events like the first day of school, birthdays, holidays, vacations, assignments, and appointments.
9. Game math. Use cards, dominoes or dice (“math cubes”) to reinforce counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division skills. Play Chutes and Ladders, Monopoly, and other games that encourage counting. Together, do the sudoku puzzles in the daily paper.
10. Computer math. There’s no shortage of cool game and instructional websites. Try the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ website, www.nctm.org. Click on “Summer Games for Children.”)
11. Beach math. Count starfish and seashells. Umbrellas and pizza joints. Flip flops and beach balls. Dig holes, then encourage kids to fill one-quarter, one-half, three-quarters with water or seashells. Draw geometric shapes in the sand – circles, squares, rectangles, triangles – and identify them.
12. Mail math. Keep junk mail to make out “pretend” orders of clothes, books, groceries, etc. Add up the orders. Compare and contrast prices.
13. Growth math. (Okay, so it’s a “baker’s dozen” tips.) Measure everyone in the family. Compare heights. Measure growth over time.
14. Play hopscotch. Or jump rope. Or do jumping jacks. Kids love to count. What games encourage counting for little ones learning to count more than these? Besides, there’s plenty of exercise, keeping kids outside in the fresh air and away from an electronic screen.
15. Time things with a stopwatch. Get an inexpensive stopwatch and show your youngster how to use it. Give her some suggestions of things to time – how long to walk around the block, to drive to the grocery store, to swim a lap, to make a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, to take a shower. Then get out of the way. She’ll find all kinds of things to time.
16. Compare and contrast. After she’s been timing things with her stopwatch, show her how to compare and contrast the information she’s discovered. Make simple charts and graphs. Color code them. Talk about them.
17. Count stuff. I mentioned this in last week’s blog, but there’s no shortage of things to count. Come up with interesting and funny things – purple flip-flops at the mall, butterflies in the garden, yellow VW bugs (the old ones, naturally), crying babies at the grocery store, smokers throwing their butts out the car window (yuck!), the number of screams while riding the roller coaster. Decide at breakfast in the morning what you’re going to count today. Talk about it at bedtime.
18. Make and stick to a budget. Have your kid allocate his allowance into categories the two of you agree to. Entertainment, the collection at church, saving for a special toy, vacation spending, ice cream treats. This not only teaches budgeting, it enforces math facts like division. Show how you do the same thing with your household budget .
19. Get a math role model. Point out people in your family and community who would make good math role models for your child. The veterinarian, your pediatrician, a favorite teacher, an older student who’s a math whiz, those silly characters on Big Bang Theory.
20. Roll that spare change. Everyone has spare change around the house. Gather up all those pennies, nickels, and dimes. Count them. Then roll them and take them to the bank. (It’s more educational than using those loud machines in the mall.) Give your child a percentage. Have him figure out what that percentage is.
21. Treat girls and boys equally. Enough girls already have math phobia. Show that you expect excellent math skills from your daughters as from your sons.
22. Find a helpful website. There are plenty of websites that have really clever math games and exercises for kids. It’s hard to choose just one, but here’s one I like: www.xtramath.org
23. Make flash cards. With your child, make a bunch of flash cards that let him practice his math facts. Quiz him with that stopwatch from tip #2 above. Let him quiz you or other members of the family. When kids know their math facts cold, they’re ready for higher level math.
24. Get help if you need it. Everyone needs a little help from time to time. The company I work for, Sylvan Learning has thirty years’ experience of helping kids with math. Summer’s the perfect time to invest in some skill sharpening before school starts again. If you suspect that he needs a leg up, do it now before the problem becomes too much for him to handle.
25. Don’t allow math trash talk. If you had a hard time with math when you were a kid, don’t make a big deal of it. Don’t let your child infer that it’s okay to hate math or to avoid it. It’s a different world. She’s going to need her math skills.
You get the picture. We’re surrounded by words and numbers every day. Be on the lookout for opportunities to talk about math. Draw your children’s attention to them without making a big-deal lesson out of them. You’ll be surprised at how quickly math phobia disappears and math confidence takes its place.
Let them see you reading, doing math, and writing, as part of your daily life. By including them, you’re encouraging them to join you in your grown-up world, something kids can’t resist (for a time, anyway).
Here are a dozen tips for summer math learning. Adapt them to your family’s needs.
1. Grocery store math. Counting, estimating, and making change are good math exercises. What can we get for $10.00? Will you count the change for me, please? Let me know when we’ve reached fifteen items in the cart, please.
2. Menu math. What’s the most expensive meal on the menu? What’s the least expensive? We have $20.00 to spend – what can we get? What’s the proper tip?
3. Kitchen math. Practice fractions by using recipes or reading cookbooks. Practice numbers by counting the cutlery we’ll need for dinner. Measuring ingredients is a perfect math lesson. Don’t tell them, though.
4. Map math. What’s the distance from home to our destination? How long will it take us if we travel the speed limit? What’s the most direct route? What do you think is the most scenic route? Why?
5. On-the-Road math. Numbers are all around roads if you look for them. Add or subtract license plate numbers, speed limits, or route numbers. Keep track of time traveled or how long you’ve been reading aloud to encourage learning how to tell time.
6. Money math. Teach about making change. Count change in a piggy bank. How many ways can I make 45 cents? Open a savings account and watch the amount rise with deposits and interest. Talk about the advantages of saving for a big purchase or for a rainy day.
7. Reading and writing math. Read books about math and mathematicians. (A good website is www.mathmamawrites.blogspot.com. The June 26, 2009, blog, “Dozen Delectable Math Books” gives recommendations for ages 2-adult.)
8. Calendar math. Count down the days to special events like the first day of school, birthdays, holidays, vacations, assignments, and appointments.
9. Game math. Use cards, dominoes or dice (“math cubes”) to reinforce counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division skills. Play Chutes and Ladders, Monopoly, and other games that encourage counting. Together, do the sudoku puzzles in the daily paper.
10. Computer math. There’s no shortage of cool game and instructional websites. Try the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ website, www.nctm.org. Click on “Summer Games for Children.”)
11. Beach math. Count starfish and seashells. Umbrellas and pizza joints. Flip flops and beach balls. Dig holes, then encourage kids to fill one-quarter, one-half, three-quarters with water or seashells. Draw geometric shapes in the sand – circles, squares, rectangles, triangles – and identify them.
12. Mail math. Keep junk mail to make out “pretend” orders of clothes, books, groceries, etc. Add up the orders. Compare and contrast prices.
13. Growth math. (Okay, so it’s a “baker’s dozen” tips.) Measure everyone in the family. Compare heights. Measure growth over time.
14. Play hopscotch. Or jump rope. Or do jumping jacks. Kids love to count. What games encourage counting for little ones learning to count more than these? Besides, there’s plenty of exercise, keeping kids outside in the fresh air and away from an electronic screen.
15. Time things with a stopwatch. Get an inexpensive stopwatch and show your youngster how to use it. Give her some suggestions of things to time – how long to walk around the block, to drive to the grocery store, to swim a lap, to make a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, to take a shower. Then get out of the way. She’ll find all kinds of things to time.
16. Compare and contrast. After she’s been timing things with her stopwatch, show her how to compare and contrast the information she’s discovered. Make simple charts and graphs. Color code them. Talk about them.
17. Count stuff. I mentioned this in last week’s blog, but there’s no shortage of things to count. Come up with interesting and funny things – purple flip-flops at the mall, butterflies in the garden, yellow VW bugs (the old ones, naturally), crying babies at the grocery store, smokers throwing their butts out the car window (yuck!), the number of screams while riding the roller coaster. Decide at breakfast in the morning what you’re going to count today. Talk about it at bedtime.
18. Make and stick to a budget. Have your kid allocate his allowance into categories the two of you agree to. Entertainment, the collection at church, saving for a special toy, vacation spending, ice cream treats. This not only teaches budgeting, it enforces math facts like division. Show how you do the same thing with your household budget .
19. Get a math role model. Point out people in your family and community who would make good math role models for your child. The veterinarian, your pediatrician, a favorite teacher, an older student who’s a math whiz, those silly characters on Big Bang Theory.
20. Roll that spare change. Everyone has spare change around the house. Gather up all those pennies, nickels, and dimes. Count them. Then roll them and take them to the bank. (It’s more educational than using those loud machines in the mall.) Give your child a percentage. Have him figure out what that percentage is.
21. Treat girls and boys equally. Enough girls already have math phobia. Show that you expect excellent math skills from your daughters as from your sons.
22. Find a helpful website. There are plenty of websites that have really clever math games and exercises for kids. It’s hard to choose just one, but here’s one I like: www.xtramath.org
23. Make flash cards. With your child, make a bunch of flash cards that let him practice his math facts. Quiz him with that stopwatch from tip #2 above. Let him quiz you or other members of the family. When kids know their math facts cold, they’re ready for higher level math.
24. Get help if you need it. Everyone needs a little help from time to time. The company I work for, Sylvan Learning has thirty years’ experience of helping kids with math. Summer’s the perfect time to invest in some skill sharpening before school starts again. If you suspect that he needs a leg up, do it now before the problem becomes too much for him to handle.
25. Don’t allow math trash talk. If you had a hard time with math when you were a kid, don’t make a big deal of it. Don’t let your child infer that it’s okay to hate math or to avoid it. It’s a different world. She’s going to need her math skills.
You get the picture. We’re surrounded by words and numbers every day. Be on the lookout for opportunities to talk about math. Draw your children’s attention to them without making a big-deal lesson out of them. You’ll be surprised at how quickly math phobia disappears and math confidence takes its place.
Let them see you reading, doing math, and writing, as part of your daily life. By including them, you’re encouraging them to join you in your grown-up world, something kids can’t resist (for a time, anyway).
Monday, June 20, 2011
Summer Writing Tips for Kids
We’re in the midst of summer vacation. You don’t need me to remind you of the obvious – if they don’t keep their minds active in summer, children are at risk of losing much of what they’ve learned during the school year. There’s a ton of research, and our own experience and common sense tell us that’s true. Check out the National Center for Summer Learning at the Johns Hopkins University for some of the best, most recent research as well as excellent tips for keeping kids’ minds active during the summer (www.summerlearning.org). I’ve done some work with these folks. They’re top notch.
Research tells us that summer brain drain is even worse for children from homes where
• There’s not much reading, conversation, and quality time with parents or other significant adults
• There isn’t access to books, magazines, and other entertaining reading materials
• There aren’t role models to show how lifelong learning is important to children and adults alike
• Parents don’t actively value learning, and in some sad cases (for which the parents should be beaten with wet noodles), where it’s actively disparaged
• Summer is filled with boredom, passive time-fillers, and little intellectual stimulation
In the past few weeks, the Dr. Rick Blog has focused on summer activities for kids (summer learning, summer camp, and summer reading ).
Today I’ll provide some tips for summer writing activities. In the next few blogs, I’ll give tips on summer vocabulary, spelling, math, and reading tips. As always, we enjoy hearing your ideas. Share them with us by clicking on “Comments” below.
Summer writing can be fun, expressive, and skill-building (but you don’t need to tell the kids that). Give your child the confidence to be ready for school in the fall, and help her teacher get right down to business without spending precious time reviewing skills kids have forgotten in the summer.
Here are some ideas to keep your kids writing this summer.
1. Collect interesting, amusing, thought-provoking summer pictures from magazines, the Internet, or your own family albums. “Prompt” your children with ideas about writing.
a. What’s your favorite summer memory?
b. Write a poem about summer fun.
c. How do you think people kept cool before air conditioning?
d. Pretend you lived 100 years ago. What’s summer vacation like for you?
2. Interview older friends and relatives about their summer memories. (They’ll love talking about this.) Then write a short description or story. Together come up with a list of questions for these interviews.
3. Write jokes about summer activities like the pool, vacation, games, pastimes, etc.
4. Keep a family photo journal and have the children write captions for the pictures or a short story summary. A variation of this is to keep a summer scrapbook with pictures and memorabilia of your favorite things.
5. Keep a personal or family “summer things I notice” journal. Every once in a while, everyone in the family contributes a short piece of descriptive writing, a drawing, a favorite poem or an original one, favorite memories, interesting observations, etc. Watch the journal grow.
6. Yes, even in an electronic age, kids love getting letters in the mail. Help your child have a pen-pal and keep up a correspondence for the summer and beyond.
7. Go to www.bookadventure.com for cool reading ideas, and then write about the books and stories you’ve read together. Don’t call this a “book report,” even if that’s what it really is.
8. Create a story with friends and family members as characters.
9. Write review of the programs your family watches on TV, the movies you attend, the books you read, the trip to the amusement park or any other activity.
10. Compare and contrast summer where you live to summer in other parts of the world or the U.S.
You certainly don’t have to tell the kids that you’re helping them keep up their language arts skills, motivating an interest in geography or family history, or even encouraging a lifelong hobby. You’re just helping them have fun over the summer, right?
Research tells us that summer brain drain is even worse for children from homes where
• There’s not much reading, conversation, and quality time with parents or other significant adults
• There isn’t access to books, magazines, and other entertaining reading materials
• There aren’t role models to show how lifelong learning is important to children and adults alike
• Parents don’t actively value learning, and in some sad cases (for which the parents should be beaten with wet noodles), where it’s actively disparaged
• Summer is filled with boredom, passive time-fillers, and little intellectual stimulation
In the past few weeks, the Dr. Rick Blog has focused on summer activities for kids (summer learning, summer camp, and summer reading ).
Today I’ll provide some tips for summer writing activities. In the next few blogs, I’ll give tips on summer vocabulary, spelling, math, and reading tips. As always, we enjoy hearing your ideas. Share them with us by clicking on “Comments” below.
Summer writing can be fun, expressive, and skill-building (but you don’t need to tell the kids that). Give your child the confidence to be ready for school in the fall, and help her teacher get right down to business without spending precious time reviewing skills kids have forgotten in the summer.
Here are some ideas to keep your kids writing this summer.
1. Collect interesting, amusing, thought-provoking summer pictures from magazines, the Internet, or your own family albums. “Prompt” your children with ideas about writing.
a. What’s your favorite summer memory?
b. Write a poem about summer fun.
c. How do you think people kept cool before air conditioning?
d. Pretend you lived 100 years ago. What’s summer vacation like for you?
2. Interview older friends and relatives about their summer memories. (They’ll love talking about this.) Then write a short description or story. Together come up with a list of questions for these interviews.
3. Write jokes about summer activities like the pool, vacation, games, pastimes, etc.
4. Keep a family photo journal and have the children write captions for the pictures or a short story summary. A variation of this is to keep a summer scrapbook with pictures and memorabilia of your favorite things.
5. Keep a personal or family “summer things I notice” journal. Every once in a while, everyone in the family contributes a short piece of descriptive writing, a drawing, a favorite poem or an original one, favorite memories, interesting observations, etc. Watch the journal grow.
6. Yes, even in an electronic age, kids love getting letters in the mail. Help your child have a pen-pal and keep up a correspondence for the summer and beyond.
7. Go to www.bookadventure.com for cool reading ideas, and then write about the books and stories you’ve read together. Don’t call this a “book report,” even if that’s what it really is.
8. Create a story with friends and family members as characters.
9. Write review of the programs your family watches on TV, the movies you attend, the books you read, the trip to the amusement park or any other activity.
10. Compare and contrast summer where you live to summer in other parts of the world or the U.S.
You certainly don’t have to tell the kids that you’re helping them keep up their language arts skills, motivating an interest in geography or family history, or even encouraging a lifelong hobby. You’re just helping them have fun over the summer, right?
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Fighting Summer Learning Loss
The stats and research have been loud and clear for several years now – and our common sense tells us also: Kids can lose much of their learning during the summer if their minds are not engaged. Some experts tell us that learning loss can be as much as two to three months. Any teacher can tell you he or she must spend quite a bit of time in September re-teaching material – math skills, reading strategies, history facts, writing rules, spelling techniques – that students have lost over the summer. One of the nation’s most valuable organizations, the Johns Hopkins Center for Summer Learning, warns of the summer losses that unchallenged kids can suffer.
There are lots of things we can do for our kids during the summer:
1. You’re in change. Yes, summer is a time for relaxation, for hobbies, for fun. But that doesn’t mean you want your kids’ minds to be turned off, or worse, turned to mush from too much staring at electronic screens. It’s okay for you to insist that they read occasionally, learn something new, keep up their math skills in fun ways, and maybe even write a post card or two.
2. Keep them reading. The world is full of interesting topics, and kids can read about them in books, magazines, online sites, and other outlets. The great thing about the summer is they can read about topics that interest them, without the pressure of a test.
3. Keep them learning. Summer learning should be fun. Allow kids to learn about the things they don’t always get a chance to study during the school year. Encourage them to discover new interests and talents and to share these new interests with you. Be enthusiastic and supportive.
4. Keep them counting. Math skills are important no matter what the season. Have the kids help you shop for groceries by looking for good deals. Plan for the family get-away by helping you map various routes – the shortest, the most scenic, the one that includes everyone’s favorite sites. Figure out tips at restaurants. Measure for a garden. Save a certain percentage of allowance.
5. Keep them writing. As a family, keep a summer journal. Have everyone write a few lines each day about important and not-so-important events. The weather, the rainfall, the consecutive sunny days, the growth rate of the tomato plants. Favorite movies, TV shows, sporting events. People you’ve visited or who have visited you. Neighborhood news and events. New friends. School plans for next year.
6. Get plenty of exercise. Summer is a time for outdoor activity. Encourage kids to be outside often (remember the sunscreen), to play actively, to include their little brothers and sisters, and to stay healthy.
7. Relax the school-year routines. You know I’m a strong advocate for routines, especially during the school year. Homework, study, bedtime, playtime, family time, quiet time, attendance at religious services are all important routines that put structure and reliability in kids’ lives. These routines can be relaxed during the summer, but kids still need the safety and comfort of routines. Let your family decide which routines are able to be relaxed.
8. Be a good role model. Let the kids see you living your values. Show how you read for information and for pleasure, write for business or social purposes, and use your math skills when you pay bills or follow a recipe. Enlist their help – even when you don’t need it – to give them opportunities to practice or show off their skills.
9. Have family get-togethers. Kids love spending time with you. Make time in the family’s schedule for regular dinners together, game nights, back-yard fun, and informal times for relaxed conversations. Remember talking and listening?
10. Talk about school. Every once in a while talk about goals for next school year, especially if your child is making a transition to middle or high school. Or if he or she had had some challenges this year. Or if he or she has some personal goals that require your support and enthusiasm.
There are lots of things we can do for our kids during the summer:
1. You’re in change. Yes, summer is a time for relaxation, for hobbies, for fun. But that doesn’t mean you want your kids’ minds to be turned off, or worse, turned to mush from too much staring at electronic screens. It’s okay for you to insist that they read occasionally, learn something new, keep up their math skills in fun ways, and maybe even write a post card or two.
2. Keep them reading. The world is full of interesting topics, and kids can read about them in books, magazines, online sites, and other outlets. The great thing about the summer is they can read about topics that interest them, without the pressure of a test.
3. Keep them learning. Summer learning should be fun. Allow kids to learn about the things they don’t always get a chance to study during the school year. Encourage them to discover new interests and talents and to share these new interests with you. Be enthusiastic and supportive.
4. Keep them counting. Math skills are important no matter what the season. Have the kids help you shop for groceries by looking for good deals. Plan for the family get-away by helping you map various routes – the shortest, the most scenic, the one that includes everyone’s favorite sites. Figure out tips at restaurants. Measure for a garden. Save a certain percentage of allowance.
5. Keep them writing. As a family, keep a summer journal. Have everyone write a few lines each day about important and not-so-important events. The weather, the rainfall, the consecutive sunny days, the growth rate of the tomato plants. Favorite movies, TV shows, sporting events. People you’ve visited or who have visited you. Neighborhood news and events. New friends. School plans for next year.
6. Get plenty of exercise. Summer is a time for outdoor activity. Encourage kids to be outside often (remember the sunscreen), to play actively, to include their little brothers and sisters, and to stay healthy.
7. Relax the school-year routines. You know I’m a strong advocate for routines, especially during the school year. Homework, study, bedtime, playtime, family time, quiet time, attendance at religious services are all important routines that put structure and reliability in kids’ lives. These routines can be relaxed during the summer, but kids still need the safety and comfort of routines. Let your family decide which routines are able to be relaxed.
8. Be a good role model. Let the kids see you living your values. Show how you read for information and for pleasure, write for business or social purposes, and use your math skills when you pay bills or follow a recipe. Enlist their help – even when you don’t need it – to give them opportunities to practice or show off their skills.
9. Have family get-togethers. Kids love spending time with you. Make time in the family’s schedule for regular dinners together, game nights, back-yard fun, and informal times for relaxed conversations. Remember talking and listening?
10. Talk about school. Every once in a while talk about goals for next school year, especially if your child is making a transition to middle or high school. Or if he or she had had some challenges this year. Or if he or she has some personal goals that require your support and enthusiasm.
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