Happy Summer!
Miss Smith and I would like to thank you for sharing your children with us this academic year. We marveled at their insight, reveled in their learning, smiled at their kindness and laughed at their humor. We were honored to walk with them as they grew in virtue, emotionally, socially and academically.
Their emotional and social growth will continue naturally throughout the summer. To foster appropriate academic growth, keep children engaged during the summer months to ensure that the brain synapses are firing and the dendrites are growing! Research suggests that sustained practice over a longer period of time aids in the retention of information.
You can ask your child to use math and reading everywhere: playing cards, at the grocery store, watching educational programs such as PBS, keeping score, monitoring sporting statistics, reading maps and billboards, traveling, volunteering, really anything that keeps the mind moving. The longer we do not use a skill or access information in our brains, the more difficult it is to remember the information when we need it. Practice does not have to be boring or involve a worksheet. In fact, the opposite is better!
In order to avoid summer learning loss, all 2nd graders bound for 3rd grade, should do the following regularly:
- Read for a minimum of 20-30 minutes a day at their level *Please see below for information about Lexile scores* Your children promised me they will read every day for 30 minutes and not play too many video games :-)
- Practice math facts ~ Use XtraMath.org
- Write in journals
Any activity that supports these second grade math concepts over the summer will be a benefit to your child’s progress early in their third grade year.
- Two and three-digit addition and subtraction with and without regrouping
- Measurement
- Data & Graphing
- Geometry 2D and 3D Shapes
- Two step problem solving (part-part-whole models)
Additionally, the following will help avoid the summer slide:
- Reading should be a combination of literature and informational text such as biographies, articles, information books and manuals, topic specific books, etc.
- Practice keyboarding skills ~ the children worked so hard at TypingMaster this year. Typing will continue in 3rd grade.
- Practice fine motor skills through proper handwriting (Spalding cursive and manuscript)
- Encourage journal writing including personal narratives, observational writing about experiences, and/or mini-research papers on a topic of their choosing.
- XtraMath.org: Help your child master basic math facts *FREE! Parent e-mail required
- Moby Max Online Intervention: Online math intervention program (account required)
- Summer Reading List
- Check with your local library on summer reading programs!
- Singapore Math Lesson Videos from Archway Glendale
- Book suggestions by Lexile scores (Please e-mail Mrs. D for your child's Lexile score)
Please keep in touch and have beautiful summer!
Love,
Mrs. Dombrowski
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