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Summer Enrichment Week 1-Wednesday

Monday, June 18, 2018

Replace all ideas

  • For the littlest ones (prek-k): 
    • Use a bucket of water and a paintbrush and let your youngster have a great time “painting” sidewalks, trees, and even buildings and cars!
    • Use a set of alphabet cards. Lay them around the play area face up and have the kid or kids take turns running/jumping/crawling to the letter you name.
    • Choose two items (or even more) that you have multiples of around the house. Have a “contest” to see which item scores the most by having the most of them.  Are there more buttons or more spoons?
  • For Young Elementary (Grades K-3):
    • Have kids read a book and write a paragraph about one character. Describe the character’s appearance, his or her actions, and so forth.
    • Complete the 100 facts test for subtraction (free printable HERE).  Grade 1 should be able to complete untimed, grades 2-3 should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete with 100% accuracy.  If not, time to practice!
    • Read some poems. Find them online or in books. Practice reading out loud until the rhythm is smooth, then perform for parents or other audience.
  • For Upper Elementary (Grades 3-5)
    • Make a list of describing words that tell how warm or cold something is.  Find at least 20 words.  Now, use 10 of them in good sentences.
    • Find 5 articles on the internet or in magazines that seem interesting. Read each one, and create a new title for it.
    • Complete the 100 facts test for subtraction (see link above).  Grades 3-4 should be able to 100% in five minutes.  Grades 5 and up should be under 5 minutes.  If not, be sure to practice each day!
  • For Middle/High School (Grades 6-12)
    • Complete the 100 facts test for subtraction.  Grades 6-8 should be able to do 100% in 4 minutes, and grades 9-12 should be finished in 3 minutes or less.  If not, take time to practice each day.
    • Be sure to read at least 30 minutes today. Make a journal entry (or more than one!) for the main character.
    • Make up at least ten story problems that have two or more steps. Make an answer key, then see if a parent, friend, or sibling can solve them.
Summer Enrichment

Summer Enrichment Week 2

Monday, June 11, 2018

  • For the littlest ones (prek-k): 
    • Use a bucket of water and a paintbrush and let your youngster have a great time “painting” sidewalks, trees, and even buildings and cars!
    • Use a set of alphabet cards. Lay them around the play area face up and have the kid or kids take turns running/jumping/crawling to the letter you name.
    • Choose two items (or even more) that you have multiples of around the house. Have a “contest” to see which item scores the most by having the most of them.  Are there more buttons or more spoons?
  • For Young Elementary (Grades K-3):
    • Have kids read a book and write a paragraph about one character. Describe the character’s appearance, his or her actions, and so forth.
    • Complete the 100 facts test for subtraction (free printable HERE).  Grade 1 should be able to complete untimed, grades 2-3 should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete with 100% accuracy.  If not, time to practice!
    • Read some poems. Find them online or in books. Practice reading out loud until the rhythm is smooth, then perform for parents or other audience.
  • For Upper Elementary (Grades 3-5)
    • Make a list of describing words that tell how warm or cold something is.  Find at least 20 words.  Now, use 10 of them in good sentences.
    • Find 5 articles on the internet or in magazines that seem interesting. Read each one, and create a new title for it.
    • Complete the 100 facts test for subtraction (see link above).  Grades 3-4 should be able to 100% in five minutes.  Grades 5 and up should be under 5 minutes.  If not, be sure to practice each day!
  • For Middle/High School (Grades 6-12)
    • Complete the 100 facts test for subtraction.  Grades 6-8 should be able to do 100% in 4 minutes, and grades 9-12 should be finished in 3 minutes or less.  If not, take time to practice each day.
    • Be sure to read at least 30 minutes today. Make a journal entry (or more than one!) for the main character.
    • Make up at least ten story problems that have two or more steps. Make an answer key, then see if a parent, friend, or sibling can solve them.
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Summer Enrichment Week 1

Monday, June 4, 2018

  • For the littlest ones (prek-k): 
    • Make a sensory tray using an old cookie sheet and some shaving cream, salt, or flour. Spread your chosen material out and have the kids make letters and numbers. If they are ready, write simple words and try simple addition or subtraction math problems.
    • Make an obstacle course around the room, play area, yard, or home. Line up chairs to go over, under, around, folded towels and blankets to walk on, strings on the floor to balance on, and any other challenging physical task you can think of. Have the kids go through as fast as they can without making a mistake and time their performance.
    • Share a favorite story with a twist: before you read, choose a “secret” word and challenge kids to listen for it. When they hear it, have them do a special motion or action, like stand up and sit down or pat their heads.
  • For Young Elementary (Grades K-3):
    • Send them off to research (online with supervision or in cookbooks) for a dessert from another country. Make the dessert together.
    • Complete the 100 facts test for addition (free printable HERE).  Grade 1 should be able to complete untimed, grades 2-3 should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete with 100% accuracy.  If not, time to practice!
    • Have kids read a new book and write from 1 to 5 sentences to explain what happened in the story.
  • For Upper Elementary (Grades 3-5)
    • Play this word game from Fun Brain
    • Find 10 words while playing the game above that are new to you and jot them down.  Use each in a good sentence.
    • Complete the 100 facts test for addition (see link above).  Grades 3-4 should be able to 100% in five minutes.  Grades 5 and up should be under 5 minutes.  If not, be sure to practice each day!
  • For Middle/High School (Grades 6-12)
    • Complete the 100 facts test for addition.  Grades 6-8 should be able to do 100% in 4 minutes, and grades 9-12 should be finished in 3 minutes or less.  If not, take time to practice each day.
    • Start reading a new novel (see the Summer Reading list for some ideas!).  Read at least one chapter. Write a paragraph summary of the plot in the chapter and make a prediction about what will happen next.
    • Give your student $1000 imaginary money and a catalog or other source of prices (internet research works too). Challenge him or her to find the perfect furniture and accessories to redo the bedroom without going over budget.
Summer Reading

Summer Reading: Holes

Summer Reading: Holes

Upper elementary and middle school students will enjoy the novel Holes by Louis Sachar. With a reading level of 5.2, the book is accessible to upper elementary students and interesting to middle schoolers.  It’s a Newberry Award winner and has been made into a popular movie.

Holes is the story of a boy named Stanley who seems to have everything go wrong in his life.  He blames it on a family curse from four generations back, but the results seem very real to him.  He’s a social outcast, overweight, and now accused of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to a juvenile detention camp with a twist- the warden believes that boys’ characters can be changed by having them dig holes in the desert in the hot sun.  Is he secretly searching for buried treasure?

The book touches on themes of friendship, destiny, and even literacy.  The characters demonstrate determination and strong will.  It will appeal to girls as well as to boys, and is an outstanding choice for summer reading fun.

Online resources to use with Holes include:

SparkNotes: Holes

Free Holes Online Trivia Game

Activity Suggestions for Holes

Scholastic.com Activities for Holes

Don’t forget that you can help your child learn to write an outstanding book report in the Book Report Workshop!

Reading, Writing

Ready, Set, SUMMARIZE!

Ready, Set, SUMMARIZE!

Book reports, critiques and other responses to literature are fixtures in most language arts curricula. Teachers use them to assess a student’s understanding and analysis of their reading.  One key element in most of these assignments is the summary of the text, so it’s important that your student learn to summarize.  Here’s one method that can help.

Start by having your student summarize smaller pieces of writing.  Try a paragraph or even a single long sentence.  Challenge your student to find key words in sentences, or distill the paragraph into one or two sentences that contain the most important ideas.  This takes practice, so don’t be discouraged if the first attempts are off-base.

Once your student has the knack of summarizing paragraphs, you’re ready to work on a book.  Read a section.  This could be a paragraph, a page, or a chapter.  Have your student write down a specific number of important events or bits of information learned from that assigned section.  Check his or her work to see if you agree.  With practice, your student will learn to restate entire books in one or two paragraphs, and summaries will almost seem to write themselves!