Important Dates:
May 26, 2014-
Memorial Day (Off)
June 2, 2014- End of Year Celebration/ Principal Honor Roll Breakfast
June 5, 2014- Honor Roll Assembly for 3rd Grade/ Early Release/ Last Day of
School
Motivating Kids to Read:
Keeping Kids Off the Summer Slide
Something is waiting for many children each summer and
their parents don’t even know it’s out there. It's called the "summer
slide," and it describes what happens when young minds sit idle for
three months.
As parents approach the summer break, many are thinking about
the family vacation, trips to the pool, how to keep children engaged in
activities at home, the abrupt changes to everyone's schedule—and how to
juggle it all. What they might not be focusing on is how much
educational ground their children could lose during the three-month
break from school, particularly when it comes to reading.
Experts agree that children who read during the summer gain
reading skills, while those who do not often slide backward. According
to the authors of a report from the National Summer Learning
Association: "A conservative estimate of lost instructional time is
approximately two months or roughly 22 percent of the school year....
It's common for teachers to spend at least a month re-teaching material
that students have forgotten over the summer. That month of re-teaching
eliminates a month that could have been spent on teaching new
information and skills."
The report's authors further note that family income plays a
significant role in determining the magnitude of this summer slide.
Students from low-income families "...experience an average summer
learning loss in reading achievement of over two months." Not only do
these students suffer greater sliding during the summer, they also
experience cumulative effects of greater learning loss each summer.
Sociologists Karl Alexander and Doris Entwisle have shown
that the cumulative effect of summer learning differences is a primary
cause of widening achievement gaps between students of lower and higher
socioeconomic levels. Research demonstrates that while student
achievement for both middle- and lower-income students improves at
similar rates during the school year, low-income students experience
cumulative summer learning losses throughout their elementary school
years.
Summer slide affects millions of children each year in this country—but it doesn't have to. Other articles in the
"Motivating Kids to Read Section"
offer tips for parents, caregivers, and members of community
organizations to help keep learning fun throughout the summer break and
the rest of the year.
Source: Reading Is Fundamental
Here are some Links to help your child stay away from the Summer Slide in Reading and Math:
Scholastic Summer Challenge/Letter to Parents
Tenmarks Math Program for the Summer (Ask your child's teacher for an access code.)
Tenmarks Programa de Matematica para el VERANO (en espanol para los padres)
Books to read:
Book-lists-and-recommendations/ages-8-10
Scholastic Reading Booklist
