Summer Enrichment: Help Your Child Stay the Course
The summer slide. This whimsical alliteration is anything but playful. For children nationwide, this is a cause for concern.
The notorious summer slide is a term used to describe the academic loss some students experience over summer break. Reading, writing, and mathematics tend to be the content areas that have the most notable losses when students return to school in the autumn months.
Children in elementary grades are most vulnerable to this academic loss in math and ELA. Young children are at the beginning stages of development and are learning fundamental skills that they must build upon in successive years. Math and ELA concepts transfer into other academic areas and have real-life application, so it is crucial that students hone these skills year-round.
Summer is a break from school, but it should not be a break from learning.
Parents and grandparents can help children reinforce the content learned in school by engaging in fun activities all summer long.
● Family reading time with a focus on comprehension: set aside time each day for every member of the family to read. The reading material can be a book or an article of choice. At the end of the designated reading time, ask your child questions about what he/she read. The questions can be about the main idea, facts, details, etc.
● Family reading time with a focus on vocabulary: ask your child to keep a list of unfamiliar words he/she encounters when reading. Then, work together to use a dictionary to find definitions and parts of speech. Finally, create vocabulary sentences.
● Read-alouds: have your child read aloud. Listen for mispronunciations, as well as the lack of or need for pauses. Help your child sound out unfamiliar words. Focus on overall reading fluency.
● Math emphasis on addition and subtraction: invite your child to go food shopping. Ask him/her to add the costs of items.
● Math emphasis on measurements: engage your child in cooking dinner or baking a dessert. Have him/her use a variety of measuring tools for the ingredients.
● Handwriting and spelling: suggest that your child write the weekly food shopping list to practice handwriting and spelling.
● Research project: encourage your child to research a topic of interest and create a list of 10 facts about that topic to present to the family.
● Family outings: Go anywhere from a local park to an amusement park. Request that your child describe something he/she experienced or observed.
For families living in New York City, FasTracKids is the perfect supplement to school work and at-home learning. FasTracKids provides tutoring and enrichment for kids ages 2 to 14, year-round.
Programs at FasTracKids include focuses on reading, writing, math, test prep, gifted and talented, and educational preschool. Here are some of the many benefits:
● Enhance reading comprehension and higher-level cognitive skills
● Strengthen writing ability to craft well-organized compositions
● Improve math skills to engage in problem-solving
● Develop strategies to build test-taking confidence for a variety of standardized tests in the areas of math and ELA
● Master content on entrance exams for gifted and talented programs
● Combine play with learning for preschool students to enhance intellectual development
With educational centers in Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan, and Queens, find the convenient location for your young learner.
Help your child excel. See your child love to learn. Celebrate your child’s academic accomplishments.
Contact the knowledgeable staff at FasTracKids today by calling 347-983-2229 or by emailing info@FTKny.com. Visit the website FTKny.com and the Facebook page for additional information about enrichment programs, math and ELA, summer classes, and much more.