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Seven Inventive Ideas to Stop the Summer Slide
TEXT: SCOTT B. FREIBERGER IMAGES: WEB
Originally published by LinkedIn Pulse on May 31, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/seven-inventive-ideas-stop-summer-slide-scott-freiberger
Summer is typically a time when unenthusiastic youth become even more unmotivated. With many events transpiring in the searing outdoors, planning enlightening indoor activities that spark scholastic spirit becomes even more challenging. While “summer slide” may jog memories of slippery water slides, the term actually refers to slippage in reading and math levels that tends to occur during the summer, from one grade to the next, when children prefer to practice their gaming guile over polymath pursuits. Can we keep children engaged in cerebral celebrations over innocuous inclinations? Here are seven inventive ideas to stop the summer slide.
Establish a Conversation Corner
Read Aloud to Make Us Proud
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After reading a story, ask children to talk, in their own words, about the characters and what transpired. Expose children to a wide variety of words to enhance language and vocabulary development, and influence later literacy achievement. Reflect yourself.
Include books that reflect your child’s native culture and language. Help each child to feel proud of who he or she is. For non-native speakers, reading in a native language first should also make it easier for children to acquire English. Consider yourself the family fairy godmother, and read with children now to pave the path of a future as bright as a marvelous magic wand.
Puzzles, Robots, and Books... Oh My!
There are surprising benefits to producing perfect puzzle pictures for both children and adults. In children, playing with puzzles has been found to enhance diagnostic skills, augment aptitude, reinforce hand-eye coordination, and strengthen self-esteem. In adults, putting together puzzles has led to enhanced evocation and more precise problem-solving, increased IQ scores, and raised visual-spatial reasoning. There is also evidence of lowered stress levels and a delay in Dementia and Alzheimer’s. Like people, puzzles come in many shapes and sizes, so here’s to planning a novel puzzle pastime!
Robots and technology can also improve teaching and learning within children’s classrooms, schools, and communities. By integrating digital tools into playing and learning, children are able to develop a skill called computational thinking, the process of deciphering
2 a problem via detail and precision. Computational thinking may lead to better reasoning and problemsolving. With strengthening science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills in mind, consider a family-friendly affair to build a robot together.
Of course, stack a bastion of bodacious books nearby. Select stories that emphasize building character, environmental conservation, making good choices, and developing positive self-esteem. According to literacy expert Timothy Shanahan, after repeated storytelling, young children should be able to begin recognizing basic words such as “I” and “like.”