PPS Summer Learning Guide 2017

PLYMOUTH PUBLIC SCHOOLS

SUMMER LEARNING GUIDE

SUMMER READING Reading packets and book lists for all grades.

MATH WORKSHOPS Summer math packets and workshops with fantastic teachers! Â

CAMPS & EVENTS Family-fun events all summer long!

& MUCH MORE!

IN THIS GUIDE, YOU WILL FIND

4

SUMMER READING LISTS

6

MATH PACKETS

8

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

10

VPA CAMPS

12

PLYMOUTH PUBLIC LIBRARY

13

PLYMOUTH FAMILY NETWORK

14

HEALTHY PLYMOUTH

15

FREE FRIDAYS!

16

HEALTHY SUMMER TIPS

17

STAY CONNECTED

WHY SUMMER LEARNING IS IMPORTANT Summer is finally upon us! As your children spend more days soaking in the sun and chasing ice cream trucks, it's important to mix in academic activities to prevent summer learning loss.

Research shows that the equivalent of one month of overall learning is lost after summer vacation.

In this guide, you will find resources to help prevent the "Summer Slide." From Plymouth Public Schools reading lists and math packets for all grades to camps and activities that will help keep your child's science and history knowledge proficient, this guide is full of helpful information. We hope you have a great summer vacation!

SEVEN WAYS TO PREVENT SUMMER LEARNING LOSS Barbara Dianis, edutopia.org

MAKE TIME FOR LEARNING Set aside time for your student to read each day during the summer break -- 15 to 30 minutes per day is all it takes! During the summer, students have more time to read for enjoyment, which also offers a great opportunity to preserve and strengthen their reading skills. Your summer activities should include taking your children or teenagers to the public library to check out books of interest and/or any summer reading groups they'd like to join.

A great way to track how much reading your child is doing during the summer months is a tally on your regular activities calendar. This will help keep the daily reading time from being overlooked because of other summer activities -- and we know there are many!

Parents of students reading below grade level should read with their children in order to assist with sounding out words they might not be able to decode themselves. In addition, keep a dictionary or online source close by to help students figure out those words by using the phonetic spelling provided.

LEARN AND PRACTICE AFFIXES

Children and teens of all grade levels can improve their reading and spelling skills by learning affixes. Most multi-syllable words include prefixes and suffixes added to a base word. You can find a list of affixes and their meanings in a dictionary or in many online sources. To make this practice appealing, turn it into a game! Students can create flashcards of prefixes and suffixes. On the reverse side of each affix flash card, they should write the meaning. All children love guessing games and can point out what they think the affix means. You can also use this game to help them learn new vocabulary words.

PAGE 08

DEVELOP MATH SKILLS

Though it may not seem fun to them at the time, working on just three to four math problems per day during the summer can prevent students' mathematical skills from getting rusty. They can look at it as a daily challenge that they must complete, or a daily "to-do" to proudly check off their calendar. Parents can purchase a math workbook for their child's academic level at most bookstores. Working on just a few problems daily (or more, if your child enjoys math) can help students of all ages close the gaps in their math skills, preserve what they learned during the previous school year, and prepare for the next.

IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION To help your children better understand what they're reading, consider offering them a reading comprehension workbook to work on several minutes daily. These can be found at teacher supply stores or many online outlets. Students of all grades and ability levels can benefit scholastically by working with material that offers self-quizzes and high-interest stories. This practice helps develop their fact-retaining and inference-making skills.

REVIEW AND BUILD GRAMMAR SKILLS

Review the past grade level's grammar concepts, and begin to work on the next school year's concepts. During the summer, students benefit from weekly reviews or pre-learning two to four lessons. Find workbooks geared to their grade or skill level, and encourage them to check their work using the answer key provided. Even if they make mistakes on their answers (and who doesn't make mistakes?), finally filling in the correct answers will reinforce their grammar skills.

ENCOURAGE CREATIVE WRITING Creative writing is a great way to improve your children's written language skills while giving them a fun and imaginative activity during the summer! Have your student write a creative paragraph each week. As a parent, you can help by assisting him or her with choosing a "topic" (such as a family vacation, special outing or holiday memory) to write a paragraph about.

Students can also benefit from using a thesaurus and changing several common words to more interesting words. This will make their writing more interesting while learning great new words at the same time.

FOCUS ON SPECIFIC SKILLS Pinpoint the subjects your child had the most trouble learning the previous school year, and make sure to fit in some practice in these areas. Summer is an ideal time to set aside just 15 to 30 minutes a day for helping your student on areas of difficulty. Again, use every resource available to you! Parents are not helpless when it comes to their child's education. Online resources and teacher supply stores offer a wide variety of learning materials, workbooks, computer games, and other types of games to reinforce and strengthen scholastic skills. Students may wish to play learning games with their friends to help make the time fly by and make learning more fun.

Over the summer, students and parents who practice the above tips can see great strengthening and improvement in scholastic skills, and avoid digressing two to three months in learning. Summer learning can be fun and challenging at the same time. Students may find learning to be more fun as they become more capable of meeting scholastic challenges and overcoming any learning weaknesses. By implementing a summer plan and igniting your child's passion for learning, he or she can enjoy a renewed sense of academic self-esteem and dignity -- wonderful benefits of learning not to be "counted out." https://www.edutopia.org/blog/7-ways-prevent-summer-learning-loss-barbara-dianis

SUMMER READING

We are pleased to present the 2017 Plymouth Public Schools’ Summer Reading Program, offered in conjunction with the Plymouth Public Library’s program, “Build a Better World.”

We hope to encourage our students to incorporate daily reading into their summer activities and instill a love of reading as a lifelong leisure activity that can provide hours of enjoyment. In addition, research shows that frequent independent reading has a direct correlation to reading achievement and improves vocabulary skills.

The more students read, the better readers they become – and it is just plain fun, too!

ENTERING GRADES 1-5 Click on the links below for summer reading lists

Summer Reading Letter & Materials Book Recommendations

SUMMER READING WORKSHOPS K-12 READING WORKSHOP Plymouth Public Library Tuesday, June 20th 2:00 - 4:00 PM

ENTERING GRADES 6-8

ENTERING GRADES 9-12

Click on the links below for summer reading lists

Click on the links below for summer reading lists

Summer Reading Letter & Materials

Summer Reading Letter & Materials

Middle School Book Lists

High School Book Lists

HIGH SCHOOL SUMMER READING WORKSHOPS Students are invited to join several Plymouth English Teachers and Librarians this summer to jumpstart their summer HIGH SCHOOL WORKSHOP reading and discuss their books.

Plymouth Public Library THANK YOU teachers Thursday, July 6th and librarians!

Thursday, August 17th

12:00 - 2:00 PM

SUMMER

Your child has acquired many new skills this year in math class. However, over the summer months, many of the strides your child made the previous year may be lost due to summer math inactivity. For this reason, we are happy to provide your child with a summer math packet of skills that will help them start the year off right!

MATH PACKETS ENTERING GRADE 6

ENTERING GRADE 7

Summer Math Letter

Summer Math Letter

ENTERING GRADE 8 Summer Math Letter Click on the links above for math letters and Google Classroom codes. These packets are required, similar to summer reading, and will be graded on a Pass/Fail basis upon students’ return in the fall.

MIDDLE SCHOOL SUMMER MATH WORKSHOPS Students are encouraged to join several Plymouth Math Teachers this summer to jumpstart their summer math packets and receive any help they may need. THANK YOU teachers!

Tuesday, June 27th – Mrs. Johnson Wednesday, July 12th – Mrs. Johnson Wednesday, July 19th – Mrs. Hapgood Wednesday, July 26th – Mrs. Hapgood Wednesday, August 2nd – Mrs. Ring Wednesday, August 9th – Mrs. Ring

Plymouth North High School Room 135 11:00am – 1:00pm

Wednesday, August 16th – Mr. Ross Wednesday, August 23th – Mr. Ross You may drop in on any or all of these dates between the hours of 11:00am and be picked up by 1:00pm.

HIGH SCHOOL

The math department at Plymouth Public Schools wants you to be successful in your honors and AP studies. These summer packets are designed to help you reach these goals by reviewing necessary skills. Be sure to follow the key information when completing your packet.

HONORS

& AP

HONORS COURSES GEOMETRY HONORS

ALGEBRA 2 HONORS

Summer Work Packet

Summer Work Packet

PRECALCULUS HONORS

CALCULUS HONORS

Summer Work Packet

Summer Work Packet

DISCRETE MATH HONORS Summer Work Packet

AP COURSES AP CALCULUS AB

AP CALCULUS BC

Summer Work Packet

Summer Work Packet

AP COMPUTER SCIENCE PRINCIPLES

AP STATISTICS

Summer Work Packet

Summer Work Packet

SCIENCE & Check out these helpful apps and websites to keep your child's science & technology skills fresh this summer!

STAR WALK Star Walk is an interactive astronomy guide that shows stars, planets & moon in the sky above you. Fun for ALL AGES!

TINKER & CREATE Cutting-edge science and technology courses for children and adults.

MASSACHUSETTS MAKERSPACES A full list of makerspaces to visit & participate in fun STEM activities all across Massachusetts!

SCIENCE VITURAL TOURS Take a virtual tour of some of the greatest places on earth (and NOT on earth)!

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Inside the World of 3M Science Google Earth Moon Tour

ECLIPSE DAY! AUGUST 21, 2017

For eclipse viewing safety, fun activities and remarkable facts, visit NASA.gov!

#Eclipse2017

TECHNOLOGY BRAINPOP Elementary and middle school students can learn and engage in fun Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Arts & Music, and Technology games using BrainPop through their school Google account!

CODE.ORG Interested in keeping the Hour of Code going? Check out code.org for some fun activities.

CLEVER Students can log in to their Clever account over the summer! Go to clever.com/in/plymouth and use their Google ID to log in.

COMMON SENSE MEDIA PARENTS! From apps and websites to TV and books, learn how to keep your child safe. GREAT RESOURCES!

CONCERNED ABOUT RECENT THREATS FROM RANSOMWARE? Know the facts and keep your information safe! Read this flyer from the Plymouth Public Schools Technology Department to learn some tips on how to stay safe and guard against ransomware.

GET EDUCATED ON RANSOMWARE

VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS

The Plymouth International Chorus heads to the UK!

Follow along on social media as the Plymouth International Chorus heads to Plymouth, England to join the UK students of the Legacy Choir this JUNE! Don't miss any moments of their exciting trip including performances at Plymouth Armed Forces Day and the historic Guildhall, visits to Stonehenge, the Eden Project and much more.

@PICchorus @PPS_Presents

@vpaplymouth

FOLLOW THE HASHTAG #PICUK2017

@plymouthvpa

SUMMER CAMPS A CAPELLA JULY 10 - 14 INTERMEDIATE INSTRUMENTAL JULY 31 - AUGUST 4 INSTRUMENT EXPLORATION AUGUST 7 - 11 HIGH SCHOOL SUMMER ART STUDIO JULY 10 - 14 eNATURE PHOTO FUN JULY 24 - 28 THE KIDS ACTING UP THEATER WORKSHOP JULY 17 - 21 THEATER WORKSHOP GRADES 8-12 AUGUST 7 - 11 REGISTER HERE

PLYMOUTH PUBLIC LIBRARY

Our friends at the Plymouth Public Library have a fun-filled schedule for you to enjoy all summer long! From inventor's workshops to concerts on the lawn, they have educational events planned for all ages.

SUMMER 2017 LIBRARY PROGRAM Build a Better World will offer weekly and monthly programs, activities, and performances for patrons of all ages. Sign up if you would like to earn tickets for our end of the summer prize drawing. Click for more information and to register.

For ALL ages!

For more summer fun, visit their website at plymouthpubliclibrary.org.

CALENDER OF EVENTS

@plymouthlibrary

@plymouthlibrary

PLYMOUTH FAMILY NETWORK

PFN invites Plymouth families with children under five to join them for summer playgroup time in their air conditioned playroom! Children can play, learn, explore, and make new friends in our family-centered play space.

DROP-IN PLAYGROUPS 10:00 - 11:30 AM

TUESDAYS July 11, 18, 25 August 1 & 8

WEDNESDAYS July 12, 19, 26 August 2 & 9

Plymouth Family Network is located at PCIS/Plymouth Early Childhood Center 117 Long Pond Road, Plymouth

PFN SUMMER NEWSLETTER It’s time to get outside and enjoy the weather and all of the great activities that will be happening in our community. The PFN staff has put together a newsletter full of free activities, recreational sites and adventures for families to explore during the less structured days of summer. Check out their newsletter for the fun opportunities this Summer including...

FREE LUNCH AT HEDGE ● STORY TIME ● MUSIC & MINDFULNESS YOGA ● DJ DANCE PARTY The Plymouth Family Network (PFN) provides parent outreach, education and community support services designed to make parenting less stressful, to build on family strengths and enhance school readiness. PFN welcomes all families residing in Plymouth who are expecting or have a young child. There are no income requirements and all services are free of charge.

HEALTHY PLYMOUTH

Healthy Plymouth and Terra Cura, Inc. have partnered to provide organic, edible gardens to the Plymouth Public Schools and the community. Over 100 members of the Plymouth community have worked together across sectors to install and maintain the gardens. Healthy Plymouth has a busy summer planned for Plymouth's school and community gardens, join in on the fun!

FAMILY GARDEN EVENTS

Several engaging garden events scheduled at Hedge and Nathaniel Morton for families with school-aged children. All are welcome!

Hedge Elementary School Tuesday, July 11 - 9:30 am to 12:30 pm Tuesday, July 25 - 9:30 am to 12:30 pm Nathaniel Morton Elementary School Monday, July 31 - 10:00 am to 1:00 pm Monday, Aug 14 - 10:00 am to 1:00 pm There's more ways to be involved!

Visit healthyplymouth.org.

Learn the health benefits of growing and eating organic fruits and vegetables, how to plant seeds and seedlings in the garden, how to plant and maintain perennial herbs & much more.

Along with garden tours, scavenger hunts and hands-on garden craft activities.

COVER UP AND WEAR SUNSCREEN!

PLYMOUTH PUBLIC SCHOOLS HEALTH SERVICES For more great summer health & wellness resources, following PPS Health Services on Facebook!

STAY CONNECTED DR. LISA WHITE, ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS COORDINATOR

@PlymouthAcCoord DR. KELLY BITINAS, MATHEMATICS COORDINATOR

@PlymouthAcCoord ALISON RIORDAN, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY/ ENGINEERING CURRICULUM COORDINATOR

@PPS_Science @plymouthpublicschoolsSTE

DR. KATHLEEN BABINI SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM COORDINATOR

@PlymouthAcCoord

MIKE CAPLE, VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS COORDINATOR

@PPS_Presents @plymouthvpa

JULIA ZANGL COLBY, EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY & INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA COORDINATOR

@jzcolby #PPSEDTECH

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!

@plymouthpublicschoolsma @plymouthsch @plymouthpublicschools +plymouthpublicschoolsma Plymouth Public Schools

www.plymouth.k12.ma.us

View the 2017-2018 school calendar!