SUMMER LEARNING ACTIVITY

Parents: Because so many of your children have had an off-again/on-again education during the past two years, it is important for them to do some catch-up work this summer. If their learning lag appears to be quite serious, then you will want them to do some formal work with tutors, online programs, or summer school. Otherwise, it is still important to keep them in the learning mode this summer. One way to do that is through some of our language arts activities. The language arts involve the skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) used to communicate ideas effectively. They are the foundation for lifelong learning.

The following activities are designed to be enjoyable for your children to do. Most of them involve the family. Try to do a few each week. Besides improving school skills, they also may help the language arts be more appealing to your children in the future at school. If they are enjoying doing some of these learning activities this summer, you will find more on all subjects on our Dear Teacher website. And there are also a great number online. You just have to search for them.

Storytelling

This is a skill that helps children develop their oral language skills and teaches them how to present material in a sequential order. Being a good storyteller definitely pays dividends at school. It can be especially enjoyable to practice this skill any time the family is together from meals to car trips to around campfires in the evening. The earlier you start your children telling stories, the more likely it will become an enjoyable part of their lives.

Preschool and Kindergarten

• Take your children to a storytelling session at the local library so they will learn what fun it can be to hear stories.

• Have your children frequently retell favorite stories. Encourage them to change the ending if they would like to do so.

• Instead of reading a book at bedtime, tell your children a story. They will especially enjoy hearing about things that you did as a child.

Elementary School

• Have your children take turns telling a story alternating between using “Luckily, ...” and “Unluckily, ...” to start each sentence. Or the sentences can start with one or other of these word combinations: happily and sadly, frequently and rarely, safely and dangerously, or any other combination your family wants to use. These stories should amuse the family. For example, you might retell a fairy tale such as The Three Bears using lines like “Luckily, Goldilocks found a house in the woods. Unluckily, the bears came home early.”

Middle School & Beyond

• Encourage your older children to play games that actually involve some storytelling, such as Fabrication in which they will tell an outrageously tall tale. It is a good way for them to discover storytelling is fun.

Word Games

• Word games are great for children of all ages because besides having fun playing a game, children are also expanding their vocabulary and spelling skills. Many games also can enhance their criticalthinking skills.

• For younger children, word games can be made from words they know or need to know. For example, you can make two sets of word cards — each with the same words — and then use them to play the card games War, Go Fish, and even Old Maid. These same cards can be used to play memory games by laying them out and turning them over to find matching pairs.

• Right now, the game “Wordle” which is online at the New York Times is quite popular and can be played every day. It is a challenging way to enhance your children’s spelling skills and word knowledge.

• You should also introduce your children to the game and TV show — 25 Words or Less. This will improve their ability to define words.

• Popular board games such as Scrabble, Boggle, and Bananagrams often have versions for different age levels.

• Older children should be introduced to the challenge of crossword puzzles and cryptograms in hopes that they may become a lifetime interest continued on page 50

— bySandi Schwartz