Newsletter May 2010
May 13, 2010
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We strive to bring you the most helpful and up to date information every month, and this month's newsletter is no exception.
You can scroll down through the articles below, or you can click on a headline you like to go directly to that article.

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This Month's Headlines:

A New Twist on Schooling Over Summer
Learning on the Move
Summer Reading with a Reluctant Reader
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A New Twist on Schooling Over Summer

It’s no surprise that spending a few months without schooling over the summer can lead to a loss of skills and knowledge. Some experts estimate that children lose one to two months of academic gain over the summer. Research from John Hopkins University suggests that summer learning loss is a crucial factor in children falling behind in school. Their study showed that 65 percent of the achievement gap found in children in low-income and middle-income families was due to a disparity in learning opportunities over the summer.

While this is disconcerting news, the positive side is that it is within your and your student’s power to prevent this learning loss. Like any other muscle, the brain must be constantly exercised and used to stay in the best shape possible. With summer just around the corner, you can take action now to make sure your child won’t suffer any learning losses during the break.

Things like summer camp can be expensive, but there are other alternatives that are just as effective and are kinder on the wallet. The summer is also a great time to demonstrate to children that learning can take on creative forms and doesn’t always have to feel like work. Some of the best learning happens when they are having so much fun they don’t even realize it. Here are a few tips for summer learning on a budget.

A Trip to the Library
The library may not exactly be on your radar, what with the Internet, e-books and other forms of technological media at our fingers. But sometimes nothing is more powerful than a good book to throw in the summer beach bag. What’s great about libraries is that they have so much specialized material that your child is sure to find a topic that really interests them. Let them choose something a little more creative than the usual summer reading list—the more interested they are in the subject or book, the more likely they are to follow through and read it.

Sneak in Some Math
Because math is an accumulative subject, and one that doesn’t necessarily get daily practice, it’s important to keep math skills fresh over break. Here too, you can be creative and innovative. Trips to the grocery store and cooking are both great ways to integrate mathematics like fractions, and other less obvious activities such as playing an instrument helps students learn more abstract skills like pattern recognition and timing. Many board and online games also involve mathematical concepts in subtle but fun ways.

Be of Service
Some activities allow for more social or emotional learning, which is just as important to your child’s growth and development. Volunteering at soup kitchens and other community service activities often create life changing experiences, and help children feel grateful for what they have and compassionate for those with less. Research has shown links between community service and effective learning. There are numerous organizations and causes that need your help. Let your child choose one that is meaningful to him or her.

Mini-vacations
Not everything has to be a grand excursion. Planning day trips to local parks, museums and nature centers is a great way to combine an adventure with new knowledge. Scavenger hunts are a tried and true fun exercise, or you can purchase guidebooks and seek out and identify local flowers, insects and birds. Activities like these help build observational and analytical skills, and teach an appreciation for the beauty of nature.

Enroll in Summer Tutor Sessions
For those interested in a more direct approach to summer learning, tutoring sessions over the summer can be a great solution. Sessions are designed to ensure your child stays on track over the summer, and tutors help your student prepare for the workload ahead next year, all while filling in any holes from previous course material. With one-on-one settings, your child gets the hands-on attention and structure he or she needs, but in a fun, setting that integrates learning with the more relaxed and free pace of summer.

Source: Weinstein, Anna. “Summer Learning on a Budget,” education.com.

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Learning on the Move

Most of us remember school being about sitting at our desks, completing handouts and worksheets, and practicing our handwriting. At the time, it seemed like the proper way to gain a good education, but today, more and more research emerges about how we learn. Not everyone benefits from straight lecturing and endless practicing of lessons while sitting in one place. Many students learn better when there are hands-on activities integrated into their lesson plans. These students, often called kinesthetic learners, have a hard time sitting at their desks, learning in a passive method. They prefer to move around the room, to touch things for better understanding, and to learn by doing.

The problem is that school remains very much a stationary endeavor. Despite their wishes, students still are expected to remain seated for long periods of time, and kinesthetic learners can start to be discouraged when they can’t just “sit and work” like many other students. But this doesn’t mean that something is wrong with them, or that they have to struggle through school. Kinesthetic learners are sometimes misdiagnosed with ADHD, when they just need to understand how they learn and find ways to adapt. With some understanding of what kinesthetic learners need, you can help your child embrace their learning style and take advantage of their strengths.

How do you know if your child is a kinesthetic learner? Here are some basic qualities of kinesthetic learners:

• Moving around frequently
• Inclined to touch people in conversation
• Enjoys physical activities
• Takes frequent breaks while studying
• Likes to solve problems by physically working through them
• Has difficulty spelling
• Doesn’t read often
• Taps their pen or foot while working
• Has a hard time sitting still for long periods
• Is coordinated
• Is considered hyper

These qualities don’t suggest that your child can’t succeed in school, just that they may need more creative ways to drive certain difficult lessons home. Often times this just means turning learning into a hands-on activity. There are many tools available for kinesthetic learners, such as:

• Modeling clay
• Abacus
• Drawing material
• Puzzles
• Blocks and cubes
• Wooden number and letters
• Computers
• Globes and maps

Summer is a particularly good time to engage a kinesthetic learner because there are so many possibilities to integrate physical activity with academic learning. Taking your child on field trips, giving them a creative chore to do, playing animated games, and working on craft projects are just a few ideas. Also, don’t underestimate the power of the outdoors. When it’s warm and sunny outside, there’s no reason for your child to be cooped up in front of the TV. Playtime outside is highly beneficial to students of all learning types, as children instinctually explore and entertain their curiosity when they are outdoors. And, with emerging research pointing to the beneficial links between exercise and effective studying, it’s a better time than ever to encourage your child to get out there and move.

Source: Hutton, Shannon. “Helping Kinesthetic Learners Succeed.” Education Magazine.
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Summer Reading with a Reluctant Reader

Reading is one of the hardest subjects to get students into. Some are natural readers and will need no persuasion to believe in the power of books. For others, getting them to read—much less over the summer break—can be like pulling teeth. For the most reluctant reader, it’s important to take small and constant steps to integrate reading into their daily life.

The early eighteenth century poet Joseph Addison once said, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” With this in mind, the more often reading is a part of your child’s day, the more ingrained it becomes in his or her lifestyle. Read to your child, read next to your child, read along with your child—whatever it is, just try your best to have your child reading consistently over the summer break. His or her teacher in September will thank you, and your child might too someday!

Lay down the law
Make it very clear from the beginning that your student will be doing summer reading. No bargaining. The clearer is it, the less arguments later. That doesn’t mean your child has to read Pride and Prejudice—allow him or her to pick out something of interest, and demonstrate that the choices are nearly endless. There is a book for just about every interest or hobby.

Set a target
An easy way to keep structure to reading efforts is to set quotas and goals. You can set a time limit—read every day for 20 minutes—or a number of pages that have to be covered each day. You can start off slowly and increase the time or pages each day until you reach your child’s goal. This not only teaches discipline, but also reinforces planning and time management for larger projects.

Variety is the spice of life
Chances are good that your child has an assigned reading list for school. Many of these books don’t appeal much to young readers, so it’s okay if your child wants to switch back and forth from required to elective reading. As long as he or she is maintaining a good pace to finish by summer’s end, it’s okay to take a break and turn to something of interest. The key is to keep their energy and interest up, not let them get bored by reading.

Hunt and gather
The more material you provide your child with, the likelier they are to pick something up. Watch for book sales, garage and library sales, and special online offers or discounts. Then put the books you’ve scored around the house, on the table, next to your child’s bed, in the beach bag, in the car. Again, the more reading material is around and available, the more your child will turn to it when looking for something to do.

Your efforts
Parents aren’t exempt from this one—the more you show a respect for reading, the more your child will believe you when you tout the benefits of active reading habits. Read aloud to your child every chance you get. This doesn’t mean sitting your high school student down for story time, but whenever you come across an interesting or exciting story, joke or anecdote, read it aloud to your child. This helps strengthen related reading comprehension skills like visualization, vocabulary and imagination building, without your child even realizing it.

Reading books and then watching and comparing the movie or theater version afterward is another good way to strengthen analytical skills. Notice what the director left in or took out from the story, or how the dialog and plot developed differently. Did your child imagine a similar setting? Did the characters live up to what he or she had imagined?

Get creative
Finally, don’t be afraid to turn traditional concepts of reading on their head. Help your child by acting out parts of the book “on stage.” Doing book reports or making your own cover jacket for a book are other fun activities for younger students—and can involve more crayons, markers and magazine clippings than your typical school book project.

Book related trips are a great idea for summer. Is there a great dinosaur exhibit that ties into one of the books your child is reading? Take them to see the exhibit, or head to a story-reading session or author appearance at a bookstore. The more ways you turn reading into real life adventures, the more likely children are to see that reading can open up a whole new and exciting world.

Source: Excerpted from Teacher Says by Evelyn Porreca Vuko, 2004, familyeducation.com.

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