Thursday, June 22, 2023 Volume 17 Issue 37
Summer is just around the corner! We know that students tend to experience a loss of skill over the length of a typical summer. We need to keep our children engaged in learning throughout the end of the school year and into the summer and we need your help to do this!
Here’s some ways to support your students in keeping the academic gains they have made throughout this school year:
Continue to practice the games taught at APTT nights. The games created and taught by our teacher at APTT were chosen based on specific skills that are important for their grade level. Playing the games will help your child master skills they still need practice with and maintain skills they learned over the course of this school year.
Work on Math Fact Fluency. There are many ways to practice math facts – through APTT games, with playing cards and on-line programs. Repetition is key! Helping your child become fluent with their math facts is a great way to support them with learning higher level math. Less effort spent figuring our math facts means they have more bandwidth to learn math concepts.
IXL – our online math learning website remains available to your child all summer! This resource is not inexpensive for us to provide, but it is worth it as it is an easy way for your child to keep practicing math skills. Consider a goal of having your child practice 3-4 times a week for just 10-15 minutes per session.
Writing – there are lots of ways to incorporate writing into your child’s summer. This is the skill our TM students are least likely to keep practicing during summer months and this shows when they return to school in the fall. Depending on the age of your child, have them write your grocery list, draw pictures, and then create a story to go with it, send an email or letter to a relative, create signs or posters for your neighborhood, or create a comic to share with a friend. You may get even more creative and have them start a blog to share with your extended family.
One of the most important things our students can be doing is reading every day. This should continue throughout the summer. Thirty minutes per day is a great goal. Mr. Zetterberg will be running a summer library program on Tuesday evenings from 4-7 PM, as he does each summer. Our goal is to keep books accessible to students so that each student can read at least 4 books over the course of the summer – the amount said to keep summer slide from happening.
Additionally, many community agencies have summer programs. The public library offers a variety of summer programming for students. You can find out more here: https://www.spl.org/programs-and-services/learning/summer-of-learning/2023-summer-of-learning and in the flyers attached to the Pup Press.
We sent home information about the UW Real Dawgs Read Program last week (information is also posted below) and here are some more summer reading programs that our Family Literacy Connector, Ms. Washington researched:
Seattle Mariners Summer Slugger
Each week, students complete a series of fun, interactive baseball-themed Math and Literacy games. Aligns with State and National standards in math and literacy. (June-August)
Book-it Reading Program
Students can earn free pizza from Pizza Hut for tracking the amount of time they read
Half Price Books Summering Reading Camp (Online)
Submit a reading log and receive a reward at the end of the month.
Barbershop Books E-Library
The Barbershop Books E-Library features a diverse collection of fun story time videos and independently published e-books by Black and Brown authors.
King County Library System
Any family member can log reading hours, so it encourages the whole family to read.
(June 1st- August 31st)
Help us keep the learning at TM going now – and ALL through the summer!
Ms. Reed, Ms. Haile, and Ms. Reddy's classes have just completed a residency with the Big World Breaks drumming program! On Tuesday evening, we celebrated their achievement with a drumming program for the families of these classes.
