Keeping Skills Sharp in Summer
Meghan Kimpton, M.S.Ed.

Summer is for fun, and keeping up academic  skills can be too!  While the summer months seem to fly by, it can be easy to lose proficiency in skills when they aren’t practiced on a regular basis.  This time of year can be a great time to tackle some trouble spots without the pressures of homework and afterschool activities.  The following are activities to help keep reading, writing, and math skills sharp while still having fun in the summer. 

Reading and Writing

The best way to practice reading is to read!  Set aside a daily “reading time” for the whole family.  This should typically last from 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the age of the student.  Choose designated days for the child to read independently.  On alternate days, engage your child in discussion about the book they are reading in order to strengthen comprehension skills. Before reading, ask your child to make predictions about the book and/or draw connections to information that is related (e.g., other books, movies, events from his or her life) to the story.  While reading, engage in conversation about the subject matter.  Ask questions regarding the plot, characters’ actions, and the sequence of events.

Magazine subscriptions are another way to make summer reading fun.  A resource for child-friendly magazines is Carus Publishing, which publishes Cricket and other educational, age-appropriate magazines. Highlights is another excellent children’s magazine that contains a variety of articles and activities. Sports Illustrated for Kids may be of particular interest to an athletic child. For older students, choose an article from a newspaper or magazine once a week and engage in conversations about your child’s opinions on the topic. Challenge them to find specific evidence in the article to prove their point.

To incorporate reading and writing, have your child write and post their own online review of  the books that they read this summer. See www.bookreviewsbykids.com for more information and specific guidelines for writing the review.   

Don’t forget your local library! Libraries often have summer reading programs with incentives and special programs. 

Students can write for fun in the summer. Have your child write a weekly family newsletter that keeps relatives and friends up to date on summer happenings.  Keeping a journal and writing letters can also be great ways to get writing skills ready for the new  year. 

Math

Go on a mock spending spree . Have your child circle things that they would like to buy in catalogs. When your child is finished, ask him or her to add up the total cost. Challenge them to figure out which items must be removed from the wish list to get below $100. You can even teach them how to use a calculator.

Cooking is a great way to give your child practical experience with many math skills, particularly fractions. Ask your child to help with dinner, but instead of scooping out a cup of rice, demonstrate that using a 1/3 cup measure three times yields the same amount as using the 1 cup measure once. Use a measuring cup to explain that three eighths is less than one half, even if it sounds like more. Following recipes will also help with other math literacy concepts. To practice basic addition, play Double War. Begin by removing all face cards and aces from two decks of cards. The remaining 72 cards are dealt out face down to the two players so that each has two stacks.  Each player concurrently turns up the top cards from each of his/her stacks. The person whose total is greatest takes all four cards. The player with the most cards at the end is the winner.

Multiplication facts can be practiced by playing the Comparison Game.  Begin by removing the face cards from a deck of cards. For the purposes of this game, an ace is equal to one.  Each student draws two cards from this deck and then writes down the multiplication number sentence and product.  The partner repeats the process above. The student with the smallest product wins the round.  The winner is the one who has won the most rounds at the end of the game time.

Involve your child in the planning of a summer vacation.  They can calculate the total number of miles traveled, budget money for a certain aspect of the trip, or even be the designated “time keeper” during various activities. 

Check out these websites for more summer activities:
www.scholastic.com/summerreading           
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/
www.kids-space.org                                       
http://www.brainbashers.com/
www.rif.org/readingplanet                           
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
http://www.kidsreads.com/                           
http://www.funbrain.com/
http://www.starfall.com/

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Back-To-School Anxiety
Heidi Van Horne, Psy. D.

Starting a new school year can be anxiety-producing for many children.  They might worry about how to make new friends, navigate a new school, face possible bullies, handle schoolwork that is more than they think they can manage, and being “cool” enough.  Students with learning differences may be particularly worried about returning to school in the fall.  These types of common concerns can lead to stomachaches, difficulty sleeping, clinginess, tantrums, and even school refusal.  Helping their children shift from summer-mode back to school-mode can be a real challenge for many parents.  Here are some tips to help.

• Talk with your child about their expectations
• Listen to their concerns.
• Ask guiding questions to help get them in the mindset of beginning a new school year (e.g., What do you think 3rd grade will be like? “).
• Develop plans for handling potential situations about which they are concerned (e.g., what should you do if mom/dad is late picking you up from school?).
• Set goals for the school year.
• Visit the school
• Find out if you can visit your child’s school, meet the teacher, and look at the classroom.
• If your child has any special needs, call your child’s school ahead of time to let them know and make necessary arrangements (e.g., medication, snacks, insulin, etc.).
• Drive by the school neighborhood.
• Have the right supplies
• This might be limited on the first day back, but some sort of bag, a writing utensil, and a folder are a good place to start.  This will help your child to be thinking about their materials, and will enable them to bring home communication from the school w/out losing it.  Get in the habit of helping your child prepare their materials for school the night before.
• Dress your child accordingly – send a sweatshirt, umbrella, gym clothes, etc.  Try not to send your child in clothes that are high on fashion and light on functionality.
• Shopping for school supplies can be a good time to talk to your child about their thoughts and feelings about returning to school.
• Adjust daily schedules as the summer comes to an end
• It’s great to be on a relaxed schedule during the summer, however, children will be better  prepared to handle the school schedule if it doesn’t come as such a shock to their systems.
• Adjustments to the following may be helpful: bedtime, wake-up, breakfast, departure time, bus pick-up time, school out.
• Posting a schedule of your child’s day/week may be helpful for them in understanding and preparing for their days/weeks.
• Make sure your child has a healthy breakfast
• Make sure that your child is getting enough protein in the morning (Monastra, http://theadhddoc.com/welcome.php).  Try to get about 15-20 grams of protein for kids and preteens; 20-30 grams for teens.
• Send your child with extra snacks if they get hungry frequently.  Send a healthy lunch or money if your child will be buying lunch.  Find out if your child’s school has any pre-paid lunch options so that your child can avoid having to bring money to and from school every day.
• Check out the USDA food pyramid website for guidelines:  http://www.mypyramid.gov/index.html.
• Make sure your child is getting enough sleep
• 3-5 year olds - 11-13 hours
• 5-12 year olds - 10-11 hours/night
• Adolescents need - 8 ½ -9 hours/night
• Adults need - 7-9 hours/night
•  Check out this sleep website for more information: http://minnsleep.com/treatment/insomnia.php
• The new school year is a great time to begin new rituals and traditions
• Help your child to focus on the positive about the new year by celebrating their strengths, affinities, and summer accomplishments.
• Taking photos, measuring their heights, having a special dinner the night before can help to start the year off in a positive direction.
• Having family meetings can help to open communication channels
• Regular meetings (weekly) can help children to have a regular opportunity to talk about their successes, challenges, and concerns.
• Parents can model how to talk about these issues, how to offer support, etc.
• Try to network with other families
• Knowing a familiar face in the classroom can help to alleviate anxiety.
• Talking with friends, family members, or neighbors about their experiences in a particular school or grade might be helpful.
•  Don’t leave summer assignments until the very end of the summer!
• If your child has either multiple assignments or long-term reading assignments, help them to plan these out ahead of time so they aren’t scrambling at the last minute to get things done.

When should I seek professional help for my child’s anxiety?
It is common for children to experience anxiety about going back to school in the fall, as well as anxiety and stress about things such as doing well on a test, competing in a major sporting event, or performing in a play or musical competition.  Such mild anxiety can actually help your child to attain the effective level of alertness and focus necessary for such challenging situations.   Further, most children can overcome their fears with the help of a parent. However, some children experience prolonged symptoms of anxiety that are disruptive in their day-to-day functioning.  Children experiencing such significant levels of anxiety can benefit from the expertise of a professional who can help them to better manage their anxiety.   Some common symptoms of anxiety that might warrant professional help:

• Fear and anxiety for no apparent reason
• Unrealistic worries about everyday occurrences and activities
• On-going checking and re-checking actions

What to do

• For more information about anxiety disorders, the American Psychological Association (APA) website provides helpful information about anxiety and other issues related to emotional functioning.
•  If you feel that your child needs professional assistance, you can locate psychologists on the APA website or by going through your insurance provider. 
• Talk with your child’s pediatrician and see if he/she can make specific referrals for mental health professionals in your area.
  
  

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Organization- Summer Strategies to Prepare for the
Upcoming School Year
Erin LeFevour, M.Ed.

Transitioning from a relaxing summer to the busy schedule and structure of the school day can be a difficult adjustment for some.  By creating a solid organization system over the summer, the transition from August to September can be made easier.  By practicing strategies pertaining to time management, organization of materials, and work completion your child can become more comfortable and confident about the upcoming school year.  Here are a few suggestions to practice organizational skills over the summer. 

Time Management

Your child may become much more organized when doing something he or she enjoys and is good at, such as performing a science project, building a go-cart, or painting a mural. He or she may need to break the project down into mini-tasks, plan ahead to allot time for each task, organize materials so nothing gets lost, etc.  You can show your child how to use some of these same strategies on required projects of less interest (i.e., book report, research paper).

Before going to bed, your child can check off his or her accomplishments and document how long each took to complete. Make and use a “Time and Accomplishment Record” to help estimate and allocate time for planned activities such as cleaning his or her room. Keeping these records can help make your child more aware of time and organization and can help improve self-monitoring.

Emphasize efficient time management by meeting with your child each Sunday evening to help plan and record work and activities for the coming week, using either a desk calendar or computer software. In the summer, these activities could be leisure-focused, such as play dates, baseball games, camp, etc.  As the school year begins, slowly begin adding academic tasks as part of this planning.  Part of this meeting should include discussing how long each activity is likely to take. Time should be included for spontaneous unscheduled events.  By becoming comfortable with this time management routine over the summer, it will make for a smooth transition into using this strategy for the school year.

Using checklists is a very easy way to organize extended work and facilitate timely transitions. Checklists also provide built-in reinforcement as it can be very satisfying to check off tasks as they are completed. Use checklist for various tasks throughout the summer.  A morning clean-up checklist could look like this:

8:00am – breakfast
8:30 – get dressed
9:00 – help with yard work
9:30-9:45 break
9:45-10:15 finish yard work
10:30-10:50 shower and get dressed
11:00 get picked up for baseball practice

Your child may need a fair amount of coaching in how to create and use checklists, but as he or she gains experience it should become his or her responsibility to use them independently.

Materials Management

You can help your child set up a well-organized study or workspace at home in preparation for the upcoming school year. His or her bedroom may not be the best choice, since it may have many distractions. Bring your child with you to the store and be creative and flexible in picking out a variety of supplies to aid in organization (e.g., multiple binders, single accordion file folder, etc.). Outfit the desk with pens, highlighters, paper, rulers, reference books, and other materials your child will need.   Drawers in the desk or table should be well labeled with contents (pencils, paper, stapler, ruler, etc.). One drawer should have color-coded folders for different subjects in school, to save papers from each class. There can also be specific folders for work in progress and articles related to topics of interest.

Maintaining this organized workspace is critical. If your child cannot or will not do it, then you could take on this responsibility initially, preferably while your child is there to see the modeling. The hope is that he or she will get into the habit of working in a well-organized environment and eventually will strive to maintain such a workplace independently.

In order to keep specific spaces organized keep examples or models available to which your child can refer. Photographs, drawings, or diagrams showing well organized arrangements of materials in different locations or settings (e.g., bedroom, closet, desk, notebook) can serve as references for him or her.

Take time to sort, purge, and organize workspaces.  The goal is for your child to be able to efficiently locate what he or she needs, whether it’s school supplies or a deck of cards.  By clearing away the clutter around the desk or workspace, you create a space that’s conducive to studying rather than distracting. 
When school begins, make this purging session weekly or bi-weekly to ensure that the workspace remains user-friendly. 

The book The Organized Student by Donna Goldberg is an excellent resource for both parents and students.  This is a practical book full of hands-on strategies to help students with time management, material management, and other organizational skills. 

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