Have No Fear, Summer is Almost Here!

With spring in the air, summer break is right around the corner for most students. Kids everywhere will rejoice in taking a break from school and parents everywhere will wonder how to keep their kids’ wandering, growing, curious little brains engaged and out of trouble during the summer months. While keeping kids occupied is definitely a thing for parents, what you might not know is that a lot of knowledge has the potential to be lost in the summer from the prior school year. The math loss that kids experience in the summer is something we refer to as summer slide, here at Mathnasium of Centennial East, and it’s a widespread phenomenon that educators are aware of too. Most student lose 2 to 2.5 months of math computational skills that they learned during the school year in the summer – yikes! 

Summer slide is not only menacing because teachers have to go back and re-teach material from the prior year in the beginning of each school year, but also because researchers have found that learning loss, specifically in earlier grades, can have negative life consequences later. Things like where kids are placed in classes, whether they attend college and even whether they drop out of high school have all been tied back to summer slide. 

But have no fear! Just as experts agree that summer slide in math is a big problem amongst school-aged children, they also agree that summer math studies can help combat it. Parents – you are integral in this solution! Your willingness and work in championing the prevention of summer slide is critical to helping them go into the following school year set up for success. Here are some ideas for helping your child avoid learning loss this summer. 

1. Read something every day. Brains need to run on good material and the little brains need a lot of stimulation. Reading every day is one of the best ways to keep them in the habit of exercising their brain every day. It doesn’t have to be for hours and hours. Remember – summer is the time for them to take a break. But reading for a little bit each day will help them maintain good scholastic habits and will keep their mind expanding. Some good math-themed books are The Greedy Triangle, The Number Devil and Seven Ate Nine. Reading math books, specifically, is a great way to integrate math and literacy. 
2. Use food to learn. Many of us do daily food prep for several meals and this can become a teaching lesson. Everything from measuring, to following recipes, to time management is involved with cooking. IDEA: have your kiddo help with making trail mix. The ingredients used in trail mix are usually easy to grab and mix and kids can measure various quantities of ingredients to learn about ratios and what ratio makes the most delicious mix. It’s also a good way to experiment with different textures and flavors and use adjectives to describe them, like crunchy, chewy, salty and sweet. 
3. Learn outside. School learning is often done just in the classroom – especially math. But integrated learning, which is learning that’s involved in everyday activities using everyday items, sometimes can help kids connect concepts better than a paper and pencil. IDEA: Practice telling time by taking a hula hoop and setting it on pavement, then go find two sticks that fit within the diameter of the hula hoop that can be used for the hour and minute hands. Next, draw the numbers of the clock with chalk on the pavement inside the hula hoop. You now have a makeshift clock that you can practice telling time with! 
4. Enroll in Mathnasium of Centennial East. Summer math enrichment classes provide flexible ways for students to continue with math work in the summer. Studies have shown that students who attend summer programs that include a math component score higher on math tests in the following school year versus students who don’t have summer math instruction. Our goal is to make sure our students improve on numerical fluency and number sense and we assess children to find out exactly where their competency level is and what skill gaps they might have. Take advantage of our summer Early Bird Special and receive $100 off of summer registration. 

Math practice can be fun – it’s all what you make of it. Take advantage of the summer months to help prevent summer slide and help your child achieve more in the school year to come and beyond!