5 NO COST Tips to Help STOP Summer Time Lag!
Did you know that students who don’t keep expanding their vocabulary over the summer come back to school in the fall lagging behind their peers who continued learning? Here are 5 no-cost tips to help stop summer time lag.
Vocabulary is just one way to measure growth, but is closely tied to many skills needed for school success.
Parents, what you do with your children at home is so important! You CAN help your kids to be better prepared for school each and every year. These ideas are NO COST, but they do take a bit of time. And you don’t even need to leave your home for most of these!
5 tips to help stop that summertime lag!
1. Vocabulary
Choose a word of the week and give a thumbs up for every time one of your kids uses that word in a sentence. The winner earns an easy prize:
- Stay up 15 minutes later (or in bed later in the morning)
- Choose the next cereal to be bought
- 1 chore to be shared by the other kids one time
- A star next to their name on a piece of paper on the fridge
2. Play word games
Take turns:
- naming something in a category that starts or ends with a letter
- describing something until someone guesses it
- going through the alphabet to name an item you would find in a place
Reading is the most important thing you can do! If your kids totally resist trips to the library, try these ideas:
- Try a manga (comic strip pictures) book.
- Read the comics together if you get a paper or have computer access.
- Make something your family loves to eat and have your kids read the recipe to you.
- Find a show or movie with subtitles that you have free access to and take turns reading the script.
Remember, just read!
For school practice, the stories have to have a beginning, middle, and end that are connected by a main idea.
Try these ideas:
- At a shared meal, tell something about your day.
- Share a story about something that you will always remember.
- Talk about the worst time you ever had at (place.)
- Tell about a time you got in trouble when you were little.
- Talk about the last episode of their favorite tv show. Does it make sense even if you haven’t seen the show?
- Share a wish/hope story, like:
- If I could travel anywhere…
- If I won a shopping spree at my favorite store…
- If I invented a _____…
- If I had a personal robot…
5. Talk!
Remember, your kids are NEVER too little to talk to. That is how they learn!
Whatever you do, just keep on talking!
Have a great summer!