How To...Make Summer (Learning) Fun
By Linda Lindroth

For Reproducible click here. PDF 44KB

School will soon be out and your students will start summer vacation. How can you minimize "summer learning loss" over those days that kids are not in school? This year, send your students home with a Learning Log to record fun summer learning.

It's important to gain parental support, so be sure to provide your students' parents with web resources that feature ways for the parent/student to work together this summer. Challenge parents to complete at least two family learning activities with their child and initial student activities placed on the log.

Center for Summer Learning
www.summerlearning.org
Resources for parents and activities for students to support summer learning. Choose activities from the printable Summer Calendar.

Family Education
www.familyeducation.com
A parent portal grouped preK-2, 3-5 and 6-12. Cool resources for school (skill-builder activities, games and hot topic answers), entertainment (games, printables, family projects), and life (health, safety, family issues and travel).

Child and Family Webguide
www.cfw.tufts.edu
This site features hundreds of research-based web resources for parents. Search by categories, topics by age or do an index search. If it's on the web, it's probably listed here.

GoCityKids
www.gocitykids.com/choose
Here are some great activities to do in a variety of key U.S. cities. If you aren't visiting one of these cities this summer, try finding activities for your town.

Asking students to keep track of their own learning helps them to take ownership of their progress. Offering choices also builds ownership and provides for individual needs. The following web resources have a lot of both.

Kid's Domain - Summer
www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/summer/index.html
Parents will find free software, online games and links for reading, printables, clip art and more.

Reading is FUNdamental - Summer
www.rif.org/summer
Lots of fun games for summer reading.

KidZone
www.kidzone.ws
This Fun Facts site has thematic units, online games for math and language arts, animal and geography facts, even lesson plans. Try the timed quizzes for math facts or download free books.

Gamequarium
www.gamequarium.com
These 1500+ links to online games are categorized by core content. Kids can practice skills with scores and times to record on their learning logs.

Rainbow Magic - Summer Fun
www.rainbow-magic.com
Click Holidays and go to Summer – open year-round! Activities offers puzzles, travel games and "Boredom Busters." Write your own story in Reading or find great kids sites by clicking Links.

Funbrain.com
www.funbrain.com
Games for all the content areas, by grade, with difficulty levels and scores.

Book Adventure
www.bookadventure.com
Free reading motivation program by Sylvan Learning. Parents or teachers can register to monitor reading. Students make their own reading lists and take quizzes for prizes.

Maintain a Resource List
Parents can use the web as a delivery tool for updating resources by making their list accessible from home, school, the public library – anywhere!

Review the Bookmark list I created for my students at www.iKeepBookmarks.com/Teaching_K-8 Feel free to use this list or register to create your own online list to fit the needs of your students. You can even print the list of web resources on the back of the Learning Log before sending it home.

Share these learning environments with your students to help maintain summer learning and summer fun, too!

For Reproducible click here. PDF 44KB

Linda K. Lindroth is Technology Editor and Web Coordinator for Teaching K-8. She is also a Technology Resource Teacher in a K-5 computer lab in Lexington, KY.

May, 2005, Vol.36, No.8