5 Ways To Prevent Summer Slide

Summer break is for vacations, ice cream sandwiches and running through sprinklers but it’s also an important time to prevent summer learning loss. You’re probably familiar with the phrases: Summer slide, Summer brain drain, Summer setback. Research shows that on average, 2 months of reading skills are lost, 2.6 months of math skills are lost and 6 weeks in the Fall are spent re-learning old material. It is crucial that children continue to learn and practice skills, particularly math and reading, over the summer months to prevent this summer slide. Here are 5 tips to help prevent it –

1. Make Time for learning Set aside time for your child to read and practice math skills each day during the summer break – 15 to 30 minutes per day is all it takes.

2. Improve Reading Comprehension Difficulty with reading and comprehension can be improved through regular practice. Sometimes, low reading comprehension stems from the child not being interested in what he or she is reading. So when selecting books, it’s important to make sure your child is excited by the content. Also, make sure the reading material will stretch your child’s skills, introducing new words and ideas. If you need help finding the right reading material visit your local library.

3. Encourage Creative Writing Encourage all types of writing to help your child find his or her voice from poems to cartoons. If your child is experiencing writer’s block you can help by introducing new and exciting topics and ideas. Journal writing can start from a young age and will encourage your child to write freely, creating a love for expression and the written word.

4. Develop Math Skills Working on just three to four math problems per day during the summer can prevent math skills from getting rusty. Practice is important but you don’t have to turn summer break into a set of drills. Try to apply math to real life to make it come alive for your child.

5. Encourage STEM thinking You can boost STEM thinking at home by encouraging your child’s natural questioning and curiosity. Instead of giving them the answer or solution to a problem immediately, encourage your child to come up with several possible solutions on their own.

Little Passports Summer Adventure Packs are a fun and easy way to keep your child engaged through hands-on exploration and STEM discovery. Each package contains the materials and easy to follow, step-by-step instructions. Your child can build their own hydraulic claw to uncover how water and air power machines. Or launch into STEM by creating their high-flying catapult. Check them out here: https://www.littlepassports.com/summer-adventure/