It shouldn’t be a battle to get them to learn. It should be fun and engaging and part of everyday life so they can see like the authentic reason for why we need to learn to read and why we need to write and why we need to learn math because we use it when we make a grocery list when we go shopping at the grocery store.
~ Zeba from Ep. 85 of The Kindergarten Cafe Podcast
Episode Summary
The summer slide is inevitable unless we encourage and help parents keep the learning over the summer going. In this episode, I share strategies to keep their learning on track and in fun ways to where the students actually enjoy what they are learning. I provide activities parents can incorporate into daily routines to make learning fun and engaging. Preventing the summer slide is so important for the impact of early intervention on children’s readiness for first grade. First grade teachers will thank you!
In this episode, I share:
- Summer Slide Solutions
- Encouraging Summer Reading
- Engaging Families in Learning
- Play-Based Learning Activities
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Zeba:
- Instagram – @kindergartencafe
- Facebook – @kindergartencafe
- Website – www.kindergartencafe.org
- Tik Tok – @kindergartencafe
Read the Transcript
[0:00] Hey, teacher friends, it’s Zeba from Kindergarten Cafe, and today I want to talk about preventing the summer slide. I know that we are, we have the end of the year in our sights, and we are focused on summer and all that comes with that. But let’s think about a couple of things that we can do to help our students not forget everything you just worked so hard to teach them. So let’s get into it.
You’re listening to the Kindergarten Cafe Podcast where kindergarten teachers come to learn classroom tested tips and tricks and teaching ideas they can use in their classroom right away i’m Zeba creator and founder of kindergarten cafe and I help kindergarten teachers with everything they need from arrival to dismissal in order to save time, work smarter, not harder, and support students with engaging and purposeful lessons. I’m here to cheer you on through your successes and breakthroughs and offer support and resources so you never have to feel stuck or alone. Ready to start saving time and reducing your stress all while using effective and purposeful lessons that students love? Let’s get started.
[1:18] So for some students, the summer slide won’t matter too much. They will probably keep reading with their families or they’ll keep doing their activities with their families that keep the learning going. Whatever it might be, maybe they have a workbook, who knows. But for some students, the summer slide is a very real thing that they go back like at least a month or two of what you taught them in kindergarten when they start first grade.
[1:48] They’re not starting first grade where you left off in June or May whenever school gets out. So how can we, before we send them off for summer, help prevent some of that loss? The first thing is encouraging reading.
[2:03] One of the things that I like to do is send home a reading challenge for the summer. It’s like a reading bingo. So there’s different ways that the kids can try to read, reading different books or reading to different people or reading in different places, that kind of thing. And if they get five in a row, then they get their bingo, right? So it’s just a silly little way to encourage them to keep reading. You can also pair up with your local library because they are often doing summer reading challenges or maybe your school library is. Maybe they get like a sticker when they go to the library or who knows that every library is doing something different, but it’s they definitely are usually doing something for summer reading. So reach out. I’m sure they’d be really excited to know that you want to send whatever they’re whatever they have for their summer reading challenge home with your students. And maybe you even invite them in to the school at the end of the year or to your school library and ask them to come in and share about the summer reading challenge that they might be doing.
[3:12] It is definitely critical that kids keep reading over the summer so they don’t forget everything you taught them. Encourage families to keep reading to their students, too. A lot of times families think, like in the spring conference, when we talk about how their child can read or they’re reading simple words, like they can read simple books, then parents start to think that they don’t have to read to their children anymore. So I always make sure to emphasize the importance of continuing to read aloud to their child at night or at some point in the day, like the little bedtime reading. And the benefits are that kids get exposed to more challenging books, books with more complex story plots and character development, and you can have really good comprehension conversation.
[4:02] They can enjoy more interesting and exciting books. They might get hooked on a series or an author. And it’s just certainly more interesting than more of the simple books that they can read themselves. So it gets them excited about reading. It helps teach them vocabulary and helps them understand fluency because they’re listening to a fluent reader read to them. And what it should sound like when they’re reading the sentences or sounding like the characters, that kind of stuff. And if a family speaks in a language, I encourage them to read in their home language because they’re comfortable in that. So the benefits of hearing a fluent reader speak, reading more complex text, talking about the book can all be done in any language. And the benefits transfer to when the kids are learning to read in English. So that’s something that you can do if you’re seeing your families before the end of the school year or something to keep in mind for next year when you do your spring conferences. definitely stress the importance of reading to children, families reading to children.
[5:03] Even if they can still read, we want the families to continue reading to them as well. You can also talk to families about using audiobooks as well, because some parents see that as not reading, but there’s still so many benefits from using audiobooks or programs that have the story told to the child. There’s so many benefits to that. So the benefits are the same as when the families are reading to the child, they’re hearing more complex text, they’re hearing more vocabulary that they didn’t know, they’re able to talk about the book more and learn knowledge that you might not have learned from a more simpler books that they’re reading themselves. So all those benefits are there for audiobooks and we can do our best to advocate and encourage families to see the benefits of that and try those out over the summer. The other thing that I like to do to prevent the summer slide is send home a calendar of activities that are simple enough that families can do in their busy, busy lives. That families can do while they’re working full-time or while they’re on summer vacation, like whatever it might be. We’re talking things that kids can do within that busy day. But what I like about this calendar is that it’s just eye-opening to families about how simple the learning can be to help keep up the learning that they’ve been doing.
[6:28] For example, help an adult write a grocery list. How many times are they making a grocery list? And to just sit with the kid for a few minutes to have them help write down the list helps reinforce a lot of the writing that you have done this year. But it’s so simple and it doesn’t take that long for them and it’s something that they’re doing anyway and so it’s kind of a light bulb moment for parents to see oh this is stuff that I’d be normally doing anyway and now I see that this is actually helping my child with their learning.
[7:04] So that’s one of the simple ones counting the different shapes you see at the playground like you’re already going to the playground, and now you are just thinking of some ways to encourage, looking for shapes, talking about shapes, counting. It’s just a conversation starter, but it’s something that all families can do. Another one, along with writing a grocery list, then you go grocery shopping and talk to your child about prices and weights of food. Like, this is stuff that the kid is seeing. The parent might already be doing as it is, but it’s, again, the eye-opener of like, hey, these are ways to keep the learning going. And the other thing I provide are some more basic games that the kids have used throughout the year just to target specific skills, like to target addition or one more, one less, things like that. And so if the families want to do something extra, they want a little bit more time spent on learning and activities, more focused, then they have those, right? Right. So it’s there for the families that want the activities to do.
[8:10] And if they’re looking for something more low key, they can just follow the calendar of simple activities. Each day only has one simple thing or they don’t do it. You send it home and it’s in their hands. Right.
[8:21] And so it’s up to them. But I think the easier we can make it for families, the more likely that they will do some of the activities and keep up some of the learning. And that’s also why a lot of the activities I have and I’ve included and I’ve sent home are play-based. It might be scavenger hunts or building or playing a board game or a card game, but that is going to make it exciting and entertaining for the kid, which will make them more eagers to do the learning. It won’t be a battle to get them to sit down and do their work.
[8:54] It’ll be something fun that they want to do. That’s going to help families be more likely to actually participate in this, to actually do some of the activities if it’s not a hardship for them. But also we know that kids learn better through play so it’s just better for them in general to have it be more play-based you know it does make my heart hurt a little bit to think of i’ve had this happen with like my own family members where they’re so excited to show me all these workbooks that they bought their kids for the summer and they’re just like these mindless worksheets that are and they say oh it’s such a battle to get them to sit and do the work and we would do five sheets today, and we’re going to get through the whole workbook this summer. And I just, I don’t love it.
[9:42] Worksheets are not the best way to get the kids to learn. It shouldn’t be a battle to get them to learn. It should be fun and engaging and part of everyday life so they can see like the authentic reason for why we need to learn to read and why we need to write and why we need to learn math, because we use it when we make a grocery list, when we go shopping at the grocery store. This is a great opportunity for them to see why we need to learn these things. And the worksheets are just usually not that effective and just more of a time killer. And if it’s a battle to get the kids to sit down and do it, then it’s going to be a battle to get them to do any kind of learning with you.
[10:21] And that’s not fun for anyone. And then they’re going to stop. And then guess what? They’re going to have a little bit of a summer slide. So that’s my thought on those workbooks. They get a lot of money from parents just to find something to do. And that’s why I like to send home my summer packet with family. So they have more practical options that they can do in their everyday life and have fun with their kids. And like I said, be eye-opening into the fact that so much of what they do in their everyday life actually is supporting a lot of the learning that the kids need. And they might not just be aware of it or they might not think to really talk about it with the kids. They might just be going through the motions. I like that aspect of the summer calendar as well.
[11:04] Like I said, I know we’re thinking about summer and excited for summer. But if you can do a few of these things before school is out or send some of these things home, it can make a huge difference for your students and setting it up for success when they go to first grade. And the first grade teachers will thank you. So if you have questions about anything, let me know. And the quote of the day, boy five years old said, you don’t have to go to college if you don’t want to go to college. Just tell the teacher. And a different boy said, but if you want to drive rocket ships, you need to go to college.
[11:43] I love the like just tell the teacher you don’t want to go to college you don’t have to go to college but it is true if you want to drive rocket ships you do need to go to college so it’s important for us to keep the summer learning going if they want to eventually go to space that they’ll need to remember the things you taught them in kindergarten I don’t know it’s a bit of a stretch but anyway I hope you enjoyed that and I hope that you are enjoying the start of your summer whenever that is. I have a few more weeks of school, so reach out and let me know about your summer vacation schedule and either make me jealous or commiserate with me. Thanks so much for listening to the Kindergarten Cafe podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes for more information and resources, or just head straight to kindergartencafe.org for all the goodies. If you liked this episode, the best ways to show your support are to subscribe, leave a review, or send it to a friend. I’ll be back next week with even more kindergarten tips. See you then.