With the school year ending, students will spend a lot less time learning in the classroom. It’s always good to get a rest from sitting in a classroom during the day and doing homework in the evening, but this leads to a major issue: summer slide.
What is Summer Slide?
Summer slide, also known as summer learning loss, occurs when students forget what they’ve learned after not going to class for a long time (usually over the summer). This is so common that the first few weeks of the school year are usually dedicated to relearning material that students forgot.
Unsurprisingly, this has a negative effect on overall learning. Students who don’t have consistent learning end up learning less overall, because they end up wasting time revising old material.
Also, if students forget enough, they might end up behind grade level on core subjects like reading and math. This could affect them for years to come, which is why it’s so important to keep learning, even during summer vacation.
How to Prevent Summer Slide
Thankfully, preventing summer slide doesn’t mean that students have to study as much as they do during the rest of the year. As long as they spend a little time each day practicing what they learned, they can stay ahead of the game. Here are some activities to prevent summer slide.
Reading 20 minutes a day is extremely beneficial to expand a student’s vocabulary and improve their reading skills. Doing this can be as easy as going to the library and picking out books. To make things more interesting, you can set goals for a certain number of books to read over the summer and offer a reward if the goal is reached. Listening to audiobooks can be helpful as well.
Keeping a diary is a good way to practice writing. For a more creative approach, stories or poems could work too. Any kind of writing is acceptable, though, as long as the student enjoys doing it.
There are loads of educational mobile games and websites that can help with practicing various skills, including math. It’s just an issue of finding ones that work for you.
Other activities can be educational by developing life and social-emotional skills. These other activities can include learning to cook, spending time on a hobby, or playing board or card games.
I’RAISE’s Genesis Tutoring Program
For extra help, I’RAISE offers a free tutoring program for students ages 7 - 19. Many subjects are offered, such as math, science, English, Spanish, and history.
In addition to academic help, the tutoring supports students outside of academics so that they can grow and develop. To sign up, fill out this form (the form is in English and Spanish).
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