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July 2012

Summer Slide Busters Week Seven - A "Trashy" Summer

Submitted by Peggy on Fri, 2012-07-27 17:07


If you are like me, you have a giant collection of “stuff” saved just in case it will be useful someday for one project or another. Hot summer days are the perfect time to pull out this stuff and let kids go wild. How can you be sure they will do something productive with those old cell phones, paper towel tubes, and lovely containers of various shapes and sizes, though?

Joann's companion column: 
Undaunted Courage: Amelia Earhart

Summer Slide Busters Week Six - Keeping Enrichment Alive

Submitted by Peggy on Fri, 2012-07-20 16:53


Summer is almost halfway over and kids who haven’t had much enrichment are starting to get bored. Some students have been keeping busy with camps, travel, and activities like watching television and playing video games, but many are looking to be more engaged. Many parents and teachers are looking for easily implemented activities to keep kids’ minds fresh for the remainder of the summer. It has been neat to see students trying out activities from our Summer Slide Buster Series here on the Gateway. If you haven’t tried any, we would love to have you try some this week! For even more ideas, look back through our archives.

Joann's companion column: 
Write On! Teaching the Writing Process

Summer Slide Busters Week Five - You Learn Something New Every Day

Submitted by Peggy on Fri, 2012-07-13 16:39


The summer slide gets a pretty bad rap this time of year. We do our best to teach kids all school year long, but it seems the lazy days of summer counteract that learning. During the past four weeks, we have been posting activities each day to help combat this brain drain in your kids. Some of you have tried the activities with your own kids and some have forwarded the information on to parents and students, helping to enrich their summers and keep their math and reading skills sharp.

Joann's companion column: 
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Summer Slide Busters - Resource Round-Up

Submitted by Peggy on Mon, 2012-07-09 11:15


As we move through the heat of summer, I want look back to see how well we have been busting that summer slide! Camps, lessons, and summer activities can make it hard for parents to make time for enrichment at home. Holidays and a compressed schedule make planning a challenge for summer classroom teachers, too. Since we have been posting activities for each day, I wanted to compile them in this post so you can come back to those activities when you have time. Be on the lookout for more new resource suggestions on Friday.

The following activities focus on music and math, two subjects that can often be intertwined. These were featured on the Gateway the past few weeks on Music and Math Mondays.

Joann's companion column: 
Bears & Bulls: Learning About the Stock Market