Ideas for Summer Break

McKenzie - posted on 07/08/2009

We joined the summer reading program at our local library. It challenges my daughters to read more during the summer and gives them something to work towards. Also, my daughter is going into the 5th grade but I am using the 6th and 7th grade reading lists for her to be more interested and challenged. She loves it.

Karina - posted on 07/07/2009

Hi,
You can also think of a creative activity like creating animations/cartoons. The animations can relate to the book they enjoyed reading! Not that I want to preach for the company I am working for but there are award-winning animation software available for children aged 6 years old and up.

Let me know if you are interested and I will tell you more.

Lauryan - posted on 07/05/2009

There are some fabulous ideas here indeed.

What about encouraging her to explore some totally new topics and ideas?
Perhaps encourage her to get involved in a service project that makes a difference in the community?

Please share with us what you decide to do and how she takes to it!!

Ruth - posted on 07/02/2009

Chelsea,
Hi. I have been writing a lot about summer fun ideas. Reading is key. Here are some ideas from educators.

Cindy Dunlevy is a language arts project specialist for the San Diego County Office of Education and a former teacher. She suggested starting a book and movie club with your children.

“One summer my kids and I formed ourselves into a film/book club and read books and then watched the movie, or sometimes we’d watch the movie first then read the book. We’d try to do one book and one movie per week.

These come from Tim Shanahan, director of the Center for Literacy at the University of Chicago:

1. Help your kids find books on subjects that interest them. Have a child who loves baseball? Help him find books on American’s greatest pastime.

2. Make reading a social event. “A lot of kids find reading lonely,” Shanahan said. So read with your child or to your child, regardless of her age.

3. Draw connections to the book your kids are reading. If one of them is reading a book that takes place in a forest, plan a day trip to the woods near your home.

You can even take this to an extreme and plan a family vacation around a favorite book. Shanahan said when his daughters were young, they fell in love with Margaret Henry’s classic “Misty of Chincoteague,” a story about a wild pony that lived on an island off the coast of Virginia and Maryland. So one summer the family planned a vacation to Assateague Island to see firsthand the feral ponies that Henry made famous in her books.

4. Let your kids pick what they want to read. If your teen picks out a graphic novel but you’d rather have him read a classic, let him read the graphic novel. “Teens want to create distance, let them do that,” Shanahan said.

If the book your child is reading turns out to be a dud, let him abandon it and move on to another book. (Many high school assign specific books for summer reading. The information may be included on the school Web site.)

5. Search the Internet for book suggestions. For teen readers, Shanahan recommends looking at the Young Adults’ Choices Booklist from International Reading Association.

6. Create a special time and place for your kids to read. Maybe it’s 30 minutes right after lunch or a sunny spot on the living room couch. Even during the most unstructured season of the year, some habits are good to have.

My kids are 13 and 16. They've been in GATE classes for a long time. We like playing a game called SET and another called Sequence. Both are great for bright kids.

Enjoy summer.
Ruth at Such A Smart Mom

Chelsea - posted on 07/02/2009

Thank you very much, Jennifer! What fantastic ideas! She loves projects and I think something that involves research and the creative aspect would be right up her alley. Thank you again.

Jennifer - posted on 07/02/2009

I have 3 GT students, 2 now in college and 1 in high school. When my girls were younger we picked a project to work on for the whole summer just like they do in school. Have her research it, either through the library, internet, or visits. Then she writes a paper and builds a project. The project can be a diarama, or on poster board or an actual part of what she is researching. It is a great way to let their imagination work and still keep them busy. You could actually split the summer up into smaller projects. We did alot of summer reading programs and I printed alot of math work sheets on my own to keep math skills up during the summer. If you have any of her old school work you can recreate it and have timed races between the tow of you. The kids love to see if they can beat Mom. The important thing is to let her have fun in what she is learning about. Good luck.