Preventing the Summer Slide: June 6 to June 11 on ReadWriteThink

When learning stops during the summer, students suffer from what is referred to as the summer slide—a loss of ability and knowledge from the close of school in the spring to the reopening in the fall.

Take advantage of the long summer days, and prevent summer learning loss with Thinkfinity’s fun, interactive games and activities. In addition to online games and engaging summertime activities, you’ll find recommended reading lists as well as a discussion forum where parents and educators can interact.

For a review of the resources on ReadWriteThink, watch the new Engaging Students After School and at Home video, and check out the calendar entries, lesson plans, and classroom activities below for more classroom and summer ideas. Have a great week!

New Resources

• New on ReadWriteThink:
  • Storyboarding the Transformation from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde (For grades 9–12)
  • Professional Writing in Action! Publishing Student Reviews Online (For grades 11–12)
  • Authoring an Epilogue That Helps Our Characters Live On (For grades 3–5)
• Take advantage of long summer days and prevent learning loss with Thinkfinity.org’s Summer Learning collection.
• Celebrate Flag Day with Thinkfinity.org lessons and activities.
• Tap the Parent & Afterschool Resources on ReadWriteThink for a range of activities for K–12 students (ages 4–18), including such activities as going on a reading hunt, exploring nature, directing summer blockbusters for favorite books, and blogging about career options.

From the Calendar

• June 6: Celebrate Cynthia Rylant’s birthday! Students work in small groups or as a class to map the plot of a selected Cynthia Rylant story and create original literary works using the plot diagrams. (For grades K–8)
• June 7: Poet Nikki Giovanni was born in 1943. Using the poem “My First Memory (of Librarians),” students connect memory, their senses, and the language of poetry. (For grades 1–12)
• June 8: Commercial ice cream is first sold in the U.S. in 1786. After finding advertisements from the past, students evaluate them and discuss how ads have changed over the years. Students then create an advertisement for a new flavor of ice cream. (For grades 5–12)
• June 10: The Crystal Palace hosted the first display of life-size dinosaur replicas in 1854. After learning about Hawkins’ dinosaur replicas, students work individually or in small groups to investigate a dinosaur of their choice, comparing their findings to Hawkins’. (For grades 7–12)
• Look ahead to next week for lesson plans and activities on Anne Frank’s diary, Flag Day, and the birthdays of author Brian Jacques and Chris Van Allsburg.

Connecting with Other Teachers

• As a teacher, how do you inspire students to learn more during the summer? Share your ideas on the Thinkfinity Community.
• Make the most of Thinkfinity.org by adding it to your social network!
• Add your thoughts to one of the Featured Topics on the Thinkfinity Community:
       What are some good lessons that teach about Internet safety?
       What do you find most rewarding about being an educator?
       How do you inspire your students to learn more over the summer?
• What resource rocked your classroom this year? Share a resource that most surprised you and sample a few that other teachers have shared.

If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us.

[Photo: Red Slide by javcon117, on Flickr]