It is highly recommended that parents purchase the Summer Math Skills Sharpener and Summer Language Arts Review books for their child.  Parents should order the grade level the child is currently in this year.  

To order a copy, please call this toll free number (800) 411-8286 or order online at   www.summerskills.com.  The nice thing about these books is that there are only 30 lessons (5 a week for six weeks) and they are each only about 15 -30 minutes.  The children could use the books during the breaks at the pool each day!  They are also good for waiting for appointments or siblings in activities.  There are answer keys and help sheets and facts practice for the math book.  Highly recommended as a tool to prevent that "summer slide" and to help prepare your child for next year!!!!

Dear Parents:

 

We have had a wonderful year at the library. Your children are great readers! To keep reading over the summer, encourage your child to read as much as they can. All county libraries have summer reading programs with great special events and incentives to read. To add to their incentives, I will have a summer reading treasure chest in the library next year. If your child participates in a summer reading program, or if they read 10 books, they can choose a gift from the treasure box when they return to school. All I need is a note from you or some evidence of their membership in a summer program. 

 

Have a blessed and relaxing summer and don't forget to READ A GOOD BOOK!

 

Mrs. O'Rourke

Looking to get more out of the Sunday Readings?

Attention to all rising 3rd-grade parents.  The CYO is looking for boys' and girls' basketball coaches for next year.  If you are interested or have any question, please email Evan Tracey at  [email protected].

SCHOOLKIDZ SUPPLY KIT 

 

SkillBuilders, LLC McClean, has openings in their July 8 Mindfulness & Movement classes. Class times are 11:15-noon for 7-9 year olds and 12:15-1pm for 10-12 year olds.  Children will learn how to deal with challenges that include stress anxiety, fear, depression, and ADHD, among other issues. At the end of the session, children will have built an awareness of emotions and coping skills to help them adapt to difficult or uncomfortable situations in daily life.  More information about this class can be found on  this flyer.  Want more information about SkillBuilders?  Please click  here to be directed to their site. 

AVOIDING SUMMER ACADEMIC LOSS

• Practice school skills in real life - If your second grader was learning to count money, make them the "family cashier" for the summer. Stop using your cards and carry cash, let them count the money to and from at each transaction.
• Play school - Little ones may willingly take turns being the teacher and the student. When they are the teacher ask them to explain a math skill they recently learned. When they are the student ask them to read aloud to the class.
• Take field trips - My family is lucky to live in the Washington DC area.  We have the Smithsonian Museums, National Zoo, Virginia battlefields and Baltimore Aquarium all within an hour drive. Within a day trip we can travel to Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown Island and fantastic museums in Philadelphia. Take advantage of academically related field trips in your community.
• Take nature walks - There is so much to be learned in the world around us.  Summer is the perfect time to get them out in nature. A great book about this is Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Louv.
• Make writing fun - When you travel, encourage them to write post cards and keep a daily vacation journal. Provide other writing activities like invisible books, spirograph, stencils, mazes and Mad Libs.
• Challenge math in everyday ways - Talk about the math involved when you pump and pay for gas. For older children teach them to calculate miles per gallon since the last fill up. If you eat out, teach them to calculate the tip.  Take them bowling and teach them to keep score.
• Read aloud everyday - Reading aloud to children everyday is sited by the Department of Education as the single most important activity to build successful readers. Aim for 20 minutes a day and enjoy when it's longer. Read aloud to them through high school if they'll listen.
• If they are reading aloud - Encourage children to practice their own read aloud skills. This can be reading to a sibling, to the dog or even a stuffed animal.
• Encourage quiet reading time everyday - Again, aim for 20 minutes and appreciate when it lasts longer. Make this easy for them, bring books in the car or let them stay up later at night if they are reading. I get this is a lot of reading but it's worth it!
• Plan a book club - If they are at all interested, invite a few friends to read the same book with them. Then plan a party to celebrate.
• Investigate library activities - Public libraries in our area host many fun children's programs in the summer months. They also have a children's reading challenge that ends with earning a coupon book for area businesses. Check out your local library!
• Focus on vocabulary when you travel - There is new vocabulary available everywhere you travel. Discuss all the things you see with your children, provide definitions as you are able. There is beach vocabulary, zoo vocabulary, farm vocabulary, airport vocabulary...
• Puzzles, board games, cooking and crafts - Play provides learning opportunities such as puzzles for spatial reasoning, board games for social skills and often math skills, cooking and crafts for following directions, tending to details, often math and fine motor skills. Spend time this summer playing with your children.