Opinion: Fighting summer amnesia

By Michelle Bergman Issue of July 31, 2009 / 10 Av 5769 The summer is whizzing by and camps are at their midway mark. Schools everywhere are actively involved in planning for a successful 2009-2010 year, and hoping that “summer amnesia” won’t be too serious. What is this “malady” that seems to afflict students? What mysterious force seems to have created a “brain drain” during the mid-June-August hiatus? There really is no mystery about it, as researchers have long known. Once children are out of school, unless there are provisions made, there is a significant drop in retention/acquisition of new information. Some activities  are created by schools, e.g. summer reading assignments; summer math packets; suggested writing activities, etc. Some activities are developed  by individual families. I recently had a call from a parent who is dedicated to strengthening her child’s mathematics skills, and spends time daily teaching and reviewing. Yet other parents balk at the fact that their youngsters are asked to read a book or two. Are there ideas that are enjoyable to do together with your child(ren), that will help to ‘bear fruit” in September? Definitely, I’d love to share a few: Reading 1. Be sure your child’s summer reading diet includes a healthy assortment of reading groups: non-fiction, fiction (literature, please), poetry, reference (yes, kids do love to read the dictionary and encyclopedia, if exposed to them.) You’ll soon see an improved vocabulary, grasp of concepts and inferences, and an improvement in general comprehension. 2. Read aloud to your children, no matter what the age. Dramatizing a story is a sure-fire way to draw the reader into the text. Try using different voices, dialects, etc. Tales such as Tom Sawyer or Harry Potter lend themselves to such drama. You can also have older children read to younger children. 3. Shabbat is the perfect time to model for your children, as everyone sits around and reads. “Wow, listen to this....” from a newspaper or journal can be a jumping off point for great discussions. 4. Have a parent-child book club. Whether your child is home or away at camp, you can both read the same book and speak or email about it. It’s really important for you to know what your child is reading! Mathematics Math is all around us, everyday. In fact, one of the best-selling series of math textbooks is called Everyday Math. Some favorites: In the kitchen:

• Following recipes — make half as much, twice as much, etc. (fractions)
• Measuring out liquids — how many glasses of milk can we get from this container? (liquid measure)
• Estimating the number of beans in a package, grains of rice in a jar, etc. (estimating skills)

Shopping:

• Comparing sizes and weights of packages (measurement)
• Figuring the price of one item if they are ‘two for ....” or “three for....” (multiplication)
• Estimating the sum of the bill at the register (estimating/addition/percent)

Traveling:

• Estimating, then computing distance traveled in miles, kilometers (estimating/addition/multiplication)
• Keeping a record of things observed along the way — e.g. number of blue cars, RV’s , etc. passed in five minutes (data gathering, observation)
• Tracking gasoline prices, taxes, etc. from area to area (basic operations )