1. It’s going to be here before you know it. Sure, the New Year may have just begun, but before you know it, Spring Break will be over, and kids will be studying for exams and handing in their final term projects… Which means that it’s not too early to think about what your kids are going to be doing this summer.

2. Summer can undo what your child is learning RIGHT NOW.  You know that test you help little Timmy study for last week? Well, without maintaining his learning momentum and study skills over the break, Timmy can easily forget everything that he’s working hard to learn right now, which means you may find yourself creating long division flash cards again next year.

3. Summer can have an impact on how your child learns NEXT YEAR.  After a summer off, it can take kids up to 3 months to get back into the swing of learning. That represents a huge amount of wasted learning opportunities.

4. Kids WANT to learn in the summer. The numbers don’t lie. Research in summer learning studies shows that 56% of students want to be involved in a summer program that “helps kids keep up with summer schoolwork or prepare for the next grade.”

5. Summer programs fill up fast. Most programs are already accepting applications and taking reservations for summer enrollment.  Schools and Oxford Learning are no exception.

Now that we’ve got you thinking about summer and learning, why not contact your nearest Oxford Learning centre and enroll in one of the many great summer program options?

When spring is in the air, it’s natural to start thinking about what summer will bring. Our Spring Newsletter can help! It’s packed with tips to help make spring great, and get your family ready to have a great summer!

Click on image to download and print our Spring Newsletter!

Myth 1: Kids need the summer off to recharge.

While the school year can be tiring and mentally demanding, kids actually thrive with the daily routine and framework that the school year provides. A break from the school-year routine can be invigorating for a short period of time, but a too-long break (ie: summer) doesn’t help students feel recharged: it leads to boredom.

Without replacing the school day structure with summer camps or other programs, children can become bored very easily. Video games, texting, movies, and lounging by the pool are fun, but there is only so much relaxation and downtime that kids can deal with before they get tired of that, too. And boredom is rarely a pre-cursor to a willingness to jump back into learning.

Providing mentally stimulating summer activities that are reliable and routine is the best way to avoid summer boredom and keep kids charged up and ready to take on a new school year.

Myth 2: If summer was not intended to be a break, school wouldn’t shut down.

The most common school year as we know it—from September to June—exists because of two main historic reasons: At the turn of the last century, agricultural societies required children to help out with farming chores during busy growing seasons and, in cities, schools were unbearably hot during summer and made teaching and learning in poorly-ventilated buildings a health hazard. The current 180-day school calendar is still in place, even if the reasons for it are no longer valid.

In fact, many school boards have made the move to year-round schooling, offering several shorter break periods throughout the year, rather than one long one in the summer.

School boards don’t intend summer to be a “break” for students—policy makers are simply continuing to follow a system that has been in place for many years, and, coincidentally, one that has come to be beneficial to cash-strapped school boards.

Read more about the history of the school year.

Myth 3: Summer isn’t part of the school year.

Summer is just as important to a student’s overall learning experience as what is learned from September to June. In terms of the brain, learning runs 24-7, all year round.

The time away from school is a very important opportunity for many students to fill in learning gaps, make sense of material learning during the school year, and improve/develop important learning skills such as reading comprehension and organization. It’s the time to get extra help that there may not be chance to get while school is in session. It’s the chance to experience in-class lessons first hand. And, it’s the only chance that students have to adequately prepare for the year ahead.

It’s time to stop thinking about the school year as September to June: there is no final bell on a student’s education.

Myth 4: Summer school is for students who get bad grades.

While summer school may have at one time been reserved for those students needing extra help, that is no longer the case. From Calgary to Chicago, reports are showing that summer school attendance is on the rise, and it’s not because students are performing poorly throughout the school year. Students looking to get ahead, to tackle extra credits, and get a competitive advantage by signing themselves up for summer school.

New Trend Alert! With education becoming increasingly competitive, and increasingly global, summer is the perfect time for students to pull ahead. Without having to balance the workload of the regular school year, students can make impressive academic gains and reduce school- year stress. We foresee a rise in summer school popularity. It’s time to get over summer school misconceptions and get ahead.

Myth 5: Summer will makes students refreshed and ready to learn in the fall.

This is the scariest myth about summer learning. After a summer spent relaxing, students may feel refreshed, but they are far from ready to learn. Research into summer learning has shown that after taking a two-month break, students have lost approximately 20-30 % of their academic learning momentum: they’ve gone backward in terms of learning. These studies also show that teachers typically spend up to six weeks re-teaching last year’s material. Students aren’t ready to learn after a summer off: they’ve lost their learning momentum after two months of video games and relaxing at the beach. The summer slide, the brain drain, or summer learning losses—whatever you call it, it can be easily prevented. A few hours a week of active academic style learning keeps the brain sharp, so that when falls rolls around, students actually are ready to learn.

Or, 13 more ways to make learning part of your summer.

N: Nature. Take a nature hike, stopping along the path to look at plants and animals. This is a great place to practice description skills. Engage children to think actively about what they encounter by asking questions, “why do you think that tree is dead?” “What kind of animal might have left that footprint?”

O: Oxford Learning. Oxford Learning Camps and programs are an easy way to maintain learning momentum over the summer. Our programs help students catch up in trouble areas, keep up with their classmates, and get a head start on next year’s subjects.

P: Puzzles. Like board games puzzles are great downtime activities that keep the brain challenged. Whether playing Sudoku, Crosswords, search-a-words, or traditional puzzles, this is a fun way to challenge your mind and learn skills such as persistence and problem solving.

Q: Quiet time. Make a time every day to have some peace and quiet. Engage in some active thinking, a little daydreaming, or just spend some down time simply being together. It’s a great way to let the brain make important connections.

R: Read. If there is one summer activity that is equal parts fun and education, it is reading. It doesn’t take science and research to know that reading keeps the mind active all summer long. It also helps develop vocabulary, and increases reading comprehension, which both pay off in the classroom.

S: Scrapbook. Turn summer memories into a hobby that encourages children to engage their brain by writing and drawing about the day’s activities. Cut pictures from magazines and newspapers and gather items such as feathers, or seashells to paste onto the pages for a colourful way to document summer fun. (This is different from “scrapbooking,” but that can be fun too!)

T: Travel. You don’t have to leave your city to experience the spirit of wanderlust. Visit your local tourist bureau and become a tourist in your own backyard. Head to the other side of town to visit a park that you’ve never been do. This is also a great opportunity for children to learn about the city they live in—major street names, directions, and local history.

U: University. For teens heading off to university in the fall, summer is the best time to prepare for what comes next. It’s also a time for summer jobs and, as the last summer of high school, it’s a major life milestone—it’s important to take advantage of this opportunity.

V: Vocabulary. Vocabulary is linked to school success—the greater a child’s vocabulary, the greater the reading comprehension skills are. The best way to develop vocabulary? Reading. Write down new words and definitions in the summer scrapbook.

W: Write. Despite the prevalence of keyboards, penmanship and handwriting are still very important! Personal handwriting style is always developing, so it’s critical to maintain skills. Journaling and writing in a scrapbook are a great ways to improve penmanship over the summer.

X: X Marks the Spot. Organize a fun scavenger hunt or a pirate-theme day and have a little bit of silly fun. Make crafts and invite neighbourhood friends. It doesn’t have to be a holiday or a birthday to celebrate the summer! It’s a great way to break up summer boredom.

Y: Yard Sale. Summer is the perfect time to hold a yard sale. It’s also a great opportunity to teach kids lessons about organization. Kids can help gather up clothing, books, and toys that they no longer use, and sort what they’ve gathered into categories. They can also help with money and counting.

Z: Go to the Zoo. Zoos are a great opportunity to learn something new about the animals we share the planet with. Spend some time before hand researching a favourite animal either online or at the library.

Read Part 1: A-M

Before finalizing summer plans, there is one very important fact that families need to keep in mind . It is this: the brain never goes on vacation.

Kids may be off for the summer, but the brain doesn’t have an off switch—it’s always on. In fact, kids never stop learning—even during sleep, when the brain is processing and storing information that was learned throughout the day.

That’s why, cognitively speaking, it doesn’t make sense for kids to take a complete break from learning over the summer.

Studies have shown that student’s learning momentum suffers major setbacks over summer break. By abandoning school learning routines, the brain loses many of the neural connections that were built during the school year.  That’s bad news for students.

It means that when back to school time rolls around again, they are at a disadvantage: the brain is no longer functioning with the capacity that it had when school let out.

In and of itself, this is not a major problem, after all, students will be able to re-build these neural connections.  The problem is that it can take up to six weeks to rebuild lost neural connections and to regain lost academic momentum.

Rather than diving into learning from the first day of classes, students are now tasked with recalling those lessons that they learned last year. They’re catching up. They’re reviewing.

This is where problems begin. They’re not learning new material and getting a jump on this year’s curriculum. This is when students fall behind.

That’s because students who maintained their academic momentum over the summer are ready to learn new material from day one. They have a head start. They preserved their cognitive functioning and are—from the first day of class—learning new concepts. They’re getting ahead.

That’s why summer learning is so important. Not only does it maintain cognitive functioning, it can also help students to make academic gains.

It help students prevent summer learning losses. It helps them get ahead. It gives them an edge.

Summer learning just makes sense.

A list in fives

5 things to do for your BODY this summer:

1. Climb a tree
2. Swim in a lake
3. Go for a hike
4. Ride a bike
5. Get a good night’s sleep every night

Five things to do for your BRAIN this summer:

1. Read a classic novel
2. Learn five new words and use them as often as possible
3. Play games that challenge your mind
4. Keep a scrapbook of your daily activities and wildlife observations
5. Start a short story and add a new paragraph every day

5 things to learn and do TOGETHER as a family:

1. Learn the names of trees in your area
2. Start a collection of rocks or seashells or anything that you can collect together
3. Identify birds that you commonly see
4. Learn how to tie a knot
5. Take a hike at a new trail

5 things to do this summer to Get Ready for the next school year:

1. Establish a back-to-school routine. Begin following school day bedtimes and morning routines well in advance of back to school for an easy transition back to the classroom.
2. Turn off the TV. Research has shown that watching TV before bed over-stimulates the brain and prevents sleep.
3. Get organized. Time management is a learned skill, not acquired one. Use a family calendar to stay on top of appointments and schedules all summer long.
4. Keep reading. Reading continually improves reading comprehension skills and develops vocabulary.
5. Don’t run on autopilot. With school closed for the summer, kids can easily fall behind. To prevent this, kids should engage in some sort of learning or other mentally stimulating activity throughout the summer to keep their minds sharp and always ready to learn.

Summer Camps to keep students on track

So, the final bell of the school year has rung; even though the classroom is closed for the season, it doesn’t mean that a child’s potential to learn has stopped. In fact, summer is a critical time for learning. Without some measure of formal education, kids can experience a significant drop in their learning momentum that can affect how they perform next year.

Research into the study of summer learning shows some pretty surprising findings. Here are The Facts that you need to know—

• All students experience SUMMER LEARNING LOSSES when they do not engage in educational activities in the summer.
• On average, students lose approximately 2.6 months of grade-level equivalency in mathematical computational skills during the summer months.
• 56% of students want to be involved in a summer program that “helps kids keep up with summer schoolwork or prepare for the next grade.”
• Research shows that teachers typically spend between four-six weeks re-teaching material that students have forgotten over the summer.
• Since 1996, researchers have studied the effect of summer break on student learning. A common finding across these studies is that students generally score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer.
• Research demonstrates that all students experience significant learning losses in procedural and factual knowledge during the summer months.

How the summer break can impact your child’s learning: some numbers:

• 2.6—the numbers of months that it can take to get back into the swing of learning in the fall
• 60—the number of days that children spend not learning over the summer
• 6—the number of weeks that teachers have to spend reviewing material from last year

And two very important numbers to consider when planning your children’s summer schedule:

• 2-3—the number of hours per week of supplemental education needed to prevent summer education losses and keep your child on track for education success.

With these very important numbers in mind, doesn’t it make sense to include learning in your child’s summer? Summer camps at Oxford Learning make it easy. Find a location near you and beat summer learning losses for good.

Spring break is practically synonymous with long road trips. Whether you are heading to the beach, to camp, or to Grandma’s house, you’ll want an arsenal of tips handy to keep the kids occupied after the crayons are broken, after they’ve listen to their iPODS three time through, and after the batteries wear out on their Nintendo.

Why not try some of these old-fashioned car games? Not only are they fun, but they help develop memory and listening skills too!

The I-Packed-a-Suitcase Game

In the repeat-after-me tradition of games, is the always-popular suitcase game. Not only is it fun, but it is also a great way to develop your child’s memory.

Here are the simple rules:

• The first person begins with the sentence: “I packed a suitcase, and in it I put…” followed by an item of that person’s choice, such as “a toothbrush.”
• The second person also starts with the same statement, “I packed a suitcase, and in it I put…” then repeats what the first person said, and adds his own item, “a toothbrush, and a bathing suit,” and so on, until someone forgets to list one of the items!

You can adjust the level of difficulty and absurdity, according to your mood.

My preferred item to pack in a suitcase is a battering ram… you’ll never know when you’ll need one!

Backwards Listening Game

This is a great game to encourage listening abilities. You say a series of random words—and have your child repeat them to you in the opposite order! For example:

You: shirt, cow.
Child: cow, shirt

Start with 2 words and increase the number as proficiency improves. Or, if you are feeling up to it, create a backwards sentence so that when your child says it back to you, he is decoding your message! Hilarity is sure to ensue!

You: cheese, like, smell, socks, Dad’s
Child! Dad’s socks smell like cheese!

The Alphabet List Game

One of my personal favorites is the Alphabet List Game. It’s a very simple game that can present opportunities for some creative thinking.

• Using the Alphabet as the guide, select a theme to create a list about. Some good themes are: animals, cities, fruits and vegetables, sports teams, pizza toppings, underwater…the possibilities are endless!
• Now select someone to start. They begin with the letter A and, based on the category chosen, give an example of something that begins with the letter A. For animals, it would be Alligator, for cities, Amsterdam.
• Then the next person gets the letter B, the following person the letter C…and so on, until somebody can’t think of an example for that letter. Some letters are more challenging than others, so everybody is allowed one pass.

The Classic Game of ‘I-Spy’

Always popular with younger children, the old “I Spy With My Little Eye” is a great game. Simply select anything in the car or room and say, “I spy with my little eye, something that is [that color].” Then the kids take turns guessing what the item is. Adjust the difficulty to meet the age of the child.

Tip: When kids are stumped, give them a phonetic clue. For instance, “it starts with the sound ‘mmmm’.”

Twenty Questions

Think of something simple…it can be anything at all, though regular play usually limits the choice to something that falls into the categories of animal, vegetable, or mineral.

• When you’ve chosen your item, the game begins. Let the players know that you’ve selected something with the simple statement, “I’ve got it!” Then the kids ask 20 questions to determine what the item is. The trick is that all answers must be a yes or a no, this way, the kids must phrase the questions in a specific way in order to get a yes or no answer.

This game is great practice for children to form questions in a structured way, and even better practice for them to take all the replies and deduce the answer. What a fun way to develop critical thinking skills!

Sand in your bathing suit, in your hair, in your sleeping bag…and in your keyboard?

Camping, to this generation’s children, is not what it used to be. Camping has changed so much over the years that wireless connection is now listed as a basic service at many campgrounds across North America. Electrical hook up, firewood, bathroom facilities, and now, wi-fi.

Call me old-fashioned, but I thought that the purpose of camping was to get away from it all—to reconnect with nature, and to be unavailable; disconnected, and to get back to nature.

The evolution (or de-evolution as the case may be) of summertime childhood activity is a popular subject these days. Kids spend more time than ever inside watching TV, playing video games, surfing the net. There are more than a few articles circulating in the media about what this means to traditional childhood, not to mention what all the plugged-in indoor time means to learning habits and social interaction.

Childhood is an ever-evolving landscape, but unfortunately, the new technologies and changing lifestyles are eroding traditional summer pastimes such as playing hide and seek, stargazing, bike riding, building tree houses, hopscotch…and camping.

The campsite is a place to get back to nature and re-discover how to long hours doing nothing more than using the imagination to keep amused. It’s a place to disconnect, to unplug, and to learn the simple pleasures that a childhood summer can bring.

Link: The Globe and Mail