Sunday, May 26, 2013
Friday, May 17, 2013
Welcome to Almost Firsties!
Welcome to the Team Kindergarten Blog for the Summer of 2013. Your kiddos are going to be big First Graders this August and we want to partner with you to keep your kids academically on track. We want to help you keep your child from losing skills over the summer. A teacher will spend an average of six to eight weeks at the beginning of the school year reteaching skills from the previous school year that the kids have lost due to the lack of practice. Young children learn through repetition and imitation. If they don't use it, they lose it! Why not have them come back to school at the same or higher skills level than when they left Kindergarten?
Picture this. Your child starts Kindergarten at age five. The average child will lose two months worth of skills over the summer if they are not exposed to reading, math and writing each week. This means your child will go into First Grade at the same skill level as they were at the middle to end of March if you do not work with them. Now, I am not sure about you but I sure have seen a lot of growth and maturity develop since March! Please don't let them lose those skills! This compounds as your child ages if you do not work with them over breaks. Your child will have approximately 12 Summer Breaks before they graduate High School. Say your child loses the average of eight weeks each school year relearning lost skills from the previous year. This means by the time they graduate High School they would have spent 24 whole months relearning skills from THE PREVIOUS GRADE that they lost over the summer. That means your graduate will really only be ready to graduate their sophomore year of high school when they graduate from high school due to the Summer Slide (the backward regression of skills from the end of one school year to the beginning of a new school year).
Imagine that your child comes back to school at the same or higher skill level than they were when they left for the summer. Now your child is at or way above National Average for graduating seniors due to the fact that they have been exposed to two full years worth of new information. Two years ahead in math, two years ahead in writing, two years or more ahead in reading than their peers.
"So what?" you may ask. Well, think scholarships, think opportunities for your child, think about work opportunities for those at the head of their class, think about their self-esteem, think about their ability to be well read, well rounded adults in the work force. So many jobs of the future are going to revolve around technology (math and science) and being a strong reader ( the ability to read and understand technical texts will be in great demand).
We propose that you spend just 20 minutes a day working out your child's brain. Just 20 minutes will keep their brains strong and their skills sharp. Just like those silly work out infomercials that say you can lose 20 pounds in 20 days in just 20 minutes a day, 20 minutes a day of brain work may save your child thousands of dollars in tuition or they may be able to get a high paying job after technical school due to your 20 minutes a day investment in their futures.
As you can tell the teachers here feel very strongly about making sure the kids come back with all of their skills still sharp. We are all willing to do weekly updates on the blog, make and share practice sheets for you to use at home with your child this summer, read aloud on camera and upload it to the blog so they stay interested in reading this summer and issuing summer writing challenges (like journaling in their notebooks each day or writing stories for the new group of Kindergarten kids coming to school next year). We will provide the support if you will invest the time with your child this summer.
So here is the challenge. We challenge each child to come back at the same or higher reading level this fall. Let's blow those First Grade Teachers away! Let's make sure they don't have to spend the first two months reteaching Kindergarten skills to your brand new First Grader. I know that together we can do this.
We will be posting new ideas each week. Come back often or sign up to receive updates via email. Please use this resource. It can make all the difference in the life, education and emotional development of your child.
Happy Reading!
The Peine Ridge Kindergarten Team
Picture this. Your child starts Kindergarten at age five. The average child will lose two months worth of skills over the summer if they are not exposed to reading, math and writing each week. This means your child will go into First Grade at the same skill level as they were at the middle to end of March if you do not work with them. Now, I am not sure about you but I sure have seen a lot of growth and maturity develop since March! Please don't let them lose those skills! This compounds as your child ages if you do not work with them over breaks. Your child will have approximately 12 Summer Breaks before they graduate High School. Say your child loses the average of eight weeks each school year relearning lost skills from the previous year. This means by the time they graduate High School they would have spent 24 whole months relearning skills from THE PREVIOUS GRADE that they lost over the summer. That means your graduate will really only be ready to graduate their sophomore year of high school when they graduate from high school due to the Summer Slide (the backward regression of skills from the end of one school year to the beginning of a new school year).
Imagine that your child comes back to school at the same or higher skill level than they were when they left for the summer. Now your child is at or way above National Average for graduating seniors due to the fact that they have been exposed to two full years worth of new information. Two years ahead in math, two years ahead in writing, two years or more ahead in reading than their peers.
"So what?" you may ask. Well, think scholarships, think opportunities for your child, think about work opportunities for those at the head of their class, think about their self-esteem, think about their ability to be well read, well rounded adults in the work force. So many jobs of the future are going to revolve around technology (math and science) and being a strong reader ( the ability to read and understand technical texts will be in great demand).
We propose that you spend just 20 minutes a day working out your child's brain. Just 20 minutes will keep their brains strong and their skills sharp. Just like those silly work out infomercials that say you can lose 20 pounds in 20 days in just 20 minutes a day, 20 minutes a day of brain work may save your child thousands of dollars in tuition or they may be able to get a high paying job after technical school due to your 20 minutes a day investment in their futures.
As you can tell the teachers here feel very strongly about making sure the kids come back with all of their skills still sharp. We are all willing to do weekly updates on the blog, make and share practice sheets for you to use at home with your child this summer, read aloud on camera and upload it to the blog so they stay interested in reading this summer and issuing summer writing challenges (like journaling in their notebooks each day or writing stories for the new group of Kindergarten kids coming to school next year). We will provide the support if you will invest the time with your child this summer.
So here is the challenge. We challenge each child to come back at the same or higher reading level this fall. Let's blow those First Grade Teachers away! Let's make sure they don't have to spend the first two months reteaching Kindergarten skills to your brand new First Grader. I know that together we can do this.
We will be posting new ideas each week. Come back often or sign up to receive updates via email. Please use this resource. It can make all the difference in the life, education and emotional development of your child.
Happy Reading!
The Peine Ridge Kindergarten Team
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