Franklin Lakes School District

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Summer Learning » Summer Learning

Summer Learning

 

Given the unconventional way in which schools have operated since March, we STRONGLY ENCOURAGE parents/ guardians to ensure learning continues and skills are practiced this summer!  Please see summer learning recommendations made by our talented educators across the District!

 

For Students entering Grades 1-8:

 

1. Math Summer Boot Camp

Organized by grade-level spans, these packets are intended to guide students and families through key topics and resources as they prepare to enter the next grade, and help students explore mathematics in the world around them in fun and engaging ways.   We hope students and families will choose to prepare for the upcoming school year by spending some time working on the topics and skills provided.  Please note students will need to utilize their student logins/ accounts to access some external web sites. 

 

Important: Student iXL accounts will not be available after 8/15/20, in order to prepare for a new academic year.

 

Access our Math Summer Boot Camp Resources:

** Students entering Honors Algebra or Geometry courses: Information will be forthcoming from FAMS

 

2. Summer Reading

Unfortunately, when kids don't read over the summer, they are likely to fall behind when they head back to school. These learning losses are often called the "Summer Slide" and, in order to keep our students' skills sharp, we encourage ALL children to read all summer long.  To prevent reading loss, research supports reading both TO the child and BY the child.  Research with 1,600 sixth-graders in 18 schools showed that reading four to six chapter books during the summer was enough to alleviate summer loss (Trelease, 2010).  Resources to support children and parents with book selection abound, including the  Franklin Lakes Public Library's Summer Reading Program, as well as endless children's book lists published on the Internet.

 

Summer Reading Challenge Resources:

 

3. Primary Reading Skills (Entering Gr. 1 & 2)

Track daily foundational reading skills practice this summer! 

Student Accounts will only be available through 8/15/20 in order to prepare for a new academic year.

 

4. Emerging Reader study courtesy of the Yale R.E.S.C.U.E. Project!

The Haskins Global Literacy Hub is presently conducting a study backed by the National Science Foundation, which is geared to students entering Kindergarten-Grade 2.  The Study’s Principal Investigators (Yale & UCONN) are seeking to understand if an internationally-researched digital reading game can prevent the “Coronavirus slide.” 

 

FLPS Administrators and Reading Intervention teachers have participated in outreach sessions with the Study representatives and recommend any student entering Kindergarten to 2nd grade this fall participate!  There is no negative consequence to doing so.  The study requires children to play a phonics game - either GraphoLearn (Windows, Mac, Android tablet) or GraphoGame (iPad, ChromeBook, or smartphone) for two 10-minute sessions, 5 days per week, for 8-12 weeks, with the active encouragement of the parent/ guardian.  Parents will also agree to participate in surveys and students will participate in online reading assessments (five – over different intervals).    Registration is rolling and requires a parent to complete this form and provide direct parent consent to Haskins Global Literacy Hub in order to participate.   

 

For more information, please visit:

 

 

5. Kindergarten Readiness

In preparation for Kindergarten, we suggest families use the  linked summer calendar for guidance on simple, yet impactful activities to support and prepare them for what's ahead!  These play-based activities encourage positive interactions between children and families while also supporting early experiences with literacy, numeracy, thinking, language, fine and gross motor skills, and other areas that will ready students for Kindergarten!  We suggest displaying each monthly calendar on the refrigerator or on a pin-board, and have your child countdown to Kindergarten one activity at a time!  

 

We hope you have a wonderful summer and encourage your child/ren to continue the learning and practice this summer!

 

Updated June 2020

What If My Child Wants a Vacation From Reading?  

Jim Trelease, advocate and author of The Read-Aloud Handbook (2010), advises parents to:

  • First, remember that pleasure is more often caught than taught (that means-read aloud to them).   

Next:

  • Make sure you (the adult role model) are seen reading daily. It works even better if you read at the same time as the child.
  • For young children, looking at the pictures in books and turning pages qualifies as "reading." We become picture-literate before becoming print-literate.
  • Allow children to choose the books they wish to read to themselves, even if they don't meet your high standards.
  • Don't take that vacation car trip without recorded books on board; they count too!
  • Set some time parameters, short at first, and longer as children get older and read more.
  • Newspapers and magazines, even comic books, should count toward reading time.  All of it amounts to exposure to print. The self-selection, self-interest factor is important here. Let children read what interests them.

 

The Importance of Reading Aloud

As children's listening levels may be up to two years more mature than their independent reading levels, the benefits of parental read aloud to children of ALL AGES are compelling - even for students as old as 14! As such, parents are encouraged to initiate a daily 15 minute read aloud ritual to build children's academic and emotional foundations. Keeping in mind that the vocabulary of the average children's book is three times greater than that found on prime-time television (Hayes & Ahrens, 1988), the daily ritual of read aloud and conversation further serves to build children's vocabularies.

 

From our FLPS Library/ Media Specialists:

It is very important to keep reading over the summer! We read for three important reasons - for pleasure, for information, and for growth. More time spent reading over the summer not only improves language arts skills (both reading AND writing), but also creates emotional growth for our children as well. Books are a wonderful look into different cultures, and into the stories of people that are different than we are. Our cultures and stories may be vastly different, yet we are the same in our needs and in our wants. This is the terrific paradox of the human condition - that we are all beautifully similar, yet wonderfully different!

 

Below please find a variety of resources to help keep our kids reading over our summer break:

 

 

 

For more information and resources, please visit:

 

 
Click below to link to 
R-IH Summer Assignments 2020