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[|Great Schools: 2nd Grade Article]



=﻿Summer Enrichment Ideas:=

=Email Ms. Ross at gretchsketch@gmail.com=

Most card games involve some level of math as well as strategical thinking. Teach new games that are more complicated and involve score-keeping. Also, we are going to explore Yatzhee! and a few other board games as well. Playing games regularly is fun and the kids won't even know they are doing math.

Continue to encourage students to keep up with her friends and family (and maybe teachers) via email as a way to keep up writing skills; tell stories about summer trips and adventures and even make up some fiction stories to send out via email to all her friends.

My kids love to perform Reader's Theater plays together. We have a couple of books, and I am planning to look for other sources, too. We also have a math facts War card game, like War but you have to solve addition or subtraction problems to see which card is higher. I am going to try to adapt some fractions and time/money flash cards to play, too. Local library reading programs. [|www.parkgeek.com]  for weekly activities. [|www.edheads.org]  for aspiring scientists & doctors. It has some simple & complex machines aside from med. operations. Design a cell phone goes right along w/ your products project that you just did Suggestion: plant flowers, vegetables or trees. (research, observe, write a how-to) When we're in the car driving somewhere I give my child math problems to do in her head. For example I might say "Uncle Warren was born in December 1986. How old is he now?" She likes it when I use real-life situations and people that we know and it helps her with her keep up her math skills.
 * MANY trips to the library!
 * 30 minutes dedicated to reading every single day. That includes Todd and I modeling reading too (a great way to catch up on the paper or read a book!).
 * We have pen pals in Minnesota. We'll write them postcards every so often.
 * Journal family vacations
 * We go to the book store or teacher supply store and choose a few workbooks (handwriting, math, reading comprehension). Every few days we'll sit down to do summer "homework." Also great to pass the time on trips.
 * Read together and take turns reading to each other
 * Garden!
 * We make a list of summer adventures and take day trips (SciWorks, battleship in Wilimington, Greensboro Nature Center, etc.). The boys write about their favorite thing from each adventure in a summer journal.

Teaching how to clean this summer and do laundry - Make your own green cleaning products (skills would include research, measurement)


 * __PARENT SUGGESTIONS:__**

Erin Erin and I have "our book" that we read at bedtime -- Grimm Sisters' Fairy Tale Mysteries Series; there are at least 7 books, so we should be OK through the summer :-) . The books are a bit above her current level, but I'm usually the one reading, so she's listening or reading along. If I come across a word or passage that I'm not sure she understands, I ask her about it & (quickly) explain the word/what's happening. Erin has really gotten into the series and we talk about the book at times other than when we're reading (she's trying to figure out the mystery). Since the series plays on familiar fairy tales we are constantly making connections to other stories (e.g., how this author is keeping things the same or changing things from the fairy tales that Erin knows; I give brief explanations when we come across stories/characters that Erin hasn't read yet). Erin has several new experiences scheduled this summer (e.g., trip to Colorado, first sleep-away camp). We'll get her a diary/journal to record "small moments" and practice her "poet's eye." Lately, Erin has been very interested in money and finances. Erin is using the 4-jar system (spend, save, donate, invest) for her allowance & we recently introduced "registers" for her to keep track of the amount of money in each jar. . . when Erin adds/spends money in a jar, she records the amount on her register & adds/subtracts it to get her current balance. Kaitlyn As for summer activities, Kaitlyn constantly reads; so I don’t know if anything I will need to do to push that…..but for writing and math; I will look for ways to incorporate math into trips to the grocery store….or better yet, when we buy sweet treats, like slushies, over the summer J Writing…..she journals all the time……so I will encourage that J Quinn We go to Stone School Supply and pick up fun workbooks for math and spelling and encourage reading as much as possible. Lucie Something I have done with Noah and will do this summer with Lucie is a "book club". We read the same book (sometimes I check out 2 copies at the library) and then we discuss every few chapters. Also, Lucie recently purchased a new diary and has been writing a lot in it. I will encourage her to continue over the summer. Avery Over the summer we get those practice work books from Walmart or Stones and do those and read. Sam We like to get the jumbo word search book and do those at night or while in the car traveling. Also, we like to keep a summer journal of trips/adventures. I like to have Sam make out the grocery list-there are always extras on the list that he adds. Emilia Summer things... in the past we've done those summer bridges workbooks, I get them a journal, they read. This year we I'd like to work on spelling (for them both) math (addition, subtraction, multiplication)