Summer Fun!

It is hard to believe that the last day of school was a month ago!  I hope you are finding your June to be filled with a mix of Summer fun and relaxation.  With a month of summer already under our belt – you may be looking for ways to fill the inevitable Summer brain drain.  Here is one last Kindergarten blog to provide you with some summer activities to help keep your child on track in preparing for first grade.  Below you will find ideas, printable activity calendars, websites, and more for your child and you to enjoy this summer.

In August, I will be clearing out my blog mailing list to make way for incoming Kindergarten families.  If you would like to remain on the Kindergarten blog mailing list please let me know.

Reading:

Summer is an excellent time for children to explore new ideas and to continue to grow as readers and writers.  Parents and family members play an important role in building successful readers.  Summer reading is vital to your child retaining and building on the skills learned during the past 10 months.  Most importantly, this is a time for children to engage their imaginations, find amusement in books, and to continue their love of reading

•  READ!  READ!  READ!  READ!  READ!

•  Model Reading

If your child sees you reading, it will encourage them to read.

•  Partner Reading

Find opportunities to read to your child.  Read signs while driving in the car, at stores and while you’re on vacation!

•  Summer Reading Program

Sign your child up for the summer library reading program.  Iowa City’s Summer Reading Program fits right in with our Kindergarten motto.  “Get ready, set, READ!” was something we said every single day while in school.

•  Interest = Fun!

Try and find books about things that interest your child.  Help your child create a library of his or her own!

•  Iowa City Mom’s Blog

The Iowa City Mom’s Blog has a great post on Summer reading.

Writing:

•  Build Writing Stamina and Confidence

•  Journal Ideas

Here you will find summer journaling ideas with print outs and video description.

•  Writing Prompts

Summer Writing Prompt ideas for a journal: 

1.  How do you like summer so far?  Draw a picture of your June fun.

2.  Did you see any fireworks on the 4th of July?   Draw a picture of your 4th of July.

3.  Are you thinking about going back to school?  Are you nervous?, excited?, scared?  Draw a picture of yourself in 1st Grade.

•  IXL – Language Arts

IXL has a NEW Language Arts component for First Grade.  I have not had a chance to check this out, but if it is anything like their Math activities it will be well worth the membership.  Here students can practice various skills like – ABC order, pronouns, adjectives, prepositions, word meaning etc.

Math:

•  Math in Focus

Click here to visit your child’s login page for Math in Focus activities.  As a reminder, log in information is as follows:

User Name:  firstnamelastname

Password:  mmddyy (child’s birthdate)

When you log in the first time you’ll want to select the following:

Country:  United States

State:  IOWA

District:  Private School

School:  Willowwind School, Iowa City 52245

•  Basic Math Facts

Kindergarteners LOVED “Time Test Tuesday”.  Encourage your child to participate in weekly (or even daily time tests).  In Kindergarten, we tried to complete 20 problems in 3 minutes.  In First Grade, students are typically asked to complete 50 problems in 5 minutes.  Here you can find math fact worksheets.

•  IXL - Math

While IXL requires a paid membership it is totally worth it.  Here students can work at a self-paced level to maneuver through a variety of age & grade appropriate math tasks.  You determine where your child should start and it build from there.  A GREAT resource!

Here is an article (10 Ways to Build Math Skills this Summer) that provides quick and easy ways to bring math into your daily summer routine.

Here PBS provides simple tips for Summer math learning.

Summer Calendars & Guides:

Here is a link to Iowa City Public Library’s kid calendar which includes magicians, movies, music and more!

Here is a super fun(!) calendar of activities to complete each day over the summer.

A book recommendation:  Daily Summer Activities for Moving into First Grade -  By Jo Ellen Moore.

This “Back to School” printable will help your child gear up for first grade.  Here you can find printable guides for future grades, too.

This link offers a variety of fun activities to keep your child’s brain engaged while having fun.  From Summer Safety, to outdoor adventures, to reading lists.  You’ll find a ton of ideas here.

This blog post includes resources and ideas for building academics and creating a “summer school” routine at home.

Here are some fun and free summer learning resources.

Barnes and Noble has amazing workbooks and kid-friendly resources that you can purchase at low cost to keep that brain focused on reading, writing, and arithmetic.  The Star Wars and BrainQuest (also available at Costco, I believe, and online) workbooks have always been huge hits with past Kindergarten classes.

Willowwind Summer Camp Courses:

It has been so fun to see familiar faces in Willowwind’s Summer Program as I’ve stopped up at Willowwind periodically in closing out this past school year and already preparing for next school year.  July and August classes still have openings so be sure to click here to see our Summer Programs brochure, call Rachel B. at 319.338.6061, or email Katherine Anderson, our Summer Programs Director, at katherinea@willowwind.org to learn more about remaining availability.

Laughs:

No summer can come and go without some good laughs.  Click here to access the Willowwind Teacher Talent Show Music Video.  Thank you Ms. Chesley for editing our teacher fun for your enjoyment.  Click here to view the Willowwind Teacher Graduation Monologue inspired by Shia LeBeouf.

MOST OF ALL – HAVE FUN!!!:

The most growing your child can do is when you are having fun together.  Check out some of these amazing adventure sites right here in our great state of Iowa.  Thank you Iowa City Mom’s Blog for the great articles.  IC Mom's Blog is a great resource.  I have really enjoyed their focus on highlighting local and regional summer activities going on this summer.  Take a look at their blog or below for more information and ideas.

Iowa City’s Passport to Fun

Pools & Splash Pads

Area Beaches

Go Camping – even if it’s in your backyard or even living room.

Build Responsibility

Zoos – in and around Iowa

Kernels Baseball – Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Maquoketa Caves – Maquoketa, Iowa

National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium – Dubuque, Iowa

Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark – Dubuque, Iowa

Lost Island Waterpark – Waterloo, Iowa

Fun City Family Attractions – Burlington, Iowa

Neil Smith National Wildlife Refuge – Prairie City, Iowa

Adventureland Amusement Park – Altoona, Iowa

Other Activities – This link includes additional parks, museums, and amusement opportunities throughout Iowa.

Finally, I love this Huffington Post article about enjoying the summer in honor of simpler days (10 Ways to Give Your Kids an Honest-to-Goodness 1970s Summer).

Have other school readiness and/ or summer fun must haves on your family’s summer to-do list?!  Let me know!  I’m always looking to grow my list of resources.  Thank you, all, for an amazing school year.  I hope you are having a wonderful summer break.  Enjoy!

Our June Memories:

Celebrating the Summer Solstice - Playing outside, past our bedtime, in our PJs.

Exploring the Iowa countryside.

Watching the sun set over Northern Minnesota

Wearing shades & finding enjoyment in a $0.94 pinwheel.