‘Summer Learning Loss’, or ‘Summer Slide’ as it’s also known, is not just an issue for ‘at risk’ students. All students need to practice their academic skills to keep from falling behind over summer vacation.
The year I taught 2nd grade I experienced firsthand how much students can forget over the summer. We wasted much valuable time that fall doing remedial work…. re-learning the reading and math skills they once knew but had forgotten. My students didn’t realize the ‘use it or lose it’ nature of what they thought they had memorized. And many saw their reading and math levels drop in September as a result.
Reading can be easy for parents to encourage when kids have extra time on their hands. But fact-based memorization (like math computation) often ends up taking a hit over the summer months. Without practice, these facts can be easily forgotten, yet they’re foundational to future success.
Kids need ways to practice their academic skills that feel more like play than work. After all, this is summer vacation!
So the folks at Elmer’s sent me some supplies and asked me to come up with a project that would help keep summer learning loss at bay.
Right away, this “old school” Flash Card Flipper came to mind. Does anyone else remember using one of these as a kid? They’re easy to make, fun to use, and kids can decorate them however they like. A Flash Card Flipper is perfect for practicing math facts, spelling, parts of speech, state capitols…. the sky’s the limit! Just feed in a flash card and check your answer as the Flash Card Flipper magically returns the card to you with the answer facing up! (Savvy teachers can have students make these the last week of school to ensure they’ll be ready for grade level work when the next school year begins!)
You’ll Need:
- Empty (cube-shaped) tissue box
- X-acto craft knife (for adult use)
- Elmer’s X-treme School Glue Stick (The Elmer’s X-treme School Glue Stick is my new favorite glue stick because of how well it sticks!)
- 1 piece 12×18 (white) construction paper (cut to 18” x 5”, 4.5” x 7”, and 4” x 9”)
- Elmer’s Paintastic Painters Washable Paint Brush Pens (or other markers for decorating)
- 3×5 index cards (unruled)
- crayons (for making flash cards)
Directions: (note: Kids should have adult help with the cutting!)
This post was sponsored by Elmer’s and uses affiliate links.
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