Them's the Breaks...Summer, that is
Hello, hello, and happy Thursday! I am in my office, enjoying a lovely view through my window, wishing I was out there instead of in here, and thoroughly envying my eight year old, who will get to enjoy unlimited nice-weather access all summer, beginning next Friday. Lucky monkey.
Sadly, I can't let his entire summer be all fun and games, partly because his father, older brother, and I are all working full-time, and his sister not only works full-time but lives an hour away, so he won't be able to live at the park of the beach (which he would LOVE), and also because we need to make sure he avoids the dreaded "Summer Slide," the loss of learning that affects many elementary-age children over the summer break. My boy has some difficulty with his reading, writing, and spelling, so my husband and I are being extra-vigilant this summer. As well, he has recently been diagnosed with ADD; we want to not only keep him on a steady learning platform, but encourage him to work on his focus and concentration over the summer. He will be starting 3rd Grade with a 504 Plan which will enable him to receive classroom support when he begins to feel overwhelmed, but the best way to support him is to help him build his skills before he needs them. (MCAS begins in 3rd Grade as well, and for those of you that are unfamiliar with this testing module, it's a nightmare for kids: there is so much hype built into it, students are under pressure to make the school look like a shining establishment of education, and yet and schools in Massachusetts no longer teach learning skills, they teach MCAS skills. In my time as a special education paraprofessional, I saw absolutely brilliant kids fall apart at the beginning of the MCAS because they were convinced they were going to fail. These were 5th graders, btw.)
So, what does all of this mean? It means that along with encouraging as much free and imaginative play as our work schedules allow, my husband and I will be encouraging reading and writing through the summer. As I mentioned, my daughter lives an hour away, and we only get to see her a couple times a month. My sister lives in Maine, and my father and stepmother live in Missouri. My little guy is going to be working on his spelling and writing...excuse me...he's going to have pen pals this summer, and send weekly letters out, to Auntie or Sissy or Oma and Opa, or even to Grandmom who just lives up the hill. I'm on the hunt for fun stationary for kids, and haven't had much luck. I have printed some pages off Google, but if anyone knows where I can pick up actual letter paper I'd appreciate a heads up. (Remember when you could go into a store and get a themed pack of letter paper and envelopes? ...no? Wow, I am old...)
We are fortunate that Bubbah loves to read and being read to, so encouraging reading isn't going to be too difficult, though I am sure he is not going to appreciate being told he needs to read for 30 minutes before any screen time. I can already hear the grumping... The library will kick off it's Summer Reading Program on the 22nd, and Bub is sure to ask to go sign up that day. He loves the Summer Reading Program. In preparation of this year's summer reading, I did a search for 'summer reading for 3rd grade boys' and was not disappointed. I could have left 'boys' out, I suppose; regardless, the books that showed up cover a range of reading ability and topics. Goodreads.com had a fabulous list of 258 titles, some of which I remember reading as a kid. (Encyclopedia Brown was a favorite when I was in the 6-8 age range. I can't really use myself as a guide, though; I was reading classics like Black Beauty and Moby Dick at 6 years old. Not really sure what my parents were thinking.) Anyway, take a look at this link for " Great Books for 3rd Grade Boys" that really could just be called "Great Books for 3rd Graders," but I didn't create the list, so it can be called whatever it wants to be. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1518.Great_Books_For_Third_Grade_Boys
In the meantime, enjoy this lovely day, and feel free to commiserate with me as I spend the next week trying to figure out exactly what to do with my son this summer. He's way too young to stay home alone, and I wouldn't want him to even if he was older. I recall summers when I was 11 and 12, home along all day, and very lonely, even with all the books I could read. It's a tough situation. Maybe I can just quit my job for the summer, and come back in September? That probably wouldn't fly. Oh well.
Sadly, I can't let his entire summer be all fun and games, partly because his father, older brother, and I are all working full-time, and his sister not only works full-time but lives an hour away, so he won't be able to live at the park of the beach (which he would LOVE), and also because we need to make sure he avoids the dreaded "Summer Slide," the loss of learning that affects many elementary-age children over the summer break. My boy has some difficulty with his reading, writing, and spelling, so my husband and I are being extra-vigilant this summer. As well, he has recently been diagnosed with ADD; we want to not only keep him on a steady learning platform, but encourage him to work on his focus and concentration over the summer. He will be starting 3rd Grade with a 504 Plan which will enable him to receive classroom support when he begins to feel overwhelmed, but the best way to support him is to help him build his skills before he needs them. (MCAS begins in 3rd Grade as well, and for those of you that are unfamiliar with this testing module, it's a nightmare for kids: there is so much hype built into it, students are under pressure to make the school look like a shining establishment of education, and yet and schools in Massachusetts no longer teach learning skills, they teach MCAS skills. In my time as a special education paraprofessional, I saw absolutely brilliant kids fall apart at the beginning of the MCAS because they were convinced they were going to fail. These were 5th graders, btw.)
So, what does all of this mean? It means that along with encouraging as much free and imaginative play as our work schedules allow, my husband and I will be encouraging reading and writing through the summer. As I mentioned, my daughter lives an hour away, and we only get to see her a couple times a month. My sister lives in Maine, and my father and stepmother live in Missouri. My little guy is going to be working on his spelling and writing...excuse me...he's going to have pen pals this summer, and send weekly letters out, to Auntie or Sissy or Oma and Opa, or even to Grandmom who just lives up the hill. I'm on the hunt for fun stationary for kids, and haven't had much luck. I have printed some pages off Google, but if anyone knows where I can pick up actual letter paper I'd appreciate a heads up. (Remember when you could go into a store and get a themed pack of letter paper and envelopes? ...no? Wow, I am old...)
We are fortunate that Bubbah loves to read and being read to, so encouraging reading isn't going to be too difficult, though I am sure he is not going to appreciate being told he needs to read for 30 minutes before any screen time. I can already hear the grumping... The library will kick off it's Summer Reading Program on the 22nd, and Bub is sure to ask to go sign up that day. He loves the Summer Reading Program. In preparation of this year's summer reading, I did a search for 'summer reading for 3rd grade boys' and was not disappointed. I could have left 'boys' out, I suppose; regardless, the books that showed up cover a range of reading ability and topics. Goodreads.com had a fabulous list of 258 titles, some of which I remember reading as a kid. (Encyclopedia Brown was a favorite when I was in the 6-8 age range. I can't really use myself as a guide, though; I was reading classics like Black Beauty and Moby Dick at 6 years old. Not really sure what my parents were thinking.) Anyway, take a look at this link for " Great Books for 3rd Grade Boys" that really could just be called "Great Books for 3rd Graders," but I didn't create the list, so it can be called whatever it wants to be. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1518.Great_Books_For_Third_Grade_Boys
In the meantime, enjoy this lovely day, and feel free to commiserate with me as I spend the next week trying to figure out exactly what to do with my son this summer. He's way too young to stay home alone, and I wouldn't want him to even if he was older. I recall summers when I was 11 and 12, home along all day, and very lonely, even with all the books I could read. It's a tough situation. Maybe I can just quit my job for the summer, and come back in September? That probably wouldn't fly. Oh well.
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