Summer Activities

As reported last month, use of Perspective continues to grow steadily. Given this growth and enthusiasm, the question on everyone’s mind is “How can I maximize my use of Perspective during the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer?”
Here are some suggestions that can minimize your students’ summer slump.

Create a Perspective Treasure Hunt Worksheet that guides students through the site with questions like ‘Find three math resources that involve measuring, print them off, and complete them so you can secure the keys to the ancient city of Learnalot’.

Create a Summer Rewards Program similar to those of many local libraries. Print a tally sheet with points for resources and redeemable prizes. For example, completing 5 on-grade vocabulary resources is worth 10 points. (25 points = 2 pencils to be awarded at the beginning of the next school year)

Challenge students to complete as many of the resources as they can from the grade level they just completed. Teachers could create a weekly or monthly target. Completing the resources serves as a great review for students and gives them a feeling of success.

Create assignment sheets based on strands. Each assignment sheet could have 20 resources listed per strand to help students work their way through skills taught during the previous school year. Assignment sheets should reflect the student’s skill level.

Print a calendar of the summer months with 2 or 3 resources per subject in each calendar square for students to complete. Have a fun day each week by assigning Shockwave interactivities or learning games for the students.

Direct parents to go through next year’s resources so they are ready to answer any questions about them that might come up.

Don't forget to hand out this great reading list from Prentice Hall.

You may wish to indulge in some of these selections from NPR .

Prizes are the responsibility of the teacher or parent creating the activities. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions; post a comment!