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Summer Learning Day is July 9. Take the opportunity this week to follow advice from the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University. The center shares eight tips for what parents can do to keep kids sharp over the summer.
(Excerpted from http://www.summerlearning.org)
- Locate a summer program. There are high-quality camps and programs in almost every price range. (For a directory of camps, check out gocamps.com/.)
- Participate in free library programs. Make time to read every day.
- Take educational trips, including low-cost visits to parks, museums, zoos, and nature centers.
- Maintain a schedule. Provide structure and limits while keeping kids engaged.
- Prepare for fall. Find out what your child may be learning in the upcoming school year by talking to teachers at that grade level. Use summertime to preview concepts and materials.
- Practice math daily. Make it fun: track daily temperatures, add and subtract at the grocery store, learn fractions while cooking.
- Get outside and play. Physical activity contributes to healthy development.
- Do good deeds. Students learn better when they engage in activities that aid in their social-emotional development.
For families with young children, the public library is a great place to find entertainment, educational or cultural enrichment, or valuable information. Sixty-eight percent of Americans have a library card. Do you? Reading Rockets offers nine reasons to get one and visit your local library.
- Free programs and activities: From author visits to puppet shows to family films, libraries offer programs with kid appeal after school, on the weekends, and during the summer. Ask your librarian for the schedule of upcoming events.
- Story times: There's nothing like hearing a good story read by someone who loves to read aloud. Libraries are terrific settings for story times which often include finger plays, games, songs, and crafts that can be learned and enjoyed again at home.
- Workshops: Many libraries offer workshops that can help enrich your life as an adult and support you as a parent. At many libraries, it is possible to learn to knit, prepare your taxes, update your résumé, gain computer skills, or improve your parenting skills.
- Books: Librarians are happy to make recommendations and most public libraries have a special section just for children's books.
- Audiobooks: Listened to a good book lately? Most libraries have a collection of popular adult and children's titles available for checkout on tape or CD.
- Movies: Your public library is a great source for free access to the latest blockbusters, family movie classics, documentaries, or favorite TV shows.
- Music: Want to introduce your children to Beethoven or the Beatles or new children's songs? Check to see if your library has a collection of music on CD.
- Magazines and newspapers: Introduce your child to some of the magazines designed just for children. With bold photographs, poems and a joke or two, magazines are another reading choice for beginning readers. Or catch up on the news in your community and share a smile over the comics.
- Computers: Most public libraries offer free Internet access (73% of public libraries report they provide the only free access to the Internet in their communities; 83% for rural libraries), computers with educational games for kids, and valuable online resources for teenagers.
Libraries are also working to get more of their own resources online. Your local library may have its own website with links to other resources within your community. If you're looking for the internet or street address of your local public library, http://ilovelibraries.org/findyourlibrary offers several places to look.
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PTA Parent News Blogger Christie Burnett, an advocate of partnerships between educators and parents, shares a checklist for evaluating child care centers or early learning programs.
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PTA Resources
PTA also advocates partnerships between families and schools as a way to ensure student success in school and life. PTA's National Standards for Family-School Partnerships provide a framework for how families, schools, and communities work together to support student achievement. | | |
The latest PTA Radio broadcasts feature:
- Jim Shelton's innovative ideas to change American schools for the better. Shelton serves as the Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education.
- Our newest National PTA Ambassador, Chris Draft of the NFL's St. Louis Rams, sharing how parent involvement has been a key to his success.
- A dynamic virtual contest from one of our partner programs, Entertainment Software Rating Board. Listen as ESRB representative Eliot Mizrachi shares the details.
Read about how two PTAs hosted family events that got parents involved in a fun, before-school activity with their children. Go to the new PTA Great Idea Bank.
- Action: Start a community service project.
- Why: To participate in President Obama's summer-long United We Serve initiative.
- How: Start by downloading PTA's Call to Service Toolkit, a step-by-step outline for developing an effective and successful service project.
- Want to learn more about what PTA offers? Order a Back-to-PTA Handbook edition of Our Children, the PTA national magazine. Order online. Copies are $2.50 each.
- PTA.org will be unavailable from noon on July 10 to 7 a.m. July 13 due to maintenance and upgrades.
There are many ways that you can help your child succeed! A few small activities each week will pay huge dividends over the course of the year. Here are a few that you can do this week:
Make donations and/or offer to work at clothing drives and food banks to benefit economically-disadvantaged families in the community. - Haga donaciones y/u ofrézcase para trabajar en colectas de ropa y alimentos destinados a familias con dificultades económicas que habitan en la comunidad.
Ask teachers or school counselors about how to talk with your child about tough topics. - Pregunte a los docentes o asesores escolares cómo hablar con su hijo acerca de temas difíciles.
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