This document is a newsletter from Houston County Middle School that provides tips and ideas for parents to help their children retain knowledge over the summer break to prevent the "summer slide". It suggests having children capture summer activities digitally, practice math by playing the stock market, listen to audiobooks, and explore safe supervised activities like camps or swapping childcare with other parents. It also discusses the importance of patience, enjoying summer reading, and making chore time more fun and varied.

1. Houston County Middle School
May 2013 www.houstoncountymiddleschool.com
Short Pre-exam cleanup Sunny with a chance
Stops Your youngster has prob-
ably accumulated a lot of
papers this year. Rather than waiting
of learning
until the last minute, suggest that he Don’t let your child slip
start cleaning out his homework area, down the “summer slide”!
locker, and backpack now so he’s That’s when kids forget what
ready to study for exams. He’ll proba- they’ve learned in school
bly find old tests and other assign- over the long summer
ments that can help him review. break. Consider these
ideas to help your middle
Showing appreciation schooler hold onto —
Encourage your tween to make cards and even expand — her
thanking her teachers for a great year. skills and knowledge.
A simple message lets them know
Be creative. Have your
they’re appreciated (“Thanks for help-
tween use technology to cap-
ing me understand algebra”). Idea: To
ture summer activities like family
decorate the card, she could include a
vacations, relatives’ visits, and holidays.
favorite poem for her English teacher
She could make a “glog” (a virtual col- might also try a free online trading game
or a picture of a historic site for her
lage) at edu.glogster.com or an online like weseed.com. Idea: Hold a family
history teacher.
slideshow at smilebox.com. Then, let her competition to see who can make the
share her creation with the whole family. biggest profit.
Write letters
Does your middle grader think your Practice math. Encourage your middle Listen to books. Let your child pick
city should have better bike paths or grader to “play” the stock market. Using out audio books at the library. Then, lis-
more activities for tweens? Let him $1,000 in pretend money, she can invest ten to them together in the car while you
write letters to the editor or to govern- in companies that make her favorite prod- run errands or take trips. She can predict
ment officials. He can practice persua- ucts like jeans and cell phones. Have her what will happen next and draw conclu-
sive writing by making a point and follow the stocks online or in newspapers sions about the characters, which can
backing it up with facts. Remind him and calculate her gains and losses. She improve her reading comprehension.
to edit his letters for spelling, grammar,
and punctuation. Safe and supervised
Worth quoting Your middle grader may be too old for
“Curiosity is the wick in the candle of day care but too young to be home alone all
learning.” William A. Ward day this summer. Try these two strategies.
1. Check camps, places of worship, commu-
Just for fun
nity centers, and libraries to see if they let
Q: What animal tweens help with younger children’s pro-
never needs grams. Look for those within safe walking
a haircut? or biking distance of your house — he’ll get
healthy exercise as he goes there and back.
A: A bald 2. If you work part-time, arrange a swap with another parent. The kids can be at
eagle! your house some days each week and at her house the other days. Or consider
asking your employer if you can telecommute one or two days a week during the
summer. That way, you’ll be in the house in case of emergency.
© 2013 Resources for Educators, a division of CCH Incorporated

2. Middle Years May 2013 • Page 2
Patience for a keeps him from playing
baseball. He might use
“now” world the time for some-
thing else he enjoys
Today’s tweens can get what (building rockets,
they want quickly, from fast organizing baseball
food to instant information. But cards). Or he could
patience will help your child cope ask to be score-
with delays that are part of life. keeper for his team
Here are some suggestions. so he can still hang
out with his friends.
Look for alternatives
Encourage your middle grader to find ways to distract Think about decisions
himself —rather than complaining — when he has to wait for Explain to your child that he can make better choices by
something that is important to him. Say he has an injury that taking time to think them through. You might share a quick
decision you regretted, like agreeing to host a party the same
week you had a deadline at work. When he faces a dilemma,
suggest that he wait a few days so he can weigh the pros and
cons and reach the best result.
Q How to review
& report cards Enjoying summer reading
A Report card time is stressful for Your child may not venture into the rain
both my daughter and me. How forest or befriend mythical creatures—but
can I handle it better? she can enjoy these kinds of adventures
First, look for positive parts of her through books! Use the following tips
report card, like an improved grade or a to encourage her to read this summer:
nice comment from a teacher. Your mid- ■ Have her sign up for the library’s summer
dle grader needs to know what she’s reading program. Hint: Suggest that she
doing well, and it will help both of you check out or reserve books as soon as possible, since popular titles go fast.
put the overall report in perspective.
Second, in areas ■ Recommend that she take her reading to new places. She might read at a park, by
that are dis- a stream, or at a bookstore. A fun idea is to match a book to a location —if you’re
appointing, visiting a different state, she could find a novel that’s set there.
talk about ■ Hold a summer movie festival where each week you watch a movie based on a
what hap- book. Your child can choose the movies and read the books first. Let her tell you
pened. If she how the movie and book differ — and which one she liked better.
gets a C in math,
leaf through final
papers, including homework, projects,
and tests, to look for patterns. Remind Parent Not such a chore
her about careless mistakes, like not to
checking math computations or skipping Parent I finally foundof way to one next.and organize shoes in the foyer
After years battles,
a the
day
test questions.
make chore time easier for my son, Sean. I also came up with a helpful discovery
Finally, look ahead. Some teachers
When he complained that he was by chance. As we were doing the dinner
may check email the week after school is
tired of doing the same task over and dishes the other night, I turned on music,
out, so she could ask for suggestions
over, I looked on Pinterest and I noticed the job seemed
that might help her in the fall.
for ideas. I decided to to go faster. Now when we’re
O U R P U R P O S E make a chore box and working around the house,
To provide busy parents with practical ideas put household jobs on I’ll ask Sean to pick a CD,
that promote school success, parent involvement, separate index cards and off we go.
and more effective parenting.
Resources for Educators,
inside. He picks These ideas haven’t
a division of CCH Incorporated one each day so made Sean look forward
128 N. Royal Avenue • Front Royal, VA 22630
540-636-4280 • rfecustomer@wolterskluwer.com
that his chores to doing chores —but
www.rfeonline.com vary. He might they have made him
ISSN 1540-5540 empty trash cans more willing!
© 2013 Resources for Educators, a division of CCH Incorporated