Is summer learning loss really a thing? Yes.
A week before spring break my daughter was given a few extra books to take home. Panic surrounding COVID-19 was looming and a return to school was uncertain. You know how the story ends. There was no return to the classroom and we were subjected to a national quarantine and homeschooling. Daily virtual learning video calls, logs of ditto sheets, and a weekly calendar became the story of our lives. Midway through, I decided to stop complaining and gear up to mitigate the learning gap this summer and find ways to prevent learning loss.
In addition to hands-on learning, art, and traditional summer fun, supplemental activity books are a great way to prevent summer learning loss. These workbooks serve as a bridge between grades helping prepare children for the next school year. Each only requiring a 15-minute daily commitment. In previous years, I purchased the Summer Bridge Activities workbook and maybe one additional title in case time permitted. This summer, I purchased three to meet my rising first grader’s needs. Below are two titles, for grades Pre-K to 8th grades, with short daily activities.
Summer Bridge Activities: Pre K thru 8th Grade
Summer learning loss is responsible for approximately one month of achievement decline during summer break. If there was ever a time to be on top of preventing summer brain drain, this would be it.
