Summer Learning: How to create a family storybook

Summer Break is here, and our thoughts are revolving around words like vacation, relaxation, rest, getaway, and so on!  Words like homework, project, and assignment instantly turn into bad-words the minute summer vacation begins, so I encourage you to avoid them at all costs!  Instead, try to generate creative ways to keep your child/children actively involved in writing, reading, and processing information over the break.  One way to keep all these language arts skills at the forefront in a covert way is to develop family storybooks. 

Family storybooks are similar to reflective journaling yet different because they are created through group effort!  Topic areas are limitless because the stories can be written on just about anything!  (Examples include: Our Day at the Zoo, Cleaning Day!, The Cruise of a Lifetime, etc.)  No storybook will ever be complete until every person submits their entry.  It will be up to you to pick and choose the number of storybooks your family will create over the summer break!  All you have to do is introduce the activity and provide the encouragement.  Your participation will set an excellent example for your kids, and the final product will be a keepsake for everyone to enjoy now and forever! 

Here are the steps involved:

1. Explain the concept of the family storybook prior to the activity.

2. Encourage children to pay close attention to details during the event so they will be able to describe them in writing later.

3. Take digital pictures before, during, and after the event (if possible), and allow each participant to choose pictures to include with their writing.  Of course, pictures can also be drawn or painted; get creative! 

4. Encourage each child to write as much as they can about the experience, including personal thoughts and feelings.

5. Set a deadline for the individual drafts to be completed and pictures to be selected.

6. Combine everyone’s story in a logical order (example: youngest to oldest) and place them in a notebook, report binder, or digital file.

7. Enjoy reading each family storybook individually and/or together. 

8. Share your family storybooks with others!

It’s a fact that each person perceives their surroundings by seeing, hearing, smelling, and feeling.  Accordingly, everyone’s experience will be unique to them, and it will be fun to see and read varying accounts of the same event.  After the first family storybook is completed, subsequent storybooks will usually become easier and more detailed!  The best part about the activity will be that you and your family will be engaged in writing, reading, and information processing all summer long!  Family storybooks will be a unique memento that will capture moments in time to enjoy a lifetime!  This could become a new summer tradition!  Whatever you do, have fun with it!

Summer Learning: Developing Your Child's Communication Skills

Have you ever thought of scheduling a weekly family meeting during the summer months? It really is a great way to boost communication skills at home! Kids of all ages, when given the chance, can participate in structured discussions to recap the previous week and plan for the next one. Routine meetings can allow everyone to contribute personal thoughts, feelings, ideas, choices, etc., so that everyone has an opportunity to be heard.  Topic possibilities are endless, yet providing this type of platform can build family connections and help children develop their personal communication skills.

Here’s how it works:

1. Pick a time which you set aside to conduct the weekly family meetings this summer.  It can be some time on the weekend or whatever works with your family’s schedule.  The point is to plan the time into your schedule so your children can look forward to having a special time to express themselves.

2. Work together to name the time set apart to meet. (Example:  The Johnson Council)  Create an official sign using the chosen name, and display it during family meetings!

3. Assign an office to each contributing family member.  Making the meeting time more formal can be fun for your children and also introduce them to the structure of a public meeting forum.  Here’s an example:

4. Create an agenda for your meeting time.  Include a recap of the last meeting, a budget discussion by the treasurer, weekly stars, and weekly wishes that are ideas for the upcoming week.  (A “star” would be something that is working well in your schedule; a “wish” would be something that will continually change.)  Example:

Providing your children with an opportunity to participate in a weekly family meeting during the summer months can sharpen their communication skills.  Meetings can coax reluctant speakers with a venue to express themselves as well as supply more vocal children with a vehicle to communicate in a safe, controlled environment.  Everyone can have a chance to contribute, and you might be surprised by what you will learn during these discussions. 

True Story:  (If I may share a short story with you from my own childhood, it might help you think about your own communication habits within your family.)

While I was in grade school, my mother used to braid my tremendously long hair in two braids every single day. Unbeknownst to her, the other kids would tease me about my braids, which of course mortified me.  I was embarrassed and would have preferred not wearing my hair that way, but in my shy obedience to my mom, I never said a word about it to her.

Imagine my surprise years later when I mentioned this period of my growing up years to her.  I will never forget her saying, “All you had to do was tell me. You didn’t have to wear your hair that way.”  …Wait! …All I had to do was tell her?! Ugh! 

My mother’s words opened a window in my mind to the value of communication.

Is there a shy, obedient child in your family that might benefit from a weekly time to express what is on his or her mind?  Do you have a more expressive child that needs structure and guidance to speak in an orderly way? Perhaps a weekly family meeting this summer could be just the tool your family needs to build communication skills.

Spend your summer at the library!

I fondly recall the summers I spent taking my son to the local library when he was young.  I can still remember his excitement as he perused the library shelves, looking for just the right books to take home to read.  Those weekly trips were part of our routine, and we both looked forward to them with anticipation!

Did you know that many libraries across the nation create summer reading programs for children?  I know that my local library hosts an incentive system where kids can earn points for reading books.  Those points can be used to redeem great prizes that students can use and enjoy.  Another special opportunity that’s offered is designed to encourage parental involvement. In this program, parents are given points for each book they read with or to their child.  Once an entire card is filled with book titles, parents can redeem points for prizes they can use and enjoy.  I personally believe that summer library reading programs like these are invaluable because of the life-long love of reading my son and I still relish today.

I’m sharing this information with you now because some libraries are offering really cool prizes this summer!  It’s not too late to get started!  Here are just a few examples I found:

• Students can earn points to win prizes.
• Students can earn points to win restaurant vouchers.
• Students can earn points for admission to local attractions.
• Students can enter a drawing for a college savings account.

How long has it been since you visited a library with your child? There are numerous incentives out there, so find out what’s going on at your local library today!  Your child can enjoy a fun summer program where the more they read, the more they will earn! You might find a great book to check out and read too!  It’s truly a win-win for everyone!  Take it from me; the benefits of a summer library reading program can be big enough to last a lifetime!

Why Downtime is Beneficial for Students

If you’ve been following our Shurley English Blog posts you know we’ve been flooding you with creative ideas on how to continue supporting your students’ academic progress throughout the summer.  We are also aware that with the high demands placed upon our children in today’s U.S. classrooms, it’s evident that children (and adults) have fewer opportunities to truly unwind and relax. 

Today, my suggestion is to remember to INCLUDE some “DOWNTIME” into your child’s daily summer schedule…here’s why:

*Research shows time off-task is important for proper brain function & health.

*The brain uses 20% of the body’s energy while on-task.

*Napping 10-30 minutes can increase alertness and improve performance.

*Meditation is a way to give the brain a break from work and refresh our ability to concentrate.

*Resting mental states help us process our experiences, consolidate memories, reinforce learning, regulate our attention & emotions, and keep us productive!

Downtime will give the brain an opportunity to make sense of what has just been learned, and shifting off-task can actually help learners refresh their minds, gain insight, and return to the task with more focus.

Time off-task isn’t always wasted time or a sign of laziness! I encourage you to create the balance between being a “human-being” and a “human-doing” this summer!      

Summer Learning: Journaling with Appreciative Inquiry

Summer vacation is coming soon! So, what are your plans?  Have you included any activities that will help your child keep their language arts skills sharp over the break?  (Haha!  I’m almost positive that most of you just knitted your brows and sarcastically muttered the words: “Ugh, NO!”)  Before you stop reading this post, I’d like for you to consider doing some “AND” thinking because there is a way for students to enjoy their time off from school AND continue applying language arts skills! They might just learn to appreciate the experience while they’re at it if we add an additional AND to the list!  The key is to cop a good action plan in advance!

Before I get to the suggested activity, I want to tell you about an approach to personal change called Appreciative Inquiry (AI).  AI is the study and exploration of what gives life to human systems when they function at their best.  It is based on the assumption that the questions we ask and the dialogue we hold about strengths, successes, values, hopes, and dreams lead us in a particular direction and are themselves transformational! Simply put, Appreciative Inquiry means that what we spend time focusing on and studying shapes our interpretations, learnings, and inspirations!  (Do you focus on what you want or what you don’t want?  Whichever it is, you’ll likely find it.  If you continually search for problems, you’ll find problems.  If you look for what is best and learn from it, you can magnify and multiply your success!) 

With that being said, allow me to give you a summertime language arts activity that will keep your child engaged in writing AND teach them to appreciate their experiences…AND still enjoy their vacation!  It’s fairly simple.  We’re talking about journaling…AI style!  Here are the steps involved:

1.  Get a spiral notebook, folder, composition book, or diary.  (A digital journal is fine too!)

2.  Establish a routine for journaling.  (What time of day will work best?) (Will you have your child do a daily/weekly journal entry, or will you only have them journal after certain activities? Etc.) 

3.  Have your child personalize their summer journal by giving it a title, such as My Summer Journal or The Summer of 2018.

4.  Require each journal entry to include the day’s date and year.

5.   Have students write as much as they can as they reflect on the day’s events, using the following Appreciative Inquiry questions as a guide:

• What was the best part of today?
• Who was part of my day, and how did we work together to make the day better?
• What situation(s) took place today that helped me to learn and grow?
• What relationship(s) helped me perform at my best today?
• Did anyone do go above and beyond to make today extra special?
• Did anyone tell me that I made a difference today?
• When did I feel like I made a difference today?
• Did I or anyone else help someone have success today?
• What did I look forward to today?
• Share a time that I made an effort to listen and hear the opinion(s) of someone else today.
• Who did I trust and depend on most today?
• Who made me believe in myself and my potential today? 
• When did I communicate well with others today?
• How can I help create an environment that will make tomorrow an even better day?          

6.     Have students draw or create a picture to go with today’s journal entry.

7.     Consider having students share their journal entries aloud so that everyone can enjoy the positive experiences of the day!

As students learn to write, using these AI questions as a framework, their ability to appreciate can translate into a more positive approach to thinking that can last a lifetime if knowledge, skill, and practice are applied.  Give it a try with your child this summer!  The journal will also be something you can save for them to enjoy reading later in life.

Summer Learning: How to Keep Language Arts Skills Sharp

Slurpees, sunshine, swimming, sunbathing, relaxing, travel, camping, barbecues, bike rides, fireworks, friends, and LANGUAGE ARTS! Of course, summer vacation might include some of these foot-loose and fancy-free things, but it’s also an opportunity to keep parents engaged in their child’s learning over the summer months.

Remember, the key to success in whatever you want to do is setting goals for yourself. Encourage families to set short and long term academic goals for the summer. (I've included a great bonus lesson on Setting Goals at the end of this post!)

Here are three great ways to keep your child's Language Arts skills sharp this summer:

1. Summer Reading

Check out your school’s suggested Reading List or get started with the list below to keep your students reading fluently! (Need more book ideas? Be sure to check out the suggested reading list located in the back of your Shurley English Teacher's Manual.)

2. Question & Answer Flow Practice

Keep the Shurley English Question & Answer Flow fresh in students’ minds! You can create your own summer practice packet from sentences found in your Shurley English workbook, or you can purchase a Sentence Booklet that contains new sentences to classify. Either way, you'll be sure to keep those classification skills sharp and automatic with Q&A Flow practice. 

3. Reflective Journal

Create a reflective journal to document the summer break. Fill this journal with creative drawings, poems, homemade songs/raps, and free writing about unique summer experiences. Journaling gives learners a chance to really tap into their creative side and get outside the rigid box of structured writing. (I encourage you to learn more about the value of journaling here.)

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Out of sight, out of mind.” This summer, I challenge you to keep what your children have learned throughout the school year in sight. Keep their minds sharp and know that you are supporting their growth towards confident, competent communication!

BONUS LESSON: Setting Goals