July 29, 2020

Optimize Learning with Focus Breaks

July 29, 2020/ Contributing Blogger

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 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, and here’s why:

July 22, 2020

FREE Language Arts Professional Development

July 22, 2020/ Kim Shurley

For the past thirty years, Brenda Shurley's mission for Shurley English has been simple. We will do all we can to help teachers, parents, and students experience grammar and writing success. With that mission in mind, we have published several of our Workshop Series training videos for you to view for FREE! The Workshop Series features relevant topics and teaching techniques designed to enhance your skills as an educator.

To access our Workshop Series on demand,

July 15, 2020

Summer Learning: Creating a Family Story Book

July 15, 2020/ Contributing Blogger

Summer Break is here, and our thoughts are revolving around words like vacation, relaxation, rest, 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.

July 08, 2020

Summer Learning: It's time to try cyclical spelling!

July 08, 2020/ Contributing Blogger

Here’s an idea to kick your kids’ spelling prowess into high gear. While it’s true that some kids are just naturally good spellers, my experience has been that most are not. They need a sure-fire way to lock in accurate spelling, especially when summertime rolls around and school is out.

Cyclical spelling might just be for you and your kids. Here’s how it works:

July 02, 2020

Summer Learning: Boosting your child's communication skills

July 02, 2020/ Contributing Blogger

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: