Three Great Edutopia Resources to Help Prevent the Summer Slide

Edutopia, a website devoted to finding what works in education, is one of my favorite teacher resources.

I also love the ideas and resources they offer for parents, and I'd like to highlight three recent blog posts that offer great ideas to prevent the summer slide or slump:

Parents: Inspiring Readers Through the Summer Slump:

Preventing Summer Slide: Why Not Try Internet Research?

Parents: Preventing Summer Slide (on a Budget):

Enjoy!

A Trio of Websites Full of Great Ideas for Summer Learning

The web is alive with great ideas to help prevent the summer slide!  Following are a few ideas that have landed in my inbox over the past few weeks:

Common Sense Media

The crew at Common Sense Media have assembled a Summer Learning Guide of the best apps, games and websites to engage students in the following areas:

• Explore the World
• Hands-on-Science
• Get Creative
• Tinkering and Tech
• Learn Together
• Multimedia Memories

Access the guide here:

 https://www.commonsensemedia.org/guide/summer-learning-guide

AdLit.org 

This website - All About Adolescent Literacy - offers resources for parents and educators of kids in grades 4-12.  They have assembled a fantastic "Beach Bag" Full of Summer Learning Resources:

Ideas include:

• Armchair Travels
• Tour the Museums
• Don't Forget About the Library
• Tips for Parents
• Write On!
• Resources to Share with Teens
• Reading Incentive Programs
• Beyond Reading and Writing

Explore the site by using the link here: 

http://www.adlit.org/article/24234/

Reading Rockets

This PBS TV show has a great website chock-full of ideas for teachers to share with families.

Topics include:

• Ideas for summer learning fun (pen pals, geo caching, gardening)
• Ideas for summer reading fun (libraries, book clubs)
• Online activities for families (National Geographic, Discovery Kids, Smithsonian)

Link to the website here: 

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/23428

Have you found any other great summer learning resources?  Share them in the comment section below!

Kate DiCamillo's Picks For Summer Treehouse Reading

Oh how I love NPR.  As I was running errands Monday afternoon, All Things Considered featured a lengthy interview with Newbery Award winning Kate DiCamillo.  Her inspired Flora and Ulysses has been my favorite book for young people this year - the woman is a genius. I suppose that is why she has been named the country's national ambassador for young people's literature by the Library of Congress...

Kate recommended a number of books for "Summer Treehouse Reading.  Like Kate, I can wholeheartedly recommend Counting by 7s for middle school readers... it was extraordinary.  The link to her list can be found below - I know I'll be adding her recommendations to my list :)

http://www.npr.org/2014/05/23/315250144/kate-dicamillos-picks-for-summer-tree-house-reading


Happy Reading!

Khan Academy: Keep your Math Skills Sharp Over the Summer with this Amazing Website!

For Upper School Students, we suggest Khan Academy as an interactive online resource to keep math skills sharp over the summer.  This website assesses where students are in their learning, and assigns problems to help students master any areas of weakness.  The students work at their own pace, take ownership of their learning, and have fun by earning badges and completing missions.   Video tutorials are available to help coach them through new topics, or areas where they might need review.  A dashboard is also available so that students - and parents - can track progress.

A comprehensive overview of the program for parents can be found here:

https://www.khanacademy.org/coach-res/higher-ed/why-ka-hied/a/our-mission

When students login for the first time, they are given a pretest to unlock their learning dashboard, and will start working through problems that align with their level.  Some of our students have used Khan Academy to supplement their learning in math class this year, so can continue from where they have left off in class. 

For most of our students, this will be a new challenge.  They will login using their HTS Gmail account and password.  (If you are new to HTS and need a Gmail address and password please Email Karelia Pallan: kpallan@htsdc.org.  For summer review, we suggest students begin with the grade level they have just completed, and click on the box at the top of the page that says “Unlock your learning dashboard.” This will begin the pretest. The links can be found below:

4th Grade:

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-fourth-grade-math

5th Grade:

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-fifth-grade-math

6th Grade:

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-sixth-grade-math

7th Grade:

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-seventh-grade-math

If you have any questions, please contact: Polly Sileo: psileo@htsdc.org or

Mary Beth Morell mbmorell@htsdc.org

Just Keep Typing - Part Three

As I've said before, in Just Keep Typing - Part Two and Just Keep Typing, (posts which feature lots of great keyboarding games), summer is a great time to work on your keyboarding.  This year, we have transitioned to using a popular new website titled Typing Club as our major keyboarding instruction tool at HTS, though most students have not used it since first semester.

Typing Club provides 100 free activities that begin with the basics and progress in difficulty until you can touch type on your entire keyboard.  I have found that our students like this program better than previous options, as the lessons are quite short and manageable.  They also seem to like the fact that as you type during each lesson you are given instant real-time feedback about your accuracy and speed. 

If your child would like to work on keyboarding this summer, just login to Typing Club using the child's HTS-issued Gmail account and password.  If you are new to HTS and need a Gmail account, please contact Tech Teacher Mary Beth Morell on mbmorell@htsdc.org.

Please also check out previous keyboarding entries to explore great games like BBC Dancemat Typing, the Typing Games at ABCya and TyperShark.

Summer Reading Lists Have Been Posted!

Exciting news!  All Summer Reading Lists have now been posted on the HTS Website!

(Which means summer vacation is close:)

Links to all the lists and assignments can be found below:

HTS Summer Reading 2014

We will also keep links to all the lists on the grade-specific pages to the right of this post.

If you have read everything on your list, and are still seeking fabulous books to while away your summer days, consider consulting the lists from your local public library... or consult one of the following websites:

Read Kiddo Read 

Guys Read

Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge Ages 5-7

Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge Ages 8-10

Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge Ages 10-12

Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge Young Adult

Recent Favorites from Politics and Prose

or you can check out some of our previous suggestions on this blog:

Books from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

2013 Washington Post KidsPost Summer Reading Club Suggestions

Do you have any other favorite books or lists you would like to share?  Post them in the comment section below... and Happy Reading!

Mrs. Morell

Back to School!

We're back to school today, and it's so great to see the kids back and excited about all our new techie endeavors at Holy Trinity.

I would like to share two resources from the amazing Common Sense Media :

The Back to School guide:

Parents Top 12 Back-to-School Tech Questions:

I'm happy to answer any questions about the HTS tech program for you.  You can always reach me on mbmorell@htsdc.org.

Oxford Owl Learning

Apologies for neglecting the blog for a couple of weeks! Catherine and I spent several days last week at Harvard attending an "iPad in the Classroom" workshop sponsored by EdTech Teacher - which was amazing.  We're still processing all that we learned and how best to share it with our teachers and students!  Look for blog posts in the coming weeks based on the workshop :)

Meanwhile, I discovered the Oxford Owl Learning website earlier this week from one of my favorite blogs: iLearn Technology.

Oxford Owl has over 250 free eBooks available online, designed for children up to age 11 develop their reading skills.  Audio is provided for each book (a wonderful feature!), and the books have activities that focus on reading comprehension and story recall.  The site also has tips for parents and teachers, printables and online games.  Sadly, these books do not yet work on iPads...

The Maths section (as they call it in the UK) is designed for children up to age 7 to develop math skills:

Explore and Enjoy!  Mrs. Morell

Hundreds of Ideas for Summer Fun - Part One

Once again, I've been wandering through Pinterest, and have found several great blog links, lists and ideas to share to inspire summer fun ... and learning!

100 Things to Do This Summer from Honest to Nod - The Land of Nod blog:

10 Mostly Offbeat Ways Teens can Learn Something this Summer from the Washington Post:

Amazing Apps for Every Grade Level at Holy Trinity School

During the 2012-13 school year, as we piloted using iPads in every classroom at HTS, our teachers and students sampled hundreds of Apps.  Many were fantastic, others not so much :)  At the end of the school year, it was time to clean house, so the teachers were asked which Apps they would like to keep for the 2013-14 school year.  The incredibly organized Mr. Clark has spend the past few weeks getting all the iPads updated for the next school year, and we thought our school community might enjoy taking a peek at the Apps that have made the cut.  Keep in mind our list will evolve a bit as the summer progresses...
PreK-K iPads

• Addition Wiz Free**
• All About Letters Interactive Activities
• Bob Books #1 - Reading Magic HD
• Bob Books #2 - Reading Magic HD
• Cimo Spelling (Sight Words)*
• Don't Let the Pigeon Run this App*
• Elmo Loves ABCs for iPad
• Fish School HD - by Duck Duck Moose
• Freefall Spelling
• I Like Books - 37 Picture Books for Kids in 1 App
• Kids Learning to Read - Little Reader 3 Letter Words*
• Letter Writer Oceans (Preschool ABC's)
• Little Solver - Preschool Logic Game
• Math with Mouse
• Monkey Math School Sunshine
• Monkey Preschool Lunchbox
• Montessori Numberland HD
• Musical Paint
• Park Math HD - by Duck Duck Moose*
• Raz-Kids**
• Scribble my Story - A Fingerprint Network App**
• Skitch**
• Starfall ABCs
• Starfall Learn to Read*
• TeachMe: Kindergarten
• TeachMe: Toddler
• Word Magic*

The Amazing TED and TED Ed

I am a bit obsessed with TED Talks - and the TED Ed website.  I have been known to lose track of space and time while surfing through lists of videos, feeling alternately inspired and completely inadequate.  My Upper School students are familiar with the  TED Ed "playlists" of my faves for them to peruse during tech class if they have finished a project or test early.  If you have a tween or teenager  complaining about being bored, I would highly recommend sending them a link to TED Ed to wander through... new videos are added every week.

I stumbled across this cool infographic from OnlineClasses.org, which explains the phenomenon...

I have found it to be a bit overwhelming to try to figure out the best talks to watch from the hundreds available, so often turn to lists of favorites from various websites to guide me.  Many of my favorites can be found on these lists:

From the Under30ceo blog... 25 Amazing Inspiring and Unique TED Talks you must watch

TED Talks Education

TED Weekends from the Huffington Post

Do you have a favorite TED Talk?  Share it below...

National Geographic Asks: What's the Big Idea?

I spent part of my childhood overseas, so have been fascinated by geography and travel from a very young age.  It should come as no surprise then that one of the many blogs I follow is the wonderful National Geographic Education Blog.  A few days ago, they unveiled a program to help families and educators prepare for summer.  From creating a family tree to constructing a compost pile, National Geographic has put together a host of cool projects. As they say, we all know that the end of the school year doesn't mean the end of educating!

If you are looking for something to do with your kids this summer, check out the Ideas for...

indoor family fun: