It’s National Summer Learning Day on June 21st! This advocacy day aims to spread awareness of the critical role learning plays in the summer months for kids from all backgrounds and socioeconomic standing.

Why is summer learning so important? Research shows:

• All young people experience learning loss when they are not engaged in a summer learning activity.
• Most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months.
• Only about 10 percent of students nationwide participate in summer school or attend schools with non-traditional calendars.

There are many ways parents can give students summer learning experiences, from no cost/low cost experiences to structured day camps.

• Get creative. If you need creative summer learning ideas for students of any age, try searching on Pinterest for low or no cost learning. Do you have a piece of chalk and a young child who needs some educational entertaining while you work in the yard? Try this gardening activity, and follow creator Cathy James on Pinterest.

• Take a summer class. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a great no-cost way for older students to keep their brain engaged during the summer months, while learning some new skills they don’t get in middle or high school. Share the top MOOC providers, like Udacity, Coursera, EdX, and Udemy, with your kids. There are also many day camp options in your community. For National Summer Learning Day, LifeBound is offering a 50% discount on our 5-day summer enrichment workshops in July.  Check out the Summer Learning Day activities and deals happening in your area by clicking on the map below.

•  Get outside. It’s summer time, so take advantage of the farmer’s markets, festivals, fairs, and the outdoors. There’s always something to be learned when you step out the door and try something new.

These are just a few ideas to keep kids occupied with valuable learning experiences through the summer months. Please share your ideas and tips on how you balance summer with learning and fun.

This spring we’re definitely not sitting still at LifeBound. In the next few months we have many new events, trainings, blogs, and more that will reach communities who are dedicated to improving learning opportunities for students, teachers, and professionals. One initiative we’re supporting all summer long is to get more students involved in productive learning activities over the summer months.

Research shows all young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. That’s why LifeBound is offering summer enrichment workshops at Lighthouse Writers Workshop for students in middle school through high school that foster self-awareness, critical thinking, and practical know-how. You can find out more about our week-long workshops for teens at our website. We are also encouraging students to read over the summer with our book display at the Tattered Cover Book Store on Colfax.

Coming up on Wednesday, April 10th, I’m excited to give a keynote to faculty at University of Oklahoma’s First-Year Experience Program. If you’re in the area, the event is free and open to the public. You can find out more at the event website.

Also coming up this month, is our three-day academic coaching training. Academic Coaching is an ongoing partnership to help students produce fulfilling results in their lives. Through the process of coaching, students deepen their learning, take responsibility for their actions, improve their effectiveness, and consciously create their outcomes in life. We conduct trainings for professors, teachers, administrators, and counselors. LifeBound Academic Coaching trainings are available year-round. Learn about our lead trainers, check out upcoming dates, and register for your next coaching session at our coaching website www.lifeboundcoaching.com.

Last but not least, I am now blogging for the Huffington Post under “Impact”.  For the next two months, I will be focusing on remedial students, posting every Tuesday.  Check out my most read article, “Why Aren’t Low Income Students Succeeding in School?” You’ll see some of the best insights include what readers posted in response.  Below is a sample of some of the topics I will be exploring in the future. Let me know in the comments if you have any additional ideas for blog topics.

• “From Trailer Park to Corporate Executive: One Woman’s Path to Personal and Professional Success”
• “Where Are We Struggling With Literacy?”
• “Why And How Are We Struggling with Innumeracy?”
• “Why And How Are We Struggling with Thinking Skills?”
• “Why And How Are We Struggling with Communication?”
• “Pipeline Success for Developmental Students.”

I look forward to sharing more about this eventful season. For inquiries about academic coaching, speaking engagements, summer reading, and anything else, call the LifeBound office at 1-877-737-8510.

Kids who aren’t involved in summer learning activities suffer the greatest learning losses in math and reading. Underprivileged students who have less learning resources available to them during the school year and the summer months are put at an increased disadvantage, setting them back from their more affluent peers and increasing the achievement gap. Low-income parents who aren’t involved often suffer in exposure, awareness, and sometimes their own opportunity to prepare for the GED, community college, or better employment.

Due to the tightness of teacher and school resources, no matter how much student success is a priority, the school systems can’t shoulder all the responsibility of improving learning circumstances for their students. But that doesn’t suggest students have no options. Many communities and foundations are stepping forward to support students with free or affordable supplementary programs. As more graduates enter the workforce underprepared for the working world, advocates for student achievement, engagement, and success have moved beyond school walls and infiltrated communities, businesses, and families that rely on successful citizens who propel our society forward.

LifeBound is launching a summer reading program with the Omaha Public Library this summer to get books in the hands of  1,000 students who otherwise will approach a summer without learning resources that keep their brains engaged and ready to start the next school year strong. The role of the public library is being redefined across the country, with some providing computer skills, programs for the homeless, basic supplies for impoverished families, and more. As a place of refuge for many, libraries are answering the call to help educate our communities. One of our trainers will be working with library staff to facilitate enrichment classes for students, sessions for parents, and Friday night “Lock In” events for eighty targeted at-risk youth who will receive dinner and exposure to an educational event. This is just one of many examples LifeBound is involved with this summer to bring reading enrichment to students who would otherwise go without.

LifeBound’s books do more than develop reading skills; they help students develop the social and emotional skills they need to be successful in school, career, and life. As students learn more about themselves, they learn to embrace rigor and challenge and become better students. The manager of Whole Child Programs at ASCD says, “you will find an 11 percent increase” in students’ academic achievement with the implementation of a social and emotional learning component.¹ Based on that 11 percent increase, we can build a strong foundation for students making the transition to middle school, high school, and college. Our hope is that those students can become the peer mentors and role models for younger students in their housing projects or neighborhoods, showing by example the power of summer reading.

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Sources:
¹“Raising Stellar Students About More Than Getting Top Grades,” by Julie Rasicot. 11 May 2012. Bethesda Magazine. Accessed on 15 May 2012. http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Blogs/Education-Matters/May-June-2012/Raising-Stellar-Students-About-More-Than-Getting-Top-Grades/

Spring break is coming to an end and that’s a sure sign summer vacation will be here before we know it. When students go on summer vacation it is important for them to be mentally challenged. Why?  Students who aren’t engaged in learning activities don’t  retain information learned during the school year and often start the following year behind their counterparts who do grow their brains in the summer.

“All young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer,” according to the National Summer Learning Association. Low-income students who aren’t engaged in summer activities typically lose more than two months in reading achievement over the summer.

This summer, as an educator or parent, how can you influence students to adopt a reading culture at home? If you teach, consider sending home a reading list to all your students or lend books from your personal classroom library. As a parent, what can you do to ensure your child has access to books over the summer, or reading groups around popular topics, or writing workshops where they can reflect on what they’ve read? You can take weekly trips to the library where they can check out a bag of books, even those they aren’t sure about. You can also start a book exchange in your neighborhood.

Recently, the Common Core Standards for English/language arts has been adopted by all but four states and requires educators to teach how to read non-fiction literature, as well as fiction. Students might not consider picking up a book about castles, how to bake a pie, or build a watch, but reading informational texts can give them a more fully developed repertoire of reading. Learning how to read informational texts is important for students because it exercises different reading skills. Fiction usually has a beginning, middle, and end, a plot, characters, dialogue, and themes. Nonfiction doesn’t provide the same structure for readers as fiction does, and requires practice — just as everything else does — in order to master it. This summer, you can help younger kids hone these non-fiction reading skills by finding a science blog for kids online or subscribe older kids to magazines like Smithsonian or National Geographic.

How can you personally help promote literacy this summer and fight summer learning losses? At LifeBound, we believe summer reading can change lives. If you work with disadvantaged or impoverished students, ask us about our book donation program for summer reading in the comments or email us at contact@lifebound.com.

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Sources:

“Districts Gear Up for Shift to Informational Texts,” by Catherine Gewertz. 14 March 2012. Education Week. Accessed on 30 March 2012. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/03/14/24informational_ep.h31.html?tkn=VUCFGGxCVWko01hd60UOyi5jZLLaUFRJvVt6&cmp=clp-sb-ascd

The National Summer Learning Association - http://www.summerlearning.org/?page=know_the_facts