Summer Learning: How to develop your child's communication skills

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Summer Learning: How to develop 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:

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Summer Learning: Let's go to the library!

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Summer Learning: Let's go to 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

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Summer Journaling with Appreciative Inquiry

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Summer 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

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How to Keep Language Arts Skills Sharp During the Summer

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How to Keep Language Arts Skills Sharp During the Summer

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:

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Creating a Summer Adventure List

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Creating a Summer Adventure List

As eager as your students are for the school year to end, it won’t be long until they are actually bored during their summer break. Yes, I said “bored.” Help your students stay focused and creative while they gear up for that day with this fun and creative classroom activity.

In this blog, I will share an activity that will teach students a valuable lesson as they create their own Summer Bucket List. The catch is that they will create it while working in small groups. As always, you can do as much or as little as you like with this idea. Here’s how to get started.

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Teacher Toolbox: Simple Ways to Stay Motivated

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Teacher Toolbox: Simple Ways to Stay Motivated

If you’ve ever found yourself in the middle of a tumultuous situation like a rip-roaring, indoor recess due to inclement weather, or a rigorous test preparation right before a holiday, you know how it feels when you need a break! You need it, and you need it NOW!

Now is when you have to dig a little bit deeper into your teacher toolbox and pull out that shiny tool that you know will give you the extra boost needed to get you over the hump.

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How to Develop Sentence Fluency

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How to Develop Sentence Fluency

Some people are born with a natural ability to put their thoughts into words, but the ability to effectively put those words on paper requires a lot of hard work and practice. Good writing is a skill that develops over time; therefore, consistent instruction to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to write well is imperative.

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How to Teach Subject-Verb Agreement

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How to Teach Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-verb agreement refers to the special way in which a subject and verb work together to make a sentence correct. Basically, the two must agree in number. For example, if the subject is singular, the verb must be singular. If the subject is plural, the verb must be plural.

Without correct subject-verb agreement, a reader or listener can become easily confused; therefore, students must be taught to apply three basic rules when speaking and writing. Here’s what they need to know.

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The Right Tools for Writing Success

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The Right Tools for Writing Success

The Shurley English Writing Folder will help your students move through the writing process with ease. This foldout, four-pocket folder keeps students organized with a dedicated space for their prewriting, rough draft, revised draft, and edited paper. It is packed with handy references, checklists, and tips to ensure students have exactly what they need to produce a polished piece of writing. The Writing Folder…

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The Playbook of Literary Success, Part 2: Grammar

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The Playbook of Literary Success, Part 2: Grammar

Let’s get back into the language arts huddle to go over some key plays that will help your students win the game! If you missed Part I of the Playbook of Literacy Success, you might want to go back to the starting line to capture the necessity of a strong vocabulary. As for today, we’re going to focus on Part II: Grammar. We’ll begin with some calisthenics we call Shurley English Jingles, and then we’ll move right into our version of the wishbone formation! We call this feature the Question and Answer Flow.

Remember, English is like a competitive sport, and every K-8 teacher is part of the coaching staff charged with developing players’ language arts knowledge and skills. The playbook contains plays designed to help each team member achieve literacy success, which is the ultimate goal of the game, and the action plan involves the following equation:

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