Go to https://www.smore.com/rppn2

This SMORE is intended to provide strategies for parents and students to use throughout the summer to SLOW the Summer Slide!

The Summer Slide is the loss of academic skills and knowledge over the course of summer vacation. The loss in learning varies across grade level, subject matter, and family income. A common finding across numerous studies is that on average, students score lower on standardized tests at the end of the summer than they do at the beginning of summer (on the same test). Summer loss for all students is estimated to be equal to about 1 month (Cooper 1996), but this varies across subject matter.

Each of these SMORES will provide suggestions for students to complete at home throughout the summer by themselves, with friends, or with family members. Activities will be provided to encourage the students to maintain their skills in Language Arts, Math, and Problem-Solving. Have a super summer, and work hard to SLOW the SUMMER SLIDE!

SAT questions do not so much test accumulated knowledge as they tests thinking skills. Practice with these questions can improve critical thinking skills necessary for success on the SAT and beyond. The link below offers an SAT question a day!

The site below uses crosswords, cryptograms, and acrostics to motivate kids with words!

Kids often know words, but do they everything about the words they read, use in their writing, or use in conversation? Here's some fun challenges to increase your word power!

• Learn a new word each day. You can choose a word from the list of suggested vocabulary or find a new word each day on your own.
  
• Learn to spell the word.
• Learn the part (s) of speech of the word.
• Create an original definition for the word.
• Use the word correctly in an original sentence.
• Keep a vocabulary journal with your new words throughout the summer either on paper or electronically.
• Ask your family and friends to quiz you about your word of the day each night at the dinner table, on your way to a ball game, traveling in the car, etc.
• Create word games to share with your family and friends using your new vocabulary lists!

"Squigly's Detective Mysteries" has different types of brain teasers such as riddles, math games, and detective mysteries. These are great to help kids understand multiple word meanings, word placing, and math vocabulary.

This link would be good for students to practice word phrases that are not easy to explain in literature and everyday language. Students can solve the puzzles and then try to explain what the phrase means and look for other examples in print. These "Wacky Wordies" come from Games Magazine and are great fun!

This site has a variety of levels from 1st grade to high school for increasing math strategies and skills. The games encourage kids to think critically about their moves. They can strategize and find alternate moves to reach their goal if they make a wrong choice. They must calculate, measure, estimate, modify, predict, design and judge what they are doing throughout the game. Each of the skills are essential to critical thinking! "Boxed" is just one of the games offered on the site.