How do you reduce summer "Math-Loss" from affecting your child?
The announcement of "summer recess" brings excitement to any teacher, parent, or student. It is a time to rest and re-energize from the diligent work put forth throughout the previous school year. Yet even with all the benefits that come from "summer recess", there is concern for your student and their ability to readily recall the building blocks established the prior year.
Now don't get me wrong. Summer is a wonderful time for children to be children and to spend quality family and outdoor time. But is there a way to keep those math skills sharp or even learn something new and still enjoy the summer?
Well, other than just the obvious reasons like "your child will find greater benefit from practicing math facts than spending countless hours glued to the television" or "swimming is wonderful recreation and sport, but even the best swimmers need a break from the pool", let me offer evidence from other articles supporting the benefits of Continuous Summer Learning.
In a publication from the Educational Resources Informational Center (ERIC) on a research synthesis conducted by Cooper and Sweller, it examined the effects of summer vacation on standardized achievement test scores. From the study it was found that "Summer learning loss caused children's test scores to be at least one month lower when they returned to school in fall than when the students left in the spring."
Think about it. Your child actually lost one months worth of knowledge that you and your teacher spent long and maybe difficult hours trying to develop in your child. What a waste! Yet there is more...
More specifically, the meta-analysis found differences in the effect of summer vacation on different skill areas. According to the report, "Summer loss was more pronounced for math facts and spelling than for other tested skill areas. The explanation of this result was based on the observation that both math computation and spelling skills involve the acquisition of factual and procedural knowledge, whereas other skill areas, especially math concepts, problem solving, and reading comprehension, are conceptually based. Findings in cognitive psychology suggest that without practice, facts and procedural skills are most susceptible to forgetting." (e.g., Cooper & Sweller, 1987) Select the link for further reading:
In another research summary by the Center for Summer Learning, a 1996 study by H. Cooper found that on average, "a student will lose 2.6 months of grade equivalency in mathematical computational skills over the summer month." Click the link below for more reading:
A Friend for Summer... SummerSchoolMath!
SummerSchoolMath is a math computation resource created to provide primary and secondary instructors with 1-page, 100 problem addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division worksheets. By utilizing the time-tested principle of repetition, elementary children are able to build basic math skills, establish a daily study habit, and develop confidence with other academic and non-academic activities.
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Article Directory | Preparing for Back to SchoolPreparing for Back to School
By: Todd Smitherman
Across the country, school bells will begin ringing to welcome back students from their “summer recess”. Those in football, band, cheerleading, or another school pre-season activity may feel as though school already started as they prepare for their new season! Yes, even as an aging 45 year old, the smell of wet, cut fescue on a morning drive to work will quickly invoke memories of those 2-a-day and yes, 3-a-day practices of long ago. Fortunately the transition for me was more bearable than those teammates who failed to prepare during the summer for “the day”!
For elementary children, the demands of pre-season may appear less but with careful attention, can be utilized to equip a child to begin on the right foot. Now don’t get me wrong… Summer is a wonderful time for family activity, rest, and enjoying God’s creation. It can serve as a well needed diversion from the routines of life for both a child and parent. Even so, with the call of school ringing aloud, preparation becomes the friend of choice at present.
Outside of the obvious focus on school supplies, clothes, and maybe the backpack, parents also need to consider something that may have been lost over the summer; math skills. Yes, those basic math facts learned the previous school year have a funny way of just coasting down a nerve to the cochlea and bounced out of the ear off the tympanic membrane… or ear drum for the rest of us. It’s a fact!! These math skills just drift away and eventually congregate in the land of “IDK”. Just ask any child (or adult for that matter) something past learned and see if they don’t mention the land of “I don’t know”.
Fortunately, with the explosion of the internet, parents will find numerous choices to equip their child and bring back the math facts lost to the land of IDK. This is important because it’s been shown that students lose approximately 2.6 months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Whether true for your child or not, being prepared doesn’t hurt anyone.
So as you begin the new school year, let me be the first to wish you much success in math! I know… math can be challenging… if not down right difficult. Ugh! The key, as with any activity whether academics, athletics, or the arts is repetition. Just keep practicing every school day and before you realize it, the concept will take root, understanding will blossom, and the joy of discovering something new will abound.
Speaking of joy of discovery, I’ll leave you with a phrase I love from the 19th century educationalist Charlotte Mason. Commenting about math she said, “That 2 + 2 = 4 and cannot equal anything else is nothing more than a law. It is a beautiful thing to be brought into the presence of a law, a whole set of laws, that exists without man’s concurrence.”
Who knew that even from math one can learn something more than just… math!
Author Resource:-> In 2002 Todd Smitherman created SummerSchoolMath; a math resource which has grown into a proven and global tool for equipping elementary children with confidence and overcoming the affects of summer "math-loss".
http://www.summerschoolmath.com/Article From Article Directory
