NFMS School Counselor's Newsletter
Summer Edition 2015
Online Awareness: Reminders for the Summer Months
As the summer approaches, along with all of the fun activities that will occur, many students will have an increase in their amount of free time. During this free time, many adolescents turn to social networking to keep in touch with their friends. We would like to provide you with some useful information about social media and internet awareness. It is important to keep an open dialogue with your child about their activity online.
Here is some information that may be helpful:
Common Sense Media www.commonsensemedia.org
15 Apps and Websites Kids are Heading to After Facebook
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/15-apps-and-websites-kids-are-heading-to-after-facebook
Snapchat and 7 more Iffy Messaging Apps Teens Love
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/snapchat-and-7-more-iffy-messaging-apps-teens-love
Instagram or Vine? 5 Things to know if your Kids are Sharing Videos (article)
Trends in Social Media
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/3-teen-trends-in-social-media
5 Ways to Stop Cyberbullies
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/5-ways-to-stop-cyberbullies-0
NetSmartz http://www.netsmartz.org
Basic Internet Safety
http://www.netsmartz.org/InternetSafety
Social Networking
http://www.netsmartz.org/SocialNetworking
Connect Safely http://www.connectsafely.org
Summertime TIps for Kids’ Online Safety and Security
http://www.connectsafely.org/summertime-tips-for-kids-online-safety-and-security/
Parents’ Guide from ConnectSafely:
http://www.connectsafely.org/wp-content/uploads/instagram_guide.pdf
Snapchat
http://www.connectsafely.org/wp-content/uploads/snapchat_parents_guide.pdf
Parents’ Guide to Cybersecurity
http://www.connectsafely.org/wp-content/uploads/securityguide.pdf
Parents’ Guide to Cyberbullying
http://www.connectsafely.org/wp-content/uploads/cyberbullying_guide.pdf
Avoid the Summer Slide
It is important for all middle school students to practice their reading and math skills over the summer. Math and reading skills should be practiced and reviewed. Many students lose critical skills when they aren’t in school. It can be hard for students to stay motivated over the summer without the structured school schedule.
Reading books over the summer helps to improve spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. Families can help motivate children to read over the summer. Some of these strategies might help you with your child: having reading material available on topics they are interested in, lead by example, and helping kids find the time to read. More of these strategies are listed on www.rif.org. Many parents read the same book their child is reading and discuss the book together. There are also many audio books that they can listen to while they read along.
Math skills are important to practice because they are sequential. “A study by researchers at the University of Missouri shows that on average, students lost about 2.6 months of math learning over the summer.” (www.greatschools.org)
For example, 7th graders have learned many math skills this year such as: ratios and proportions, fractions, decimals, one and two step equations, factoring, etc. Have your child practice math problems on these great math websites: www.MobyMax.com and www.IXL.com. They have a wide variety of math problems to practice. Your child can also help you bake a dessert for double the amount of servings and have them do the math and measure for the recipe. Take your child shopping to a store that is having sale, and have him/her figure out how much an item would cost with 25% off the original price. They can also estimate how much change they will get back when they pay for the item. You can make the learning fun, be creative!
Summer Screen Free Time
With summer approaching and school letting out, children will have more free time in their day. Many children will increase the amount of screen time when they have less structure in their day and less school responsibilities to fulfill. It is a good time to take note how much time your child is spending in front of a screen, then assess how much time should be allowed and set limits. Click on this link for more information about reducing screen time and providing more active activities for your child : http://www.letsmove.gov/reduce-screen-time-and-get-active
Here are some simple easy ways to provide active fun for your child and for your family as a whole:
Train as a family for a charity run or walk
Volunteer for a local organization (i.e. animal welfare, senior center, etc.)
Create family friendly competition playing tag, tossing a softball, hitting golf balls, throwing a frisbee, playing badminton, dancing
Bike ride
Go camping in your backyard and sit around a campfire
What do some of our teachers do during the school day in our one to one computing setting? Check out Go Noodle! Watch the informational video to see how kids are getting brain breaks and movement breaks during their day. https://www.gonoodle.com/