Summer Skills
June 3, 2021
Dear Lower School Families,
Thank you for your kindness and support during this school year. We are excited about the rest and relaxation and fun that this summer has to offer. With that in mind, below you will find resources to help your family find fun ways to keep the learning going during the summer.
Summer Skills Play Book
We are sharing again the Summer Skills Book curated with activities and resources that outline how children can prepare for school simply by doing what children naturally do best - play, explore what interests them, and, most certainly, make messes. Play is an essential tool in a child’s development. Research shows that play gives kids many valuable benefits, including but not limited to the development of physical, emotional, social, and cognitive skills.
This book provides ideas for play that support the development of skills needed to be more successful in school. It also serves to highlight how everyday activities and play opportunities are connected to and contribute to the development of subject area skills and concepts taught in school. These activities are suggestions and we do not expect that every activity will be completed.
Please look through the book’s ideas with your child to identify activities that interest them. Not every activity will be suited for your child based on age, skill sets, and interests, and some activities will need adult supervision and/or interaction. We hope that the book will inspire your child and your family to try a new activity to play and grow together.
To access the Summer Skills Book:
Math
Students entering 1st and 2nd-grade build fluency:
Video Using manipulatives to build fluency
Students entering 3rd grade becoming proficient with doubles near doubles
Video Using manipulatives and Pictorial representation to support doubles/near doubles
Students entering 4th and 5th grade building multiplication fluency:
Video for how to use Graham Fletcher Multiplication cards to build fact fluency.
Video for how to use the chocolate chip multiplication game to build fact fluency.
We have also included some fun dice and card games below:
Math Games for Grades K - 2
Pull Addition - a deck of cards and 2 dice - 2 players
Greedy Pig Head to Head Addition - 2 dice - 2 players
Go Fish 10 - addition - a deck of cards - 2 - 4 players
Go Fish 2 - subtraction - a deck of cards - 2 - 4 players
10 sleeping “bears, marbles, pennies . . ." addition and subtraction - 2 players
Lucky 13 - addition and subtraction - a deck of cards - 2 players
Math Games for Grades 3 - 5
Pull Addition - deck of cards and 2 dice - 2 players
Greedy Pig Head to Head Multiplication - 2 dice - 2 players
24 - addition, subtraction, multiplication, division deck of cards - 1 - 4 players
Lucky 13 - addition and subtraction - a deck of cards - 2 players
Math involves logic. We highly encourage you to play multiple games: Blokus, Set, Q-Bitz, Checkers, Mancala, Chess . . . with your children as well. We have also included a link to ThinkFun games and some brain puzzles as well. Enjoy these different learning opportunities.