It’s back-to-school season! As kids get ready to head back to the classroom, they’re faced with the same challenges every student is met with when their summer break comes to a close: the summer slump. The summer slump happens when students are away from school over a long period of time, typically 6 weeks or so. During this time, students lose the skills they learned the year before. Over the years, teachers have developed many strategies to help combat this phenomenon. Below are 3 of our favorites.
Recovering from Summer Slump
The best way to recover from the summer slump is with a quick refresher of the previous year’s key skills. How you present this refresher is important. Since you’re easing students back into the swing of things, we suggest presenting this refresher in a fun and creative way. Rather than doing a simple pop quiz, maybe create a quiz game. Keep students in teams as you get started. This will allow them to work together to refresh their minds of the things they forgot over the summer break. As you progress through the rounds, set up a head-to-head match up between the teams so you can target what each individual student remembers. From here, you can send each student home with a tailored refresher worksheet to get them up-to-speed for this year’s lessons.
Setting School Year Goals
Start the school year off strong with goals. One way to combat the summer slump is attack the new school year with organization. Set a plan for the year with easily digestible goals that will motivate your students. Remember to create SMART goals for your students. SMART goals are:
Specific – Clear statement of your goal.
Measurable – Use smaller goals to follow progress.
Attainable – Reasonable goals that can be achieved.
Realistic – Goals that are relevant and relate to your life.
Time-bound – Set deadlines for all goals.
End of Summer Reading Lists
Create a list of novels for students to read that will motivate them to get back into the school grind. These should be school-themed novels aimed at exciting students to pick up a new book. Here’s some of our favorites:
Wonder
New Kid
Ramona Quimby, Age 8
The Lightning Thief
Frindle
Loser
Dear Mr. Henshaw
Matilda
Chasing Vermeer
The Miracle Worker
Don’t forget to visit our FREE CONTENT page for hundreds of free worksheets and lessons to enhance your plans for beating the summer slump this new school year.
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