Subtle Summer Learning

I recently heard an advertisement on the radio from a tutoring service that in my mind attempted to elicit fears in families that their children would lose their learning over the summer months and that attending the tutoring service would not just prevent that problem but allow a child to “get ahead.” I was bothered by the ad because it presented summer holiday as a problem that needed fixing and it played upon the very fears and worries that some students and families might need a break from, such as comparisons to others and the need to “catch up” or “get ahead.”

In my view, summer holidays are an exceptional time for learning but they can be framed more positively for children than learning to “catch up” or “get ahead.” With two months off, it’s a time to travel to new places, meet new people, increase physical fitness by being active outside, develop work ethic by doing chores around the house, and find new interests and hobbies. There is a lot of subtle learning inherent in each of those activities.

And without framing it as “keeping up,” “getting ahead,” or even worse, “not falling behind,” there are some things families can seamlessly do together to help students work on their foundational skills. What follows are some suggestions for subtle summer learning. Teachers will have articulated “Ways to Support Learning” in report cards or “Supporting Student Learning” in Kindergarten reports and for students receiving learning support in reading, our learning support teachers have very carefully shared some suggestions for reading over the summer.

Reading

If reading is to be seen by students as a hobby rather than work, students should continue to read throughout the summer and they should see their family members doing the same. Reading can be even more beneficial when you ask your child about what they have read: What happened in the last chapter? Is there something you wished the main character knew about? Would you have made any decisions differently than any of the characters? What do you think is going to happen next? Why? The Bowen Public Island Library’sSummer Reading Program is a great motivator and resource for books.

Writing

Some students will gladly keep a summer journal that details daily events; for others, certainly for me when I was in elementary school, this was not something I wanted to do. An alternative is to keep a nature journal. A nature journal is something that can be used outside and done in conjunction with activity (i.e. a hike in the woods) rather than as the activity itself. A nature journal is a mix of drawings and writings and many students who are not keen to keep a log of their daily events are keen to describe all of the plants and animals they might see over summer. If you are interested in learning more about Nature Journaling, considerthis exceptional resource.

Math

Playing Board and Card games often reinforces key math skills such as number recognition, counting, adding and subtracting, and even using fractions to determine odds and games can be seamlessly woven into a summer day. More information on Card Games can be found here. Asking students to estimate value at grocery stores can also be done regularly.

Curiosity

Curiosity may not be a foundational skill but it is a foundational element of learning. I have often encouraged families to visit TEDEd. The site is less about a student researching their existing interests and more about sparking other interests.

​It encourages openness to new ideas by showing that there are many more things to be interested in beyond current interests. TEDEd contains short videos introducing a topic and then links to additional resources to learn more.

​You may also wish to look into how West Vancouver Schools Summer Learning and Bowen Island Community Recreation offer programs to keep students physically and intellectually active over the summer. I wish all students and families a wonderful summer holiday full of fun and exciting adventures, rest and relaxation, and interesting learning.