Summer List Update

I promised an update and here it is:

The summer list has worked beautifully in our home! I printed one copy, put it in a picture frame, and my daughter writes on it with a dry erase marker each day. I'm paying her $1 per day for a completed list.

My daughter loves having a purpose and the tasks are open-ended enough that she has choice.  We've even gotten creative this week because she's been at pony camp.  We're counting pony rides as exercise, tie-dying as a craft, etc. 

I love the summer list!  It's kept my house neater, my daughter engaged, and I know we are avoiding the summer slide.

I'm now wondering about a summer list for myself ...

Summer Slide

Students make steady progress throughout the school year but often regress or "slide" back in the summer because they aren't reading, writing, and learning.  The gap is most profound for students who have little access to books and cultural activities in the summer.  This is why libraries and schools promote and support summer reading.  (If you are lucky enough to live in Louisville, you can also take advantage of free cultural passes for local museums and cultural venues.)  

Reading is the best thing you can encourage over the summer break.  Read to your children, play audio books in the car, establish some "down time" each day for your child to read independently, download book apps on your phone/tablet for when you are waiting someplace, and put the closed captioning on your television.  (My girl has to get her Disney Channel fix each day, so she might as well read along as she watches Girl Meets World.) 

I'm Bored!

I've heard this phrase daily from my dear daughter and we've only been on break for a few days.   Swim practice, museum trips and play dates just aren't enough for my kiddo who is used to a structured day.  In an effort to bring some order and accountability to her day, we created this checklist together:

Summer Checklist 

Take Care of Yourself

o    Make your bed

o    Have breakfast

o    Dress

o    Brush your teeth

o    Brush your hair

Learn and Grow

Reading (including Jesus Calling)

Journal or workbook

Color, craft or Legos

Help Your Family (Clean one)

o    Bathroom counter

o    Office

o    Bedroom floor

o    Basement (toys or craft room)

Be Fit (Pick one)

o    Yoga

o   Playing

o   Walking

o   Running

o   Riding your bike

o   Swimming

o   Wii-U Dancing, etc.

Random Act of Kindness

My hope is that she will complete the checklist before expressing her displeasure with my summer planning.  Her hope is that we will do something amazing and she can squeeze most of this in just before bedtime.

I'll keep you posted. 

Possibility

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it.  Impossible is not a fact.  It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration.  It's a dare.  Impossible is potential.  Impossible is temporary.  Impossible is nothing."  -- Muhammad Ali 

I'm a reader; I always have been. I've loved books and learning from the very beginning, but I became a true reader at my grandmother's cluttered kitchen table.  Watching her indulge in paperback Harlequin romances, all appearing to have the same story line, I got hooked on my own books by Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, Francine Pascal, Stephen King, and V.C. Andrews. Sitting at that kitchen table littered with cruller crumbs, menthol cigarette butts, and coupons, I raced through books and found a world, often much warmer, outside of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I became a reader and no other skill has impacted my life in a more profound way. While I'm not sure that all of my grandmother's second-hand smoke was great for my physical health, I know that time at her table nourished by brain and soul. That messy table created a reader.

Thirty plus years later, I'm a mom and ESL educator in a large, diverse urban district.  My daughter is also a voracious reader -- she was an easy sell, but I also know my husband and I did a lot of the "right" things. My students are trickier.  Many of them are refugees and didn't grow up in print-rich environments. My goal is to help them discover their inner readers. In the words of James Patterson, "There's no such thing as a kid who hates reading.  There are kids who love reading, and there are kids who are reading the wrong books."

This blog will document my efforts (successful and less so) at home and school to promote engaged reading and learning. I know it's possible.