Some educators call this the summer brain drain and evidence shows students do lose reading, math computational, and other skills over summer break. The ten things many elementary children tend to forget over summer include:
1. Math skills they learned the previous year. Simply spending a few hours a week during the summer practicing the equations they learned can help increase their retention.
2. Reading skills learned in the previous school year. Also reading only a few hours a week during the summer can help elementary students maintain reading skills.
3. Spelling skills can fall behind during summer break.
4. Kindergarten and first graders often forget their addresses and phone numbers during summer break. This is information they often do not need over summer vacation. Because adults use this information regularly parents often assume that their children will remember this simple knowledge.
5. Because history involves memorizing dates, many students fall behind in history over the summer because they forget the dates associated with events. A periodic review of what they learned in the previous grade can help them retain this information.
6. As is common with most people, if you don’t use it you lose it. Such is the case with younger children and telling time and tracking calendar dates over the summer. They lose track of days without their routine of attending school and can lose their ability to track days.
7. Elementary children often forget their listening skills developed in the classroom environment. After all they have usually not had to raise their hands to speak all summer. While these will be reinforced by a new teacher, the first few weeks after returning from summer break can result in disciplinary challenges.
8. Elementary age children can forget their manners if the same standards are not practiced in the home consistently.
9. Many students forget the school routine and what things they need to take to school each day such as books, lunch money, back packs, jackets, umbrellas, and so on.
10. Younger children often forget school and safety rules. Do not assume your child knows all the safety precautions from the previous school year especially when their health and life might depend on it.
by David McLeod
Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher
David has been teaching elementary school in Central Texas for over 7 years and has over 15 years of experience in online education related websites and blogs.