Beating the Summer Slide

Hey there! Welcome to another episode of the Teaching High School Science podcast. With summer just around the corner, we're all looking forward to a break. But let's not forget about the summer slide—the decline in academic skills that can happen when school's out. In this episode, I'll share some easy and enjoyable tips to help your students keep their skills sharp over the summer. 

I'll break down ways to help your students start the fall with confidence and ready from day one by

• Encouraging Reading
• Integrating Math into Everyday Life
• Using DIY Projects for Observations and Critical Thinking
• Online Courses and Programs for the Summer

Thanks for tuning in!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey there and welcome to another episode of Teaching High School Science. Summer slide is a real thing and as we gear up and approach the summer, our students are excited to be done with school, to have a break. We do not want all of that hard work that we've put into getting them to where they are to decrease. Getting them to where they are to decrease. We want to make sure that they maintain or improve over the summer while having fun and having a break. So to come back, summer slide.

Speaker 1: 0:32

In this episode, I am going to share three tips, as well as some examples for how these can work for those challenging subjects that your child may be taking in the next school year. Let's dive in. Welcome to Teaching High School Science. I'm your host, doc, a former biochemist, turned high school science teacher and private tutor. Whether you're homeschooling your teen through high school science or teaching online, join me as I share tips and strategies I've learned over the years for at-home and online labs and activities, breaking down complex concepts and structuring learning in a way that makes sense. Now let's dive into today's topics. So what exactly is Summer Slot? Simply put, it's the decline in academic skills and knowledge that occurs when students are out of school during the summer break. Without regular practice and reinforcement that they receive during the school year, students may forget important concepts or skills, making it challenging when they transition back into an academic routine in the fall, and research shows that students can lose up to two months of grade level equivalency in math and reading during the summer. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to beat summer slot and I'm going to share three ways.

Speaker 1: 1:52

Tip one encourage your child to read regularly over the summer, whether it's fiction, non-fiction, magazines, comic books. If you're baking cookies and that's your thing of baking, have them read the recipe to you. If they're looking up some type of entertainment trend about one of their favorite people, have them pull up an article and read that to you. I remember my brother, when he was in school, hated reading because nothing interested him. We started getting him magazines about things that he enjoyed, like resources and magazines on detailing cars. It started off him magazines about things that he enjoyed, like resources and magazines on detailing cars. It started off with him just looking at the images and explaining them to us. Then, when he wanted to learn more about what they was doing, he read and he could not put the magazines down, so finding that interest point for them will help to maintain and improve their reading comprehension skills over the summer.

Speaker 1: 2:47

Tip two incorporate math into just everyday activities, whether it's cooking, budgeting, playing games, there are plenty of opportunities to practice math skills outside of the classroom. If you have a recipe that makes six, but you only need to make it for four people, have them calculate those measurements. When you're out shopping and there's percentages off, have them calculate exactly how much you're going to have to pay, so that you can maybe budget the rest of the day, maybe go get some ice cream or something later. Not only does this reinforce and maintain those math skills, but they also see it in real life situations. Tip number three if I haven't said it before, I am a DIY type of person. I love breaking things apart, seeing how it works, sometimes just grabbing different materials, building something new. These are hands on activities where they can make observations. You can ask them if they were to change this, what would happen, or if something goes wrong during the process, and before you take it apart, ask them where do you think we went wrong? What do you think we need to change? This keeps them critically thinking, analyzing, using observations to make decisions.

Speaker 1: 4:07

Now, I know I said I was only going to share three tips, but I have this fourth one, and that is to use the summer to either reinforce or get ahead of a subject or skill that they're going to need in the fall need in the fall. For example, if math or reading was challenging for your child during the school year, then there are summer camps or programs, whether it's in-face or online, that your child can attend to reinforce those skills or fill in the gaps needed to not only improve their skill level but also boost their confidence. Now, the students that I work with over the summer are usually getting help with subjects like chemistry, ap Chem, to get a head start or to remediate over the summer so they can be better prepared for what they need to do in the fall. These are usually the classes that will cause anxiety, will have a reputation of being difficult or challenging, and students want to get a head start, to get organized, because once the school year hits, it moves fast. So what can you do to prepare your child for something like that where you're gonna boost their confidence? Give them a solid head start, especially with your AP subjects, where your students are expected to start the school year off remembering all of those important principles from their previous class. If they're taking AP chemistry, they are expected to know the fundamental principles of chemistry that they took during their chemistry class. If they're taking chemistry, they're expected to remember the basics from their middle school physical science and if, for whatever reason, they really didn't have a strong middle school physical science experience, it may be a bit challenging for them.

Speaker 1: 5:53

In chemistry, and where summer slide affects reading and math, it's going to affect your sciences as well, because chemistry and physics and biology you have to have reading comprehension and in physics and chemistry you're definitely going to need to have math skills, particularly algebra and if you're doing physics, trig as well. So what can you do to help your child prepare for these types of courses? One option is to work with a tutor over the summer. As a tutor, I can personalize the instruction that is specific to your child's strengths and weaknesses. That way we can review the strengths, because we do not want the strengths to become victim of summer slide, but we will focus on the weaknesses, fill it in those gaps. That will help them to be prepared day one of whatever class they're going to in the fall. Another option would be to enroll in a summer camp.

Speaker 1: 6:53

Platforms like our school will have teachers that offer specific subjects during the summer, like algebra summer camp, chemistry summer camp, botany summer camp. Some of them may be interest subjects, but others will be subjects that will help your child remember those important concepts and, by doing that, boost their confidence for the fall. So, in conclusion, summer Slot is a real thing and you can combat Summer Slot very easily by giving your child opportunities to read no-transcript. You found these tips helpful, or if you have other strategies or ideas to help combat summer slide, let me know. If you have any questions, ideas or other experiences that you'd like to share, head on over to my podcast page, which you can access by visiting my website at thesciencementorcom. Then select podcast from the menu and subscribe now to the Teaching High School Science podcast for your regular dose of motivation and just-in-time science ideas, and together let's make high school science a journey of exploration and achievement. Until next time, remember, curiosity leads to endless possibilities.