Tag Archives: summer slide

05.21.21
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TNCS-Curated Academic Resources for Summer 2021!

Each year at The New Century School, teachers offer resources to families to help prevent the “summer slide” phenomenon that can happen to kids over summer break when they might be less academically engaged than during the school year and lose scholastic ground as a consequence. Although this problem disproportionately affects underserved communities, it is nevertheless felt to a certain degree across the board, as teachers find themselves re-teaching concepts that were learned the previous year and then forgotten. Some research has shown that students can lose as much as 3 months of reading and math achievement over the course of just one summer. (See Making Summer Count for more details on relevant studies.)

To negate this effect, here are this year’s recommended resources in core subjects. (Look for your child’s division within some subjects.)

English Language Arts

For elementary and middle school students, ELA teacher Jalynn Harris assigned a mandatory novel and a secondary novel (middle school students) and gave Summer Writing Prompts to encourage a minimum of 30 minutes of writing twice a week. Grammar Review and keeping a Reading Log are also encouraged.

Mandatory Middle School Novel: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Secondary Middle School Novel: Choose from the list below or from your own library.

  • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
  • The Maze Runner by James Dashner
  • Call of the Wild by Jack London
  • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
  • CHERUB series by Robert Muchamore
  • We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
  • Cinder by Marissa Meyer
  • Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
  • Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
  • Legend trilogy by Marie Lu
  • The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
  • Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Finally, i-Ready, TNCS’s online reading and vocabulary program, will be available all summer. Students should complete a minimum of 30 minutes of i-Ready lessons per week.

Math

In addition to making practice workbooks available for purchase to elementary and middle school, math teacher Nameeta Sharma recommends these sites:

  1. iReady math is available to students over summer. Please encourage your child to do  iReady lessons at least an hour per week. This will help them stay on level, especially since they will have the first math diagnostic test in fall for the next school year.
  2. Khan academy. – Please remind students to use the school gmail account to log in so as to save their progress.
  3. Free printable math worksheets are available at these sites too:

Mandarin Chinese

“Wow, what a year!” said Li Laoshi. “To better state that what a complicated but great year!” Please see the following information and resources that will help your child can review and maintain their Chinese proficiency during the summer holiday. 

Websites

  • Duolingo
    • Target Age: 1st–8th grades
    • Target Level: Beginner and up
  • Hello-World
    • Target Age: 1st–3rd grades
    • Target Level: Beginner
  • Epic
    • Target Age: 1st–8th grades
    • Target Level: Beginner and up

Books

  • Better Chinese, Volumes 1–4
    • Target Age: 1st–8th grades
    • Target Level: Beginner and up

Global Studies and Science

Mr. Brosius offered the following optional summer activities with detailed instructions for Global Studies and Science extended projects.
The Summer Road Trip was primarily designed to be a global studies assignment, but does touch on a few science themes. The Time Lapse was primarily designed to be a science assignment, but can be adapted for various uses.
Also, check out citizen science projects in the United States!

Spanish

For 3rd- to 8th-graders, Sra. Noletto strongly recommends continued exposure to Spanish language during the summer fun days. “The more practice, the easier for them to remember what they learned,” she said.

Collection of Spanish Books

  1. Go to https://www.getepic.com/students
  2. Enter class code gun8437
  3. Select your child name
  4. Check his/her mailbox
  5. Enjoy!

Practice Reading Skills: Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd Grades:

  1. EL Mono Silabo has a complete collection of educational videos of the Spanish “Silabas” to teach and practice reading in Spanish for emerging readers. Kindergarten students already have practiced reading skills using this educational resource. Ask your children to tell you what sounds “Silabas” they remember from classes and then watch the corresponding chapter from EL Mono Silabo.

  1. 123 Andrés has a complete collection of educational videos for every letter of the Spanish alphabet (samples shown below, but there are 24 more!).

3. If you want to make a good investment, You can pair the experience educational videos of El Mono-Silabo with the collection of books made by Scholastic of 36 different books, one for each silaba. Or you can buy just a few depending on the level of engagement of your student.

4. If your student hasn’t finished the entire book of “Silabas” called “El Silabario,” you can find this interactive book at the summer resources folder from the Google Classroom along with other printable materials ideal for summer reading.

Apps and Websites

  • Spanishdict.com: The students are familiar with this app, and my classrooms are linked to it. It has grammar lessons, conjugations, vocabulary, conversations, videos, quizzes, and assessments that the students like to practice with.
    • Target Age: Elementary school and up
    • Target Level: Beginner and up
  • Conjuguemos: This website is packed with Spanish learning games that your student can use to practice verb conjugations, new vocabulary, and tricky grammar rules like “por versus para.” It is easy to navigate and helps students retain what they learn by reviewing their mistakes and providing explanations for the correct answers. For students looking for additional instruction, Conjuguemos also provides a reference section with clear, straightforward explanations of Spanish verb tenses and how they function.
    • Target Age: Elementary school and up
    • Target Level: Beginner and up
  • Duolingo: This gamified language-learning app can help your student learn Spanish on-the-go through short, daily practice sessions. Duolingo is based on a communicative model of language teaching, so it focuses on getting your child to use Spanish from the start and skips the long, technical grammar lessons.
    • Target Age: Middle school and up
    • Target Level: Beginner and up
  • Mango Languages: This popular language-learning program is available for free through many public libraries. Through its innovative multimedia platform, it helps students build proficiency in reading, writing, listening and even speaking in Spanish.
    • Target Age: Middle School and up
    • Target Level: Beginner and up
  • Spanish Playground: This is an amazing resource for parents who want to help their children learn Spanish through fun, hands-on activities! You can search through their activities by age, theme, or type (e.g., curricula versus music), so there’s something for everyone.
    • Target Age: Preschool and up
    • Target Level: Beginner and up
  • Spanish con salsa: Originally developed as a television series to teach Spanish to young children, Salsa Spanish is now available online, with free activities designed to accompany its 42 video lessons. The 15-minute videos are similar to Sesame Street and focus on a single Spanish concept—like food vocabulary or colors. The dialogue is easy to understand, so it’s appropriate for students who are just starting to learn Spanish, although true beginners might benefit from some additional parental support.
    • Target Age: Preschool through Elementary
    • Target Level: Beginner (best with some prior exposure to Spanish)
  • FluentU Spanish: Language teachers often tell their students to watch television in Spanish to further improve their listening and speaking skills. While this is a great suggestion; sometimes what students like is too challenging for them, not challenging enough, or even terribly scripted because of the direct translation. This is what makes FluentU Spanish a unique app for all Spanish students. First, browse through their library of multimedia content ranging from Spanish music videos, world-issue related interviews, and sporting events. While watching the video, users can click on any word in the script to read the definition before continuing. What’s even cooler is you can save these words and add them to a reference list which FluentU allows users to save and go through any time afterward. The app goes even further to suggest videos and other media content featuring those specific words.
  • Think Bilingual!: The basis of this game-based educational app is for Spanish students to not only memorize new words; but also act them out. Listening and doing is Think Bilingual’s way of teaching. Students will be introduced to two aliens who they will have to guide through everyday situations from cleaning, cooking, and driving on different levels. Before the start of each new level, a vocabulary list is shown so students can have a look and study. Once ready, students have to write out the words correlating to the actions the aliens must do to continue onto the next level.
  • Memrise: Like its name, Memrise, uses the technique of memorization and repetition for users to reach their next level language skills. Before each level’s test; users can listen to words and see how its spelled. Right under the word there’s also attributes to the word such as the phonetics and seeing how to pronounce it correctly. Each level is categorized by different subjects; greetings, cooking, directions etc.
  • Mosalingua: Mosalingua knows that motivation is the key to learning another language, therefore the app combines both motivation and repetition so learners don’t quickly forget everything they learn. Rather than quickly forgetting all that new information, Mosalingua builds new exercises that are repeated but simply delivered in different ways so users continue to be motivated and absorb all there is to know about Spanish.

Books

Kindergarten:

Beginner:

Intermediate:

Advanced:

Spanish Songs Playlist

You can also make a Spotify or Apple iTunes playlist with the most popular songs that we sang during the school year by these popular children’s groups:

  1. Una idea tengo yo, 123 Andrés
  2. La semilla, 123 Andrés
  3. El baile de la fruta, de Pica Pica
  4. El Baile de los Animales
  5. Chocolate de Jose Orozco
  6. El Pirata Benjamin, 123 Andrés
  7. Salta, Salta 123 Andrés
  8. Buenos Días, Jose Orozco
  9. Vamos a contar mentiras de Enrique y Ana
  10.  De Colores, 123 Andrés
  11. Un elefante, 123 Andrés
  12. El Girasol, 123 Andrés
  13.  Soy una serpiente
  14. Hola amigo, 123 Andrés
  15.  El Pirata capirote de Juana la Iguana

Whatever activities and summer fun your child has planned this summer, make time for reading, writing, speaking, and tinkering!

05.25.18
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TNCS Spanish Immersion Camp 2018 Features Talented Guest Instructor from Spain!

Even after the official school year ends, summertime at The New Century School is no less full of wonderful adventures in the Arts; physical activity; and, especially, language-learning. TNCS has run summer day camps for several years and has hands-down the most diverse line-up of camps available in Baltimore for 2018.

Among the most popular TNCS summer camps are the Spanish and Mandarin Chinese language immersion camps. TNCS specializes in language-learning during the school year, but immersive camps are the best way to preempt the diminution of knowledge and skills that can happen over summer (known as “summer slide”) by providing a fun, engaging environment to practice in. Moreover, the cultural themes and activities explored during camps—like cooking, game-playing, singing, and dancing—boost and round out that knowledge, making it more meaningful and whole by connecting it to real life and real people.

In addition to being great opportunities not found elsewhere in Baltimore, they’re also just plain fun!

And, this year’s 2-week Spanish camp promises to be even more extra special, as TNCS welcomes Begoña Tocino Bredberg as guest instructor, all the way from Gävle, Sweden (although she is a native of Avilés, Spain). She comes to TNCS thanks to her relationship with Admissions Director Dominique Sanchies, who has worked with Sra. Bredberg through the education tour company Education First (EF). With EF, Sra. Bredberg has accompanied Spanish students to the United Stated to practice English, and she has stayed in close contact with Mrs. Sanchies ever since.

Meet Begoña Tocino Bredberg!

Living in Sweden, Sra. Bredberg has “[become] a la10402881_10204140141889513_8716699874326478148_n.jpgnguage learner again,” she says. “I have developed a better understanding of what it means learning to speak a new language. It is by being on both sides how a teacher develops their best teaching. My belief is that a teacher’s focus should be on the learning, i.e. how the learner learns. By doing this, the teaching will achieve the best results. Last but not least, it is communication that helps a better understanding, in all layers of work or life itself,” she explained.

She currently teaches English and Spanish language courses at the Swedish high school Vallbacksskolan and was at Murgårdsskolan 7-9 before that (in addition to having taught in the United Kingdom as well as Spain). When she first arrived in Sweden, her first teaching position was at the Internationella Engelska Skolan which is part of a network of bilingual schools created by American teacher Barbara Bergström. Sra. Bredberg also writes Teaching & Learning English—Enseñar y Apprender Español, a blog about language-learning that includes tons of helpful resources.

She comes to TNCS having just completed the Transatlantic Educator’s Dialogue program at the University of Illinois, a program “for educators in the United States of America and the European Union to come together online for shared exploration and examination of a variety of educational topics, such as immigration, religion in education, active teaching methods and issues related to identity and difference. TED represents a unique experience in educational diplomacy and facilitates the exploration of new and diverse cultures. It is also a fantastic chance to build networks with European colleagues and foster global learning opportunities.”

The program coordinator, Jeremie Smith, had this to say of Sra. Bredberg: “Begoña Tocino Bredberg is a passionate educator that has dedicated her life to helping young people develop language skills and knowledge essential to living in a global society.”

Additional high praise comes from some of her former students, who credit her with “making them smart,” “making them smile,” and “making them do their homework”!

IMG_1253.jpg

Even with all of her experience and credentials, you’ll get the best impression of Sra. Bredberg from this salutation she wrote to her soon-to-be TNCS campers:

Hola, chicos y chicas!
My name is Begoña Tocino Bredberg, and I will be sharing a summer camp week with you full of exciting activities, where you will be able to practice Spanish with me. You will learn more about my country as well as what kids of your age do to enjoy themselves. I come from the north of Spain, but I lived in Madrid for many years. Now I live in Gävle, a medium-sized town in Sweden, the north of Europe. I live with my 15-year-old daughter and my Swedish husband. Naturally, we like to go to Spain in the summer. Here in Gävle, I teach Spanish to students who, like you, want to be able to communicate in Spanish with other kids and learn more about Spanish-speaking countries.

I like teaching and interacting with young kids. I’m enthusiastic, flexible, out-going, curious, and friendly. I like reading and traveling, and my favorite sport is swimming.

I truly look forward to learning many things from you.

Ready to register your chicos y chicas? It’s easy—simply click here to be taken to TNCS’s camp registration page and ensure that your kids will make the most of summer 2018!

¡Hasta el verano!

06.16.17
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Resources and Tips to Avoid the Summer Slide in 2017!

Since its opening for the 2010–2011 school year, The New Century School has annually offered resources to families to help prevent the “summer slide” phenomenon that can happen to kids over summer break when they might be less academically engaged than during the school year and lose scholastic ground as a consequence. Although this problem disproportionately affects underserved communities, it is nevertheless felt to a certain degree across the board, as teachers find themselves re-teaching concepts that were learned the previous year and then forgotten. Some research has shown that students can lose as much as 3 months of reading and math achievement over the course of just one summer. (See Making Summer Count for more details on relevant studies.)

The best way to slow the summer slide, according to the research, is to provide students with resources and educational activities. Head of School Alicia Danyali provides the following ideas:

1.  Visit museums with your child/ren. Between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore there is an abundance of great, educational opportunities. Depending on the age of the child, together or independently, visit the museum website prior to the visit. If the museum has dedicated tabs for educators or parents, peruse to get ideas of a focus for activities to make the experience a learning one.

2.  Reading is key in the summer to encourage and reinforce a love of reading in spare time, as well as discussions related to comprehension and how authors can open a wide range of interests.  Visit the library weekly and allow your child/ren to choose books of interest. Forming a summer “book club” can bring like-minded kids together to make it a rewarding experience.

3.  Whether it is on car rides to camp, the grocery store, at breakfast, or together time, play language, math, and vocabulary games to keep skills fresh.  If you are comfortable with online platforms (elementary and up) for introducing or reinforcing topics of interest or need, Khan Academy is one of the best with its interactive and descriptive teaching tools (video, examples) built into practice.

4. We encourage you to have your child work through a supplemental workbook selected by your child’s teacher over the summer. The books are published through Singapore Math and align with the backbone curriculum taught at TNCS. They will be collected and reviewed in the first week of next school year. Parents are encouraged to review work completed periodically to ensure students are staying on the right track. Order one here.

To point #2, making sure children have access to books is something Enoch Pratt Free Library is all about in summer. Their former “Summer Reading Program” has become the Summer Reading Challenge for 2017, the challenge being to “Build a Better World.” The challenge incentivizes kids to read, read, and read some more during summer, offering related activities and even prizes.

Señora Sanzana offered these tips for continued Spanish language learning (in addition to what is shown below):

  • One way is reading: Scholastic’s Spanish website offers many titles for young  readers that can be purchased at a low  cost.
  • Pekegits.com is also an amazing website where you will be able to  find readings, tales, games, and grammar  review.

Websites by Category

TNCS students have been introduced to multiple websites throughout the year. These are either free, inexpensive, or can be easily accessed. The children should be familiar with their log-in information because they are familiar with these websites.

Math

Math skills can also be lost without regular practice. Here are websites that TNCS students can use during the summer months:

Language Arts

After TNCS students have worked very hard on their reading and comprehension all year long, to keep these skills sharp, try to read with your child each day and ask questions or talk about what you have read together. Here are suggested lists of unforgettable books, differentiated by grades:

And here are websites:

World Languages

To keep current on both Spanish and Mandarin Chinese skills, your kids can visit the following websites (they will already know their log-in information for some of these):

Handwriting

 Students entering grades 3 and higher are expected to write in cursive. We recommend having your students continue writing throughout the summer. A fun way to do this is to have them write to friends and relatives. There are also handwriting workbooks that try to make the task fun or valuable. Here are two such books, available on Amazon:

Wacky Sentences Handwriting Workbook

Cursive Writing Practice: Inspiring Quotes

Typing Skills

There are a number of great apps and sites that will help to teach typing in a fun way, for students who are not yet typing by touch. This skill becomes more valuable as students advance in school.

Finally, see Hit the Ground Learning in Summer 2016 with TNCS-Approved Resources! for additional websites and resources differentiated by age for keeping English Language Arts, Math, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish skills sharp over the summer.

The TNCS elementary team looks forward to seeing their students back for the 2017–2018 school year, refreshed and ready to once more hit the ground learning!

06.24.16
by

Hit the Ground Learning in Summer 2016 with TNCS-Approved Resources!

Since its inception in 2010, The New Century School has annually offered resources to families to help prevent the “summer slide” phenomenon that can happen to kids over summer break when they might be less academically engaged than during the school year and lose scholastic ground as a consequence. Although this problem disproportionately affects underserved communities, it is nevertheless felt to a certain degree across the board, as teachers find themselves re-teaching concepts that were learned the previous year and then forgotten. Some research has shown that students can lose as much as 3 months of reading and math achievement over the course of just one summer. (See Making Summer Count for more details on relevant studies.)

tncs-resources-to-avoid-summer-slide

Enoch Pratt’s Summer Reading program awards prizes to kids who fulfill a specified reading requirement and also offers the chance to “read down” your library fines!

The best way to slow the summer slide, according to the research, is to provide students with resources and educational activities. For summer 2016, TNCS’s elementary teachers compiled their own special set, curated especially for TNCS students. They also remind parents that summer is the ideal time to take trips to museums and libraries, get involved in organized activities, and making sure kids have access to books. In fact, Enoch Pratt library offers a wonderful summer reading program to incentivize kids to read, read, and read some more during summer. See Summer Reading Program for more information.

Language Arts

After TNCS students have worked very hard on their reading and comprehension all year long, to keep these skills sharp, try to read with your child each day and ask questions or talk about what you have read together. Here are suggested lists of unforgettable books, differentiated by grades*:

*The TNCS elementary team says: “Please remember, each child’s reading level develops at different rates. Some of these titles or authors may seem too easy or too difficult for your child. If your child picks a book you think may be too hard, have him/her read a full page aloud to you. If there are five or more mistakes while reading, the book is probably too difficult. If there are fewer than five errors, the book seems to be a good fit!”

(If your child is having more than a little difficulty with reading, Teresa Jacoby recommends Loyola University of Maryland Clinical Center’s summer reading programs, which can be accessed here.)

Another list comes from 4th- and 5th-grade TED-Ed Club Members, who shared the books that they’ve recently read and want to recommend to other kids their age: “TED-Ed’s Summer Reading List: 31 great books for students, chosen by students.”

TNCS students have also been introduced to multiple easy-to-access language arts websites. The students will be familiar with their log-in information, having spent time on them throughout the prior school year. These include:

Spanish

For Raz-kids in Spanish, the students will  log in to their accounts, click on the book room icon, and then select the Spanish level reader tab.

Chinese

To keep current on Mandarin Chinese skills, your kids can visit the following websites (they will already know their log-in information for some of these):

Math

Math skills can also be lost without regular practice. Here are websites that TNCS students can use during the summer months:

The TNCS elementary team looks forward to seeing their students back for the 2016–2017 school year, refreshed and ready to hit the ground learning!

07.03.15
by

TNCS-Approved Resources: Avoid the Summer Slide!

Since its inception in 2010, The New Century School has annually offered resources to families to help prevent the “summer slide” phenomenon that can happen to kids over summer break when they might be less academically engaged than during the school year and lose scholastic ground as a consequence. Although this problem disproportionately affects underserved communities, it is nevertheless felt to a certain degree across the board, as teachers find themselves re-teaching concepts that were learned the previous year and then forgotten. Some research has shown that students can lose as much as 3 months of reading and math achievement over the course of just one summer. (See Making Summer Count for more details on relevant studies.)

TNCS-preventing-summer-slide

Enoch Pratt’s Summer Reading program awards prizes to kids who fulfill a specified reading requirement and also offers the chance to “read down” your library fines!

The best way to slow the summer slide, according to the research, is to provide students with resources and educational activities. For summer 2015, TNCS’s elementary teachers compiled their own special set, curated especially for TNCS students. They also remind parents that summer is the ideal time to take trips to museums and libraries, get involved in organized activities, and making sure kids have access to books. In fact, Enoch Pratt library offers a wonderful summer reading program to incentivize kids to read, read, and read some more during summer. See Summer Reading Program for more information.

Language Arts

After TNCS students have worked very hard on their reading and comprehension all year long, to keep these skills sharp, try to read with your child each day and ask questions or talk about what you have read together. Here are suggested lists of unforgettable books, differentiated by grades*:

*The TNCS elementary team says: “Please remember, each child’s reading level develops at different rates. Some of these titles or authors may seem too easy or too difficult for your child. If your child picks a book you think may be too hard, have him/her read a full page aloud to you. If there are five or more mistakes while reading, the book is probably too difficult. If there are fewer than 5 errors, the book seems to be a good fit!”

Another list comes from 4th- and 5th-grade TED-Ed Club Members, who shared the books that they’ve recently read and want to recommend to other kids their age: “TED-Ed’s Summer Reading List: 31 great books for students, chosen by students.”

TNCS students have also been introduced to multiple easy-to-access language arts websites. The students will be familiar with their log-in information, having spent time on them throughout the prior school year. These include:

Math

Math skills can also be lost without regular practice. Here are websites that TNCS students can use during the summer months:

World Languages

To keep current on both Spanish and Mandarin Chinese skills, your kids can visit the following websites (they will already know their log-in information for some of these):

The TNCS elementary team looks forward to seeing their students back for the 2015–2016 school year, refreshed and ready to hit the ground learning!