Summer Reading GIVEAWAY!

Summer is right around the corner, and we know that parents are actively searching for camps and activities to help prevent the "sumer slide" from affecting a year's worth of hard work. Before we reveal the goodies in our Sumer Reading GIVEAWAY that one of our lucky Instagram and Facebook followers will receive, we'd like to talk a little bit more about the summer slide and how you can prevent it.

What is the summer slide?
The summer slide is a term used to describe the backtracking that happens when students do not read over the summer. Did you know that students can lose 2 months worth of reading performance if they don't actively engage with text over the summer? That means that your student could be 2 1/2 years behind their peers by the time they enter middle school.

Hasn't my child spent enough time reading at school?
NO! Did you know that, on average, children spend 7,800 hours at home and 900 hours at school annually? You have a lot of influence over your children's interest in reading. When students enter kindergarten, close to 100% of them are interested in reading a book outside of school. By 4th grade that drops to 54%, by 8th grade that drops to 30%, and by 12th grade it drops to 19%.  What causes that drop? Many experts believe it's caused by a drop in parents reading to and with their kids.

What's the difference between reading for 20 minutes a day and reading for 5 minutes a day?
A student that reads for 20 minutes a day reads 3,600 minutes per school year, which amounts to 1,800,000 words per year. These students tend to score in the 90th percentile on standardized tests. A student that reads for 5 minutes a day reads 900 minutes per school year, which amounts to 282,000 words per year. These students tend to score in the 50th percentile on standardized tests. Sadly, a student that reads for 1 minute a day reads 180 minutes per school year, which amounts to only 8,000 words per year. These students tend to score in the 10th percentile on standardized tests. Those little bits of minutes add up, so find a way to make it part of your routine.

How do I choose a book for my child?
There's a 5-finger rule that teachers use in the classroom. Open a book to any page and ask your child to read it aloud. For every word that they don't know, put up a finger (somewhere where they can't see it). If you put up 5 fingers for one page, the book is too difficult for your child, and they should select another book.

How can I read with my beginning reader?
Here are a list of strategies that you can use:

• Encourage your child to use their finger to track the words they are reading.
• Read a sentence and have your child repeat it.
• Take turns reading sentences or pages.
• Make predictions about the story and read to find out if you're correct.
• Read your favorite books over and over again! Repeated reading helps build fluency and reading intonation.

What can I do to help prevent the summer slide?
There are so many things that you can do to make sure your students are engaging in text this summer. Here are a few ideas:

• Find interactive books and games on your iPad that address reading and/or phonics.
• Show your children all of the things that you read in your daily life. This might include recipes, directions, assembly instructions, or mail. 
• Read to your child and let them hear the rhythm of words and exaggeration and expression in your voice!
• Play games! Some games, such as Apples to Apples, encourage reading and are really fun to play. Slap some sight words onto Jenga blocks and read a block every time you draw one.
• Set a good example by letting your children see YOU reading. Send a message that reading is valuable and important.
• Visit your local library! Libraries are a great place to explore, and many local libraries, such as those here in Long Beach, offer summer reading incentives. 
• Leave books for your child in the three best places, also knows as the three Bs: bed, bathroom, breakfast table.

What are some websites with FREE resources?

• starfall.com
• speakaboos.com
• spellingcity.com
• wegivebooks.org
• interactives.weebly.com

What is this GIVEAWAY all about?!

Alright, let's talk about this giveaway. Having something tangible helps our tactile learners and also serves as a reminder to read. Our giveaway features the following items:

1. $10 Target gift card to be used to pick out a fun new book!

2. Retell stick: This is a stick that has one side for fiction text and one side for non-fiction text. For fiction text, students place buttons on the stick, one by one, as they tell you the characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end of the story. For non-fiction text, they place buttons on the stick as they tell you the main idea and three supporting details.

3. Reading scavenger hunt: This is a treasure map that students follow as they complete reading tasks, such as reading a book that's been made into a movie, that takes place in your favorite city, etc. How fun is that?!

4. Response sticks: These are two sets of color-coded sticks that have comprehension questions on them. The blue sticks are for non-fiction (blue = true, get it?), and include questions such as, "What was the main idea of what you read, and what were the supporting details?" The yellow sticks are for fiction, and include questions such as, "If you were interviewing the main character, what questions would you ask?" This set also includes a dice, numbered 1-6, that can be rolled to determine how many sticks your child must draw and answer that day. Throw these in a small bucket or box by their books and keep it easy!

These are items we've used in the past, and we're so excited to offer them to you in this giveaway to keep your kids reading this summer! The giveaway runs from Friday, May 22, 2015 at 8:00am PST to Saturday, May 23, 2015 at 9:00pm PST. One winner will be announced on our Instagram page within 24 hours.

To enter: 

1. Follow me on Instagram @kidsunderconstruction

2. Tag a friend on my Instagram post in the comments

3. Like our Facebook page 

4. For an extra entry, share the link to this post on your Facebook page

Good luck and happy reading!

campCORE: KUC's full-day summer camp for elementary students

Ssshhhh! Don't tell the children that they are actually learning anything during these camps! We walk a fine line between learning and having fun, so you can send us your kids knowing that they will have fun while they keep their minds active all summer long!

Kids Under Construction is excited to offer a full-day academic camp this summer! We know that many of you are looking for day camps for your kids this summer, and we think that campCORE is the perfect camp for parents that want their students to use their minds and have fun. You can enroll your students for a day or for the whole week, so we're hoping that your youngest students will join us.

What is campCORE?
campCORE is a full-day academic camp that helps keep students' minds alert using some of our most-loved games and activities. Students will create (C), observe (O), report (R), and explore (E) their way through some of our most-loved games and activities while reviewing common core standards to prepare for next year.

Who can enroll in campCORE?
We invite students entering grades K-5 to enroll in campCORE this summer. We are able to accommodate a wide range of students in these camps because students will move through a variety of stations that are grade-level appropriate for them.

What kinds of activities do you have planned for campCORE?
We've taken some of our favorite games and activities that we use to help students achieve common core standards and put them altogether in this camp. Here's a sampling of some of the activities we have planned:

The week of August 10th is BASEBALL WEEK! Baseball means popcorn, soda pop, snacks, and good ole fashioned fun. We will read about some of the players, calculate some statistics, and enjoy cracker jacks for a snack. One of the math activities that we will play is called popcorn math. Students get a bag of "popcorn" and practice math facts, compare numbers, and more.

Who doesn't like a delicious bag of chips with their hot dog at the baseball stadium? During baseball week, we use Cheetos to learn about how bugs and insects pollinate plants. Did you know that the cheese coating on Cheetos is sticky like pollen?

After reading about some of baseball's greatest heroes, we'll review some of the new vocabulary that we've learned with a fun game of muffin tin toss. 

You can't sit through a game without some soda pop to enjoy alongside your hot dog and chips! Some of our younger students will practice counting syllables by sorting words printed on bottle caps, while some of our older students will practice arranging numbers (including integers and fractions) from least to greatest. 

The week of August 17th is GAMES WEEK! You know that games are fun, but did you know that games are a great way to practice important skills? We will have all kinds of fun bowling, building with Legos, and playing board games (with a twist) like Candyland. One of the reading activities that we will play is called Candyland comprehension. Students pull a color card, and depending on which color they pull, they will have to read a short passage and answer a comprehension question. So for example, if a student pulls a purple card, they will have to identify the main idea of a short reading passage. Passages are anywhere between 5 and 8 sentences long, and we have them at a variety of reading levels. 

We turn our patio area into a bowling alley and attach all kinds of activities to them. We've used them to attach writing prompts, math facts, science review questions, and lots more.

Who doesn't love Legos? Our youngest students use them to make letters, spell words, and practice counting. Our older students use them to create multiplication arrays and calculate areas and perimeters.

Every week is jam-packed full of fun activities and tasks that students will have fun with. When you register, we will contact you to find out more about your student so that we can plan their activities.

What does a typical day look like at campCORE?
Camp starts at 9:00am and ends at 2:00pm. Here's our daily schedule:

9:00-9:15a : OPENING
9:15-10:15a : math centers
10:15-10:30a : SNACK
10:30-11:30a : reading rotations
11:30-12:00p : LUNCH
12:00-1:00p : group science activity
1:00-1:15p : BRAIN BREAKS
1:15-1:45p : enrichment (Spanish, art, engineering, history, writing, memory)
1:45-2:00p : CLOSING

What are the weekly themes for campCORE?
Every week of campCORE has a different theme. For example, all of our math centers for baseball week (8/10) will have something to do with baseball. The theres are as follows:

WEEK 1 (7/6-7/9) : candy
WEEK 2 (7/13-7/16) : oceans
WEEK 3 (7/20-7/23) : CSI
WEEK 4 (7/27-7/30) : planet Earth
WEEK 5 (8/3-8/6) : wild animals
WEEK 6 (8/10-8/13) : baseball
WEEK 7 (8/17-8/20) : games
WEEK 8 (8/24-8/27) : the human body

How much does tuition cost for campCORE?
Tuition for campCORE is $345 per week or $95 per day. You can enroll for just one day, or you can enroll for the entire week! If you know you've got a crazy week coming up sometime this summer, or a day when you need your kids out of the house, give us a call!

Are you as excited as we are?! There are no tests, no quizzes, and no homework, so campCORE is pretty much like the best day of school ever. Except that it's not school. And you can sit next to your friends.

Fall Workshops: Math Potholes: Multiplication

This is the time of year that we hear lots of parents stressing about math facts. In Long Beach, students in grades 2-5 are required to answer at least 65/70 facts correct in under 10 minutes (approximately 9 seconds per fact). In order for a student to receive a 4 on their report cards, they must be able to answer 68/70 facts correct in under 5 minutes (approximately 4 seconds per fact). This does not leave room for students to use aides, such as their fingers, a multiplication chart, or pictures. To help students pass these benchmarks, we use several different strategies.

First, we look at the four different ways that we can show multiplication using pictures. Here's an example:

Source: Natalia Ginns

Then, we show students how they can use a multiplication chart to help them when they get stuck. This is a nice visual for three main reasons. 1) It's easy to find patterns in a multiplication chart that help you remember some of those tricky facts. 2) When students use it, we have them circle the product that they got stuck on so tha we can keep track of their "hard" facts. 3) We like to show students how the chart can be folded in half, demonstrating how there are only half as many facts to memorize.

Source: Guru Parents

Once we feel that students understand what multiplication is and how to represent it visually, we shift gears into multiplication memorization. We have all sorts of tricks for memorizing facts, and a variety of ways that students can practice them and drill themselves. One of our favorites are multiplication wheels.

Source: Practical Pages

Another favorite is math towers.

Source: Teacher Tipster

If you missed our post abut our math facts Jenga, you can view that post here.

We can't wait to help your students memorize those facts!

Fall Workshops: Fine Motor Fun

Research shows that fine motor skills are linked to success in writing and academics. I just HAVE to share some of the super fun activities that we we used for our fine motor workshop last fall. They are geared towards students in Kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, but the activities are so fun that even I had fun! This post contains affiliate links; read more about them at the bottom of this post!

One of my friends from my undergraduate days, Christie Kiley, is a pediatric occupational therapist and has a blog with many wonderful ideas! I help contribute to one of her fine motor boards on Pinterest, and this workshop encourages many fine motor skills that she explains on her blog. Here's a snippet:

Pincer grasp: Pinching with thumb and index finger. 

Finger isolation: Activating a single finger on command (such as the index finger for pointing and pushing). 

Thumb opposition: Coordinating the thumb with the other fingers to help with holding, squeezing, and strengthening the space between thumb and index finger (known as the “web space”).

Tripod grasp: Pinching with thumb and index finger while resting the object on the middle finger, much like you’d hold a pencil. 

Hand-eye coordination: Coordinating hand movements based on what the eyes are seeing. Also known as visual-motor integration. 

Bilateral coordination: Coordinating the use of two hands to accomplish a task, such as stabilizing an object with one hand while working with the other. 

Midline integration: Being able to come to and cross over the invisible line that separates the left and right sides of the body. This contributes to the development of hand dominance. If your child struggles with this, encourage midline crossing by placing desired items on the side opposite the hand they are using so they have to reach across their body. 

Here are some sample activities that we did together:

Students dug up sight words and then wrote them in the sandbox. Each student went home with a set to use at home since we live so close to the beach. Use non-toxic play sand to keep it safe for little ones. 

This activity helps strengthen those little muscles that support the pincer grasp. Make sure you use washable paint so that you can easily wipe the paint off of desks/tables/little hands.

These sensory bags are great for all students, but especially for those with sensory processing difficulties. We practiced prewriting skills and letter formation with these bags. You can use this non-toxic orange hair gel for a bright and fun pop of color.

This activity is great for practicing that tripod grasp that helps with writing. Students practiced making patterns, letters, numbers, and pictures. You can use an old bulletin board at home, or use these cork tiles to set up a rotation station. I'm loving these push pins to make it extra fun. What kid doesn't love decorative office supplies?!

Here's a three-for-one activity that practices letter recognition, spelling, AND fine motor all at once. These bright and colorful, wooden clothespins are great for adding visual stimulation.

This is another pencil grasp activity that helps students hold onto pencils correctly. If you have a clothespin handy, try this one out at home.

What kid doesn't love Play Dough and Legos?! Students practiced forming letters and numbers, and also created pictures using the Lego pieces. You can grab a 36-pack of Play Doh and either let everyone keep a canister in their desk or have enough on hand so that you can divvy them up into your centers boxes/storage. If your home isn't littered with these little sharp corners of death all over the floor, you can grab this Lego starter kit or ask students in class if they have any extras at home that they'd like to donate.

This is great practice for manipulating small objects. These yellow and white golf tees are easy to spot if they fall onto the floor (or into your carpet). How cute are these glass marbles?!

This is a great competitive activity that encourages muscle control and coordination. Students are given one minute to grab as many as they can, and then we count and graph how many marshmallows each student grabbed. We love to incorporate math concepts when we can! Grab 40 pairs of chopsticks and set some aside for other centers.

This activity is great for correcting students that hold writing materials inefficiently AND for students that need to strengthen their hand muscles. We used a variety of materials to keep this one fun. If you can't find these at the Dollar Tree, you can order a set of pom pom balls for less than a latte AND use the leftovers for warm fuzzies (hot glue a pair of goggly eyes to the pom pom balls and give them to students when they say things to you or other students that make your heart feel warm and fuzzy)!

Our fine motor fun workshop began with a station rotation in which each student got to practice a series of skills on their own. One of the stations was one-on-one with the instructor. This allowed us to monitor and help each student in the workshop.

We hope you can replicate some fine motor fun with your students!

AFFILIATE LINKS: This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using this link. I purchased all of the items myself, and all of the opinions expressed here are my own.

Fall Workshops: Bookworms 3-5

Our bookworms workshop for grades 3-5 focuses on three of the reading strategies that our older elementary students struggle with the most: differentiating between main ideas and details, analyzing cause and effect relationships, and citing evidence to support text-dependent comprehension questions. Here's a sneak peek at some of the activities we will be doing in this workshop.

Main Idea and Details 

A student must be able to identify the main idea of a story before they can fully understand a story in its entirety. This is easier said than done with some of the longer pieces of text that students read in class. We will start our session on main idea and details by examining a few short paragraphs. Students will read them, and decipher between the main idea (what the story is mostly about) and the details (which sentences add more information about the main idea). Students will then be given an envelope containing detailed sentences. They will have a chance to practice putting the sentences together to write a main idea sentence that addresses ALL of the details. As a group, we will look closely at a longer piece of text, and color-code the sentences to reveal the main ideas and details of each paragraph. Students will take home two more passages to practice with on their own, which will be reviewed during our second session.  

Source: All The Dots

Cause and Effect
A large majority of the comprehension questions that our students are asked can be answered using the cause and effect relationships between events in a story. The choices that characters make in a story have consequences, that those consequences often have chains of events that follow. In non-fiction text, many historical events and scientific processes are explained as a series of cause and effect events. In this workshop, we use Thinking Maps to identify the causes and effects of events in our texts.

Source: The Applicious Teacher

Text-Dependent Questions
One of the major shifts in the Common Core State Standards is asking text-dependent comprehension questions. Let me explain what that means in English. Remember when you were in first grade, and your teacher read the story a class about a kid that got a new puppy? Remember how eeeeeeveryone wanted to tell their stories about when THEY got a puppy? That's called making a text-to-self connection. The story might have been followed up by a writing task that either asked you to write about a time that you got a pet, an animal that you'd like to have as a pet, or how you would have reacted if you got home and there was a puppy waiting for you on the front doorstep. You could easily receive full credit for a written response that had absolutely nothing to do with the story. Is it important for children to make these kinds of connections? Absolutely! Does telling about your own pet have anything to do with your understanding of the story? Although it's loosely connected, no. A text-dependent question might ask how Billy felt about getting the puppy, and ask you to cite evidence to support your answer. That's fancy classroom talk for "point to the place in the story where you found that information." Many of our upper elementary students are struggling to do this because they've never been asked to do it before. At best, they worked on it last year, and they certainly need more practice with it this year.

In this workshop, we will spend two weeks learning to understand the question, coming up with an answer, looking back in the text to support or refute that answer, and then explaining how that text helps us prove our answer.

Source: Luckey Frog's Lilypad

Source: Brooke Brown

Source: Create Teach Share

Source: I'm Lovin' Lit

Practicing these three skills will help your students meet and exceed their mid year reading benchmarks. We hope that if this workshop doesn't meet your needs, that you'll share it with a friend that might have students in need of this kind of practice.

Happy reading!