what to do to prevent the summer slide..

[loosinas]

thinking ahead with the weeks rushing by what do you all recommend doing during the summer to prevent skills being lost ?

You do get that lovely first day back in September where you may as well be speaking Esperanto if you refer to something like a times table, or indeed what we do when we come to the end of a page in our exercise book (a continuing source of befuddlement and confusion) - but they tend to reappear from the mists of memory very rapidly!

But yes, I've also had the joy of inheriting classes with completely ridiculously overinflated results (and also been ordered to deflate baseline assessments back when we did them in order to make Y6 look good) - colleague in question admitted privately to me that she'd just made the levels up off the top of her head... grrr!

Read to them and let them read.
PLay times tables games on websites.
Talk to them about interesting things and listen to them talk.
Write a diary or postcards.

I plan to do stuff with my DS that he doesn't get to do much of during term time, as other posters have said. Stuff I, as a working parent, just dont have the energy to do, moreover.

I'm hoping to teach him to swim properly (he can stay afloat and doggy paddle, and loves jumping in to water etc but he needs to learn proper swimming strokes).

Also going to teach him to ride his bike without stabilisers.

We're going to do cooking and some home-made science experiments and go on trips and do lots of outdoorsy stuff that, imo, a 6 yr old should be having fun doing (instead of being cooped up in a class room all day!).

I also help him put together a holiday scrapbook for most holidays, where he writes diary entries, draws pictures, sticks stuff in etc.

And we keep up reading stories during the holidays.

I wont be doing any formal 'homework' with him, though.

IME, they might well slide, but they'll be back up to speed by themselves within a few weeks of the start of the autumn term.

That said, there are some good ideas here - I reckon that with the Library summer reading scheme, plenty of board and card games for numeracy, writing some holiday postcards, and the odd museum trip, you won't go far wrong.

Teaching other skills is a good idea too - I wonder if I can manage to teach DD1 to learn to sew over the summer?

Please don't think my children are sitting doing formal lesson all day, we do 15 - 30mins formal bits and bobs most days, some reading and bloody loads of other things. They like to do a scrap book, sometimes on the computer so they can use the photos they have taken. I think it depends on the child, my DS needs a bit of extra support and the routine. And if he is doing it, I find it easier if my DD does it too.

I don't think Indigobell's remarks are at all bitter - in a school with decent teacher assessment and proper moderation, this 'summerslide' (which I have never heard of, btw) does not exist. Forgetting tables, etc, sorts itself out after a week of practice, and does not make children drop whole sublevels. It's just an excuse, either for poor assessment in the first place or poor teaching in the Autumn Term.

I love the summer holidays with my ds, and we shall do 'formal' diddly squat. We will, however, share lots of stories as usual, and do lots of things we never get time for normally like baking, planting, etc.

Prevent summer slide by working at home with them and ignore those
who believe that getting your dc to study during the LOOOOOONG holiday is tantamount to abuse.

Ahhh, forehead, I remember debating this issue with you before! I agree with you that you should do what you think best. But 'summer slide' after 5 weeks and 4 days? It's a fallacy.

Disagree Feenie I believe in some areas there is a summer slide AND I have a right to my opinion; I am currently marking optional SATs which will be moderated and therefore the results and overall end of year assessments will be pretty spot on, not "over inflated".

Where children have no structure and wander the streets of a rundown council estate and very little constructive adult interaction for 6 weeks, there is summer slide.

I assume that the different skills they will be practising during the summer will support their overall development. And books are always around. And plenty of opportunities to practise maths skill through cookery and sailing and diy and other practical activities (yes, ds, I am talking about you! cake!).

Dc's CM always used to comment that their English got so much better during the summer holidays-the 6 weeks of the year when they did not speak the language at all nor heard it spoken. But their minds were being stimulated and that made a difference to their overall language development.

I never heard Swedish parents worry about the slide- and we had nearly 10 weeks summer holidays. They just seemed to take for granted that the things children did in the holidays were equally valuable.

Didn't say you didn't have a right to an opinion - just work in a school with decent teacher assessment. You won't get Ofsted or an LEA to acknowledge a summer slide in the UK, for example - because it doesn't exist. A summer slide may appear to occur in a school with less than rigorous teacher assessment and/or poor teaching in the Autumn term.

If you are relying solely on optional SATs, moderated or unmoderated to form your assessment, therein lies your assessment problem, btw.

Feenie We meet again.

Where children have no structure and wander the streets of a rundown council estate and very little constructive adult interaction for 6 weeks

Yes, have plenty of those. But if they are a solid level in the first place, not just scraping it, 6 weeks max will not cause a slide.

Yes forehead

I didn't say it was all SATs, just one little element in a whole host of informal and formal assessment.

I am currently marking optional SATs which will be moderated and therefore the results and overall end of year assessments will be pretty spot on, not "over inflated".

my multi-tasking skills are poor tonight - marking, typing and texting. we assess writing every week, groups in GR and use APP continually in maths. Work in teams and across phases to moderate. Then within the cluster occasionally.

At the end of the day a numerical target is meaningless and the next steps forward are key.
Less of the aggressive tone please, feeling sensitive...

Apologies, didn't mean to be aggressive, was aiming for forthright.

Feeling sensitive due to big data analysis SLT meeting tomorrow, need to finish justifying why some children haven't yet made two sub-levels progress. I just want to let them be!!
Anyway back to OP - keep their imaginations well fed and watered, go where your child takes you (what they are interested in), lots of practical activities and enjoy them. That's what I do. I just do a bit more with DS because he needs the routine of it all.

Ah yes, there must always be a reason, other than look, they aren't ready yet, okay? (Definitely aggressive )

We can definitely be aggressive then! And they can't progress two sub-levels every year! Errrrr!

I will be just trying to survive the holidays without too much stress!!! If that means getting them to do a "formal" task and it keeps them quiet I will be doing it. The structure helps us all sometimes. I struggle to get homework done with my reception child so I might have a look at a few of the ones we missed. I expect that I will allow them computer time which will be educational based a little bit. We will be going for bike rides, swimming and lots of playing together. Movies and a few popcorn nights. It will be nice not to have to get to places on time :)

My DD likes a pyjama morning and not having her very curly brushed before 8am! Roll on July 22nd - sounds so far away.