Summer holidays? Help for a novice!

[FerryGirl]

This is our first school summer holidays and I just wondered if any of you had any experience of fun things I could do with my bright and sparky YR to Y1 dd that would help her remember the things she has learnt this year without her actually realising it ! She does enjoy schoolwork, but only if her teacher sets it, not her mother, so I need to come up with ideas that will just help keep her brain running that are not too obvious.

I know it is the holidays etc, and maybe I am
Wrong, but I do think that she will find the y1 jump hard at first of she has done no writing etc over the summer, but was wondering if any of you had clever ideas for doing this?

At Easter we made holiday scrapbooks so I wondered about doing an 'all about myself' book cutting up photos and sticking in etc etc but would really welcome ideas?

Check the local library for summer reading schemes. We've also got some fun books designed for travelling (DS2 is a bit of a word search fan). Keep a pot of pens and paper on the table so they can dip in and out. Board games, postcards...

This is this year's library reading scheme:

story-lab.org.uk/

Our local library start this weekend.

www.story-lab.org.uk/

I know DS has been learning about coins in maths, so how about having a cafe - she could write a menu and the prices and then be the waitress,write your order, work out your change etc.

Cook! Sounds simple, and have suggested this on another thread for other reasons...but there is so much scope for literacy and numeracy work...

"How many eggs do I need?"; "Tell me when the scale hits the 200"; "If this bun has 3 smarties on, how many more do I need to make 5?"; "Show me the ingredients beginning with 'm'"... Write a menu for a dinner/tea party/teddy bears' picnic (and invites too if she's up for it).

If writing is a problem, then 'absolutely yes' with the cutting - helps for dexterity and fine motor work. Have her writing itineries for days out (who is going? What will need packing?) - something that could be seen as purposeful and will help her to get excited about something to do with her holidays (obviously at this stage don't worry about spelling! - mark making is the aim.)

Questions can be asked at any time of day and help to keep things ticking over... looking at timetables when waiting for buses, asking about words on a page in a book...

Get her to write your shopping list before you go to the supermarket. And weigh out, say, the fruit and veg when you are there. If appropriate, ask her how much one cake/apple etc would be if four cost £1. Or how much four would be if they cost 10p each. Depends on appropriate examples being readily available!

If you are going to visit a zoo/theme park/castle etc, ask her to plan what you are going to do. Get her to plan an itinerary, and discuss why it would/wouldn't work. Get her to look at the online cafe menu and work out how much lunch is going to cost.

Leeds2.... loving the fact that your 4-5 year old appears to be able to:
Read menus
Debate a given topic
Add decimals
Multiply
Divide

I know I ask a lot of my Yr 1s, but...

Holidays scrapbooks/diaries and the reading scheme were always popular with mine when they were that age.

Usually just a sentance or two about what we'd done that day then a picture. We'd collect leaflets/postcards from days out too.

I don't have a problem with Leeds2 examples, except maybe working out how many one cake would be. Dd2 would do all of those, with a little help reading the menu - though most children's menus have sausage, fish, pizza, burger or chicken of some sort, so only 5 words to master.

Dd1 loves writing shopping lists, and messages for the fairies (they only come if her room is tidy though). Also we have english heritage membership, but NT or other day trips would work too, she could be a roving reporter, get a postcard from each place, and the next day write a mini report on it. You could even scan onto computer (mine love a bit of ICT to make a project seem really special), and send copies to family/ friends (with translation if necessary).

We concentrate probably most on history, it is great taking them out somewhere and letting them see where history happened. We went to Carisbrooke (?sp) castle recently and they loved that they could see the actual window that Charles I tried to escape through (thanks to Horrible Histories they love history). You can't do that in a classroom, but you can also count the steps in the castle, discuss battle strategies, for next year she might be able to read information in museums, draw pictures of things they've seen. Follow quizes, might even get to take part in medieval banquets!

Your dd might prefer geography, music concerts, be a film or restaurant critic, anything which gets them writing!

Thank you all! Story lab is brilliant! The girls have registered and are wildly excited! Thanks also for the shopping/ cooking ideas!

Yes library reading scheme great.

Try doing a holiday diary - just a sentence or two about each day, stick in any tickets, leaflets about days out, photos etc.

Get her to write any birthday cards, shopping lists, notes for Daddy etc.

we got my lg a set of usborne books called very first reading books (think the first one is called pirate pat) that she loves because the adult reads one page then the child reads the next so its something you can do together! my eldest has just turned 4 and is reading/writing/doing numbers etc. To help with writing i do painting with her and then turn the paintings into cards so she can write messages to family members on the inside and then we post them to the unlucky lucky recipient. she loves doing all this. hope you find some inspiration for summer

A Summer Pack of numeracy activities for 1-11 year olds is available July 19th from www.beenumberfit.org.uk. There are some freebies offered. The website will be launched properly in September when everyone goes back to school.

Best thing I did for DD between yr R and 1 was sign her up to reading chest.

It has a monthly cost but they send out 4 appropriate level books a time. My DD loved getting them and posting them back. Her reading really took off.

She did the library challenge aswell but our library isn't well stocked.

Hi Dixie - I have done the same! The first pack arrived today! Hope she likes opening it tomorrow!