Any suggestions to stop with the “summer slide” for kids about to go into year 1?

[Puzzlelight]

Just wondering what kind of resources / activities would be good to keep up the phonics learning, numbers, etc, really. Maybe not necessary to buy anything, but good to know if there is anything worth getting.

Don’t want a boring summer of work, but want DC to be ready for year 1.

Just do a little bit of reading every day. Maybe a weekly trip to the library where the DC picks out books for the week both for her to read and for you to read to her. She can also be encouraged to read in everyday life - e.g. she can read "pasta" when playing shop. She can do drawing/dot to dot/write a story book/postcard for grandma to keep up fine motor skills.

Maths can just be done in every day life too. She can look out for the number of the bus, look for auntie's door number, count out the change when playing shop etc. It's definitely better to let learning happen naturally and react to what you know the child can do (e.g. could you pick out four forks for dinner please or we need four sets of knives, forks and spoons how many will we have altogether?).

There's actually a fair bit of evidence that while sometimes formal learning can slide other skills (e.g. reasoning and social skills) actually improve over the summer holiday .

If you still have a library, join the summer reading scheme.

Y1 teacher here...read as much as possible. The library’s summer reading challenge is a good incentive plus www.oxfordowl.co.uk has free ebooks.

As someone else said, take opportunities for indicential maths work...counting money, paying in shops, waiting for change etc.

A bit of a summer diary can be nice too. Buy a fancy note book and pens, print photos out to jazz it up a bit.

I've used Carter's Yard Phonics augmented reality flashcards. You can use a tablet/phone to scan the cards (you download a free app) and it will read your child the phonics sounds so they can copy/repeat. This is great as you can practise with them or let them use them by themselves (and have a bit of a break! ;-). They have a website and sell them through Amazon.

For maths, 'number of the day' is free and useful. Take a different number every day and have a list of functions depending on ability. Here's a link or you could make your own ones up!
mathsstarters.net/numoftheday

We read books, watched a bit of alphablocks and had a competition for who could blend the word fastest (blatantly abuse sibling rivalry on this one) and just did the odd bit of getting them to count things out etc for us. We'd do baking and the kids would write the shopping lists before we went and tick things off (stopped them destroying Tesco)

Mine both quite liked playing Teach Your Monster to Read on their tablets as well - mainly getting points to dress the monster up in ridiculous outfits (DD2 loves monsters anyway), so they voluntarily spent a fair bit of time on that.

We got a subscription to Reading Chest just for that summer, and now (DD is about to finish Reception) we have a set of Floppy's Phonics books off Ebay.

Oh yes YYY to Teach your Monster to Read.

We also really like the maths apps Maths 3-5 (DD is not very good at counting though so she has got a bit stuck) and Maths 4-6 which DS who is in Y2 (but really repeating Y1 work) likes.

These are fantastic suggestions, lots things I haven’t heard of, thank you!

Katkina I think that Number of the Day might be a bit advanced for Reception leavers!

They're so little - unless you have major specific concerns, just some reading and games that incorporate it, from I spy to getting them to bake with you and measure weights and read labels and recipes.
In many countries they'd not be reading at all at this age, i think that time for fun, socialising, family time, physical activity is the most important.

I agree with you, stuckforthefirsttime, but school have given me a few concerns. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a fairly strict and academic school, but I have been told DC won’t be ready for year 1 if I let them slide back any further

Depending on your child - mine also have spent hours and hours voluntarily making registers for which of their teddies or playmobil people are at school each day... I've never forced it but they'll kill hours doing registers over and over again and it's all writing practice!

I'm sorry but " I have been told DC won’t be ready for year 1 if I let them slide back any further" - really? The school have no business saying that. They can cope with children who do no work over the summer, who speak no English at home. Your kids should be enjoying their summer and it's the scool's job to pick up from where they are when they arrive next September. That would make me so cross. How dare they blame you for refusing to hot house small children?

PopWentTheWeasel I felt a bit like that, to be honest!

I suspect - though don’t know - that it’s a school where a lot of private tutoring goes on. I’m now worried that DC will lose confidence.

I’ve been going round and round in my mind and I can’t decide what the best thing to do is! I think a little bit of gentle work sounds great - shopping lists, playing school, some reading books and flash cards. Really good suggestions on here!

Dc more or less free play at home! We don’t do anything school-related (of course we read endless stories and do plenty of painting and crafts etc but we don’t try and do anything academic - yet!).

I would say let them enjoy their summer break but practice some number bonds and regular phonics/reading.

A lot of people said to me that there’s a big change/transition from YR to Y1 but it hasn’t been my experience at all with DD

Do lots of reading and follow their lead. I think summer holidays is a brilliant time to help them develop interests and skills.
My dc have been interested in dinosaurs, volcanoes, sharks and rainforests so they’ve gone deep into those interests. There are a lot of benefits from that kind of exploration and can improve focus.

I’ve also encouraged arts and crafts during the summer too. They don’t seem to get much of a chance at school anymore and so miss out on the skills and benefits that can bring.
It can help boost self esteem too which is so important.

Just wanted to say that my dd refused most reading last summer after finishing reception and seemed to have completely forgotten how to read by the end of it. She's absolutely flying now, moved up half a dozen reading levels this year and can read pretty much anything - don't pressure or it'll put them off, and don't be surprised if they don't want to, reading is still hard work at that age and they need a bit of a break!

Tfoot75 that’s MEGA reassuring!! I have been worried about putting them off.

paddingtonbear so good to hear. I keep being told the transition is worse than starting reception

beechview love the idea of following their lead. And more arts and crafts - that’s kind of what I love to, so is always easy for me to encourage!