Learning Tools
Learning Tools
At Liberty Christian School we strive for academic excellence. Continual practice is the way to maintain skills in every area of life. Academics are no different. Research has shown that all young people experience learning losses when they don't engage in educational activities during the summer. If a child takes the summer off from academics, especially reading, then they have a 3 month achievement gap in comparison to those who practiced over the summer. By the end of 6th grade that equals 18 months of lost knowledge.
Joining a Summer Reading Program is a great way to encourage your child to read. Below are the links to three such programs.
Games are another great way to keep skills sharpened.
- Scrabble / Scrabble Jr. – works on spelling
- Monopoly/ Monopoly Jr – works on counting money
- Memory – works on recall and recognition
- Addition / Subtraction / Multiplication war – Use a deck of cards. Assign the Ace as 1, Jack as 11, Queen as 12, King as 13. (For younger players take out the Ace, J, Q, K) Shuffle the cards and then deal into 2 even piles. Each player turns over one card. The first one who tells the correct answer gets the cards. If there is a tie then whoever wins the next battle gets those cards as well.
- Practice in the real world with measuring for a project, counting money at the store, helping cook a treat for the family, or other activities as you go throughout the summer.
Computers, ipads, and cell phones can also be tools for maintaining skills. Here are just a few games, websites, and apps we have found that are great for mental workouts.
http://www.abc.net.au/countusin/default.htm Games designed to help children understand basic
http://www.visualfractions.com/ Games and information to help children understand fractions at various levels
http://www.funbrain.com/ Arcade style games in reading, math and some just for fun
http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com/elementary-math-games.html Printable and online games for grades K-7th
http://www.eduplace.com/tales/ Uses parts of speech to create funny stories (K-2nd w/ parent help, 3rd –5th can be more independent)
http://www.spellingcity.com/ Works on spelling and vocabulary
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/ Educational games for K-college
Apps (Some apps are free and some are not)
What Goes Together – Decide what 2 items go together and why
Memory King – Memory games
Subtraction!! - Works on column subtraction
TimeReading - Works on accuracy and fluency of reading
Operation Math - Speed drills on addition, subtraction, and multiplication
My Spelling Test - You can type in spelling words and they can test and practice them through the week.
Coins / Bills&Coins - Practice working with money
Telling Time Photo Touch Game – Practice telling time
Long Division Mathematics - Works on long division
Multiplication Training–Tag - Helps work on multiplication facts and has a statistics you can go on to see how your child is doing and were they need help or extra practice