Our very first day of the Smart Summer Challenge found us lazying around at home because Owen returned from swim and dive feeling really under the weather.
So while he caught up on some telly and gave his body a rest, Maddy, Cora, and I did some reading, puzzles, and organizing.
But before our plans hit the fan, we walked into the Smart Summer Challenge bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at breakfast time. We started our day with some fancy new words– a Word a Day, summer style.
Nothing nuts, crazy, or difficult–just a word a day from now until the end of the summer.
- A Word a Day: I know that tons of people do this, from classroom teachers to at-home parents, and in fact Roger Rosenblatt writes about how he does this with his grandchildren in his memoir (that I literally ugly-cried my way through), Making Toast.
I am too much of a planner to write a word on an index card every day, so I put mine in a document and added some pictures that will help my kids remember each word.
I‘m creating the word a day cards set 1 teachmama.comย in sets of 10-14 so that I can add relevant words for our family.ย I hope to include new and fun words that we encounter in our summer reading books, movies, shows, and life in general.
The first set of word a day cards set 1 teachmama.comย is here to download as a pdf if you’d like.
I printed these on cardstock–a mix of white, tan, and grey because that’s all we had left–and then I hole punched one corner.ย I connected them via a binder ring, and that’s it.
I used a bright blue ribbon to hang them right there in our kitchen so that our Word of the Day will be the first thing we tackle every morning–and something we revisit throughout the day.
I wanted to start with ‘aspire’ because the sentence I wrote dealt with summer reading, and I knew I wanted to begin some ‘official’ summer reading today. So at breakfast I said, Hey! Did anyone even notice our brand new, totally fancy wall hanging?
Our brand-new, totally fancy wall hanging: Word of the Day Cards
Owen glanced up from his Honey Nutters and said, I do! Hey! It’s right there.
I grabbed the cards and said, Yep. Here are our incredibly fancy Word a Day Cards. Each and every day this summer, we’re going to rock out a new word so our brains stay sharp and so we can ‘wow!’ our friends and family with our advanced vocabulary. How cool is that? You are so lucky to have a mom who cares so much about you.
Our first word is ‘aspire’. Anyone ever hear the word used before?
Maddy said, I do! My teacher aspired me to write a story this year.ย He gave me great ideas and helped me. That’s aspire.
I know your teacher did inspire you to write your book this past year, but can you hear the difference between the word I said and the word you said? Listen: [Maddy’s teacher] inspired you to write your book this year by teaching you strong writing skills and by helping you come up with a great idea.
Our word today is ‘aspire’.ย ‘Aspire’ means to have a strong desire to do something or attain something.ย You may aspire to be a doctor or a teacher or the President of the United States, or you may aspire to one day speak another language.ย Here’s a sentence to help make it more clear: I aspire to read at least 20 books this summer, and with hard work, I know I can do it.
Got it? Okay–now here’s the challenge: if you can find this word anywhere today–in a book, on tv, on a sign, anywhere–or if you use this word, you get an extra gem.ย Easy as pie.
Throughout the day we mentioned ‘aspire’--when we sat down to do some reading and I said, Remember, I aspire to be a busy reader this summer. I need help. Big-time. So let’s get started.
We also chatted ‘aspire’ when we were talking about what Maddy, Owen, and Cora aspired to be when they grow up. Maddy aspires to be in art school, Owen aspires to be a Mario Kart expert, and Cora aspires to have sparkly lip gloss and very long hair.ย Okay, so we can all dream, right?
Hello, Smart Summer Challenge Calendar—
with Post-It’s hiding our activities, it’s like a surprise every day to see what fun is to be had!
I did create a sheet–word of the day list–that I’ll hang on our fridge next to our top-secret Smart Summer Challenge Calendar. The A Word a Day: Words to Include is a list where anyone can write a word they want me to include in our next batch of word a day cards set 1 teachmama.com. Hopefully, since we’ve got huge Word Girl fans over here, they’ll add some and I can add some, and we’ll all be more invested in the end.
Want a little more? ย Click on the image for more word-consciousness fun!
And that’s it for day #1–Happy Smart Summer Word Learning!
Please join us for the Smart Summer Challenge, a six-week campaign where we all pledging to sneak in some sort of fun learning into our children’s summer days.
You can follow our calendar if you’d like, but you don’t have to.ย You can get really crazy, but you don’t have to do that either. It can be simple learning–even 5 or 10 minutes a day. Anything and everything counts.
Our goal is to show all parents that if we can do it, anyone can do it. And if we want our kids to do well in school and to enjoy learning about the world around them, we have to create a lifestyle of learning for our families. Join us!
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Head Ant
That’s a wonderful idea. My kids are almost four and five, yet they are growing such a big vocabulary. Every word out of their mouths amazes me.
amy
Thanks!! I’ve found same thing over here–so I hope by moving them through some great words, they’ll use them too!
Caterina
This is great!
Thanks,
Caterina
amy
thanks, Caterina! Let me know how it goes for you!
Callie Feyen
“…and Cora aspires to have sparkly lip gloss and really long hair.” LOVE this! I love that you introduce a concept but your children take it and make it their own. What a wonderful learning environment to be in!
We did our Summer Challenge over here, and I’m getting ready to blog about it so I can join the PAR-TAY! ๐ I’m just a little stressed about making sure I get the buttons, etc. on my post….I’m a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to stuff like that. But we are doing the summer challenge. ๐
amy
Callie–it’s a riot, itsn’t it? I can only do so much, but you’re right–the kids will (and do!) make it their own. Who knew that three kids being raised by the same parents, under the same roof could be so different?
Please, my friend–don’t stress about the buttons. Email me if you have any ?’s–happy to help!–and thanks for joining us!!
Hollie
I love the calendar – thank you so much for sharing the printables!
amy
you are so welcome. please join us in the challenge and let us know how it goes!
Sakina
Dear Amy,
I just love your idea of a word a day…what a spledid way to increase our children vocabulary and that to effortlessly. I however cannot download your file for the same. Have tried a number of time sbut it says tht file is damged.Can you please guide me on how i can get access to this file download. i would really like to start the same with my children.Awaiting your response.
Thanks
Sakina.
amy
Hi, Sakina! Thanks for the head’s up–always much appreciated! Here’s the direct link: http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/58827682?access_key=key-zor7v5u1928t4aj4ict
and if that doesn’t work (ack!) I’ll email you the file directly, my friend!
happy word learning!
chantell
i am so overwhelmed at where to start. My son is in first grade, daughter in kindergarten; and my 20 mth old won’t speak. I don’t know how to organize myself but so have the desire.
amy
Chantell–NO worries. Okay, you have the desire, and that’s the half of it! Since your 20 month old is home w/ you, why not start w/ that little one? Does he/she know colors? Play the color sorting game w/ lids to find out. How about his/her name? Hit teachmama.com for some name activities and start there! Numbers? Letters? Under ‘FAQ’ on this site, it gives you some areas to start –try that and let me know how it goes. And my oldest didn’t speak much AT ALL until she was 24 mos. . . .
At teacher conferences, ask your kids’ k and gd 2 teachers what they do well, and ask what areas they need help with. Then ask what you can do at home to help them. Does this give you a starting point?
Rani
Thanks so much for sharing your ideas. Love the down loads.
amy mascott
you are so welcome! thanks for reading!!
Pooja
hi Amy! my kids and i love this resource! thank you so much for all the work you put into this and for sharing! we have gone through the first and second set. Are you planning to create and share more sets? can’t wait ๐
amy mascott
you bet!! it’s in the works!! ๐
Tara
Thank you for this! My 3 year old is obsessed with new words and I was looking for help coming up with a word-a-day idea system- this is perfect!
Carrie
Hi there- I loved your first set of word of the day cards. Thank you! do you happen to have any additional sets that I could download? Weโve been doing a word at breakfast each morning, and I love the routine of it. Thanks so much.
amy mascott
working on them as i type!~