Have you ever tried the Summer Bridge Activities series for keeping your children focused on learning and their brains working during the summer months?
Before this summer, I had not. But I’m glad that the kind people at Carson-Dellosa Publishing asked if I’d be interested in trying one. I looked at the calendar today, and, being that it’s a Friday and we’re trying new things on Fridays this summer, I thought we’d take a look at it today.
- Summer Bridge Activity Book: I was given one for Maddy, and it is a level P-K. It is for students who will enter Kindergarten in the fall. As I’ve said before, Maddy loves this kind of learning activity, so when I told Maddy and Owen that today we’d be having some workbook fun today, they were more than excited.
We got comfy, with our drinks, a bunch of pens and markers, and Maddy and Owen’s workbooks. (Owen used one that we had, and Maddy used the new Summer Bridge one). We did a simple pre-reading activity that I always tell my students to do when they get a new book of any kind–we flipped through the pages, glanced at the pictures, and just tried to understand the layout of the book. I asked, What do you notice about the layout of your book, Maddy?
She said, It looks like there are places for me to write and color, and there are some beautiful pictures here. There are letter cards in the back–maybe like flashcards if we cut them–and lots of dinosaurs in the front! Mommy, I am going to learn about dinos in this one!
Maddy works on writing on a dinosaur page.
Maddy then wrote her name on first page of the book, and she got started. I pulled out a sheet of shiny star stickers, and for each page Maddy and Owen completed, they got one on their page. No matter the age, students love stickers!!She immediately was drawn to the ‘Triceratops’ on Day 1, and I told her the instructions said to trace the dotted lines. She did the first three rows, and turned the page. She zipped through Days 2-7, doing a little bit on each page. I wanted her to be engaged and interested, so if she didn’t feel like finishing a complete activity, I wasn’t worried.
She skipped ahead to page 40, where letter writing is introduced, and she began writing. She loved the number matches on pages 41 and 42, and when I told her that we were going to take a break and head up for a rest, she grabbed the book and ran upstairs. Woo-hoo! She liked it!!
Summer Bridge Series is pretty awesome because:
- the colors, pictures, and layout of the book are bright, easy, and engaging;
- it includes a Summer Reading List of books that students can read and then rate by coloring in stars;
- it has 3 Motivational Calendars that span 15 days so that kiddos can set goals and then watch as they approach meeting them;
- it includes reading, writing, math, and language skills exercises;
- it details ways that parents can “help [their] child learn” in different disciplines;
- there are sections for “Better Bodies” and “Better Behaviour” at the end;
- it includes letter and number flashcards and lots of areas for practicing letter and number writing;
- there’s an award certificate for little learners at the back of the book–how cool?
A Giveaway! And it’s easy to win!
Do you want to try 3 Free Summer Bridge Activities Workbooks of your choice?
Here’s how: leave a comment below and tell me one way you try to sneak in a tiny bit of learning in the summertime. What you’re already doing in combination with these workbooks from Summer Bridge just may be what it takes to get your learner ready for the fall!
(The contest ends Tuesday, June 30 at midnight, Eastern time. )
Disclaimer: The kind folks at Carson-Dellosa provided us with our workbook for free, but my opinion is my own and influenced only by the three cool kids I hang out with every day.