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    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
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smart summer challenge fun learning ideas: week 3

home / math / numbers / smart summer challenge fun learning ideas: week 3
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It’s almost week #3 of our Smart Summer Learning Challenge–the campaign we’ve created to let all parents know the important–and totally fun–role they play in their children’s summer learning!

Like I’ve said before, it doesn’t have to be a huge and complicated activity; it can be short, sweet, and meaningful–done in the span of a great game or read-aloud . . .

. . . and even if you missed week #1 and 2, it’s not too late to jump on board now.  With a calendar full of ideas and prizes every week, there’s no reason not to join us. And you know who really benefits from your participation? You got it–your kids!

 

Here are some ideas for week #3:

  • Dissect a flower
  • Combine flowers and food coloring for some kitchen science!
  • Make a picture with pieces of a flower
  • Create a sandbox village
  • Create a beautiful bouquet from the flowers you find and deliver them to someone special
  • Research what plants attract butterflies. Plant one in your garden.
  • Try to find at least five living creatures in your yard. Research one and teach someone about it
  • Stretch your senses and conduct a fragrance experiment
  • Read a book–or two or three–about butterflies or birds
  • Listen to backyard sounds and draw a picture to match
  • See how many alphabet letters are lurking in your yard
  • Write a story about a creature who lives out back–or in your neigborhood
  • Design your own flower garden–the one you’d plant if you had all the flowers and sunshine in the world!
  • Choose a number and make it into a picture using items from your yard
  • Play with numbers and make Backyard Number Boxes
  • Use sidewalk chalk to design unique, just-for-you hopscotch boards
  • Take a walk and keep count of all the blue cars, red cars, silver, and black cars you see
  • Make rubbings with textures from your yard
  • Create a time capsule and bury it in a secret place–but don’t forget to draw a map of your location!
  • Go on a rainbow hunt in your very own yard
  • Plant something–anything–and watch it grow!
  • Visit a science museum, arboretum, greenhouse, nursery, or farm
  • Pack a picnic lunch and eat it in a ‘new’ spot outside
  • Visit your local garden center–if you call ahead, they may give you a tour or teach you how to plant some flowers.
  • Have breakfast–or lunch or dinner–outside
  • Hold a lemonade stand

 

Remember, The Smart Summer Challenge is simple–it’s a challenge for all parents to pledge to incorporate at least one learning activity into their child’s day over the summer vacation.  That’s it.

The learning activity can be as simple as reading a book or as involved as packing up the crew and taking a hike.  It’s as involved as you want it to be, and our focus is to help parents realize the important role they play in helping their kids avoid the summer learning slump.

Here’s our calendar to print and hang on the fridge:
Smart Summer Challenge Calendar 2011
 

And if you are up for joining us in the Smart Summer Challenge–which we hope you are!–here’s what you can do:

  • Step 1: The first step is to “Like” the Smart Summer Challenge on Facebook, if you have an account. We’ll be using the FB page to share ideas, questions, and successes from challenge participants.
  • Step 2: If you are a blogger, we would love for you to grab our “Smart Summer Challenge” Badge for your sidebar and/or Smart Summer posts. Grab the code on the right sidebar!
  • Step 3: Each week, from June 27 through August 5, we will be posting daily activities on our blogs. We would love if you would blog along as often as you wish (even once a week is great!) and share what you are doing to keep the learning going over the summer.
  • Step 4: On Friday of each of the Smart Summer Challenge weeks, we will post a themed “linky” on our blogs where you can share your recent or archived posts. If you do not have a blog, please feel free to share your activities and pictures on the Smart Summer Challenge facebook page! We will highlight posts from participants on our blogs and on facebook.

We hope you will visit and comment on each other’s posts so we can all learn together!  You can find the Smart Summer Challenge linky each Friday here, on teachmama.com or on PinkAndGreenMama or NaturallyEducational.com.

Don’t forget to check out the we teach Summertime Learning eBook for even more cool summer learning ideas on we teach–you can download the whole thing for free and you’ll have a good 30 ideas!


Interested to know what kind of prizes we’re giving away to participants? Here are a few. . .

  • $100 to your local book shop or toy store of choice, thanks to Juice in the City
  • $150 to your local book shop or toy store of choice, thanks to Juice in the City
  • $150 to use at Rosie Hippo
  • $200 gift pack of LeapFrog products
  • $200 to use at Guidecraft
  • and more!

Looking forward to making this a Smart Summer for everyone–and for more ideas, visit my pals, Candace at NaturallyEducational.com and MaryLea at PinkAndGreenMama!

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About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro · http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

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Oh HEEEEEYYY, @luvvie — did you see that @littletroublemaker made our hallway bulletin board? 😉♥️

(It’s what Rusty the 🦊 is currently reading.) 

Find it at your favorite bookstore or order here: https://amzn.to/3Pu3tWs

(This is my affiliate link, so when you use it, I will earn a small percentage of the sale, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for using my link and supporting my small business!)

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Lately when I find four leaf clovers, I’ve been leaving them. 🍀🤷🏼‍♀️

So if you’re in Maryland, and you happen upon a lonely, little 4-leafer with very little grass, weeds, or leaves around it, I don’t know WHO tried to set you up for success.

#yougotthis #keepyoureyesopen #itsthelittlethings #kilpattyluck
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Okay—how do we know if someone has dyslexia? 

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▶️ Watch to find out. 

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True ✅ or false ❌?

#demystifyingdyslexia #dyslexiaeducation #readingteacher #raiseareader #teachreading
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What do you know about dyslexia? 

What questions do you have about dyslexia? 

For the next few weeks leading up to my own start to the school year I am sharing a new series called “De-Mystifying Dyslexia” and I would love for you to join me! 

Follow in my stories or on the highlight above!

#dyslexia #teading  #readingteacher #raiseareader #demystifyingdyslexia
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(Part 2) 

The series will be shared on IG stories, on tiktok, on the teachmama facebook page, and in the Take 5 newsletter. 

Look for the logo on social, and if you want to receive the whole thing via email, then sign up for Take5 on the link below. 

I’m really excited about this. It’s taken a long, long time to create, and the only thing I ask is that you, once viewing it all, could take 2 minutes to give me some feedback. There will be a google form on the last of the slides, at the end of the series. I thank you, I appreciate you, and I look forward to learning along with you.

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#raiseareader #demystifyingdyslexia #readingteacher teachersofIG dyslexia teachreading
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Hi and thank you for your interest in watching my ‘de-mystifying dyslexia’ series. 

My name is Amy Mascott, and I’m a reading specialist and former high school English teacher. I’m also the creator of teachmama.com  where since 2008, I’ve helped families make meaningful connections with their kids and build bridges between home and school. 

As an educator, I’m always trying to share important information—bc I really think that when we know better, we do better. This series is part of my final project for a course I’m taking through Advancement Courses called ‘understanding dyslexia’. 

And as a reading teacher, I need to know all I can about this condition. What I realized is that I had a lot to learn—maybe you, as a parent or teacher yourself, can also stand to learn a little bit. 

Maybe, like me, you’ve grown up thinking that dyslexia was a condition where people read letters backwards—b for d or p for g? Maybe you thought, like I did, that if a person was dyslexic, they saw all of the letters jumbled together on the page? I’m here to tell you that both of those things are untrue. 

So if you would like to learn a little about dyslexia—if you would like for me to ‘de-mystify dyslexia’ for you, then follow along! 

(Continued on next VIDEO)

#readingteacher #teachersofIG #demystifyingdyslexia

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Oh HEEEEEYYY, @luvvie — did you see that @littletroublemaker made our hallway bulletin board? 😉♥️

(It’s what Rusty the 🦊 is currently reading.) 

Find it at your favorite bookstore or order here: https://amzn.to/3Pu3tWs

(This is my affiliate link, so when you use it, I will earn a small percentage of the sale, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for using my link and supporting my small business!)

#readingteacher #raiseareader #kidlit #bestbooks #linkinbio
View
Open
How can people with dyslexia learn to read? 🤔

Here are the 3️⃣ elements that reading instruction should contain in order to be most effective for students with dyslexia—

#demystifyingdyslexia #raiseareader #readingteacher #teachreading #dyslexiaawareness
View
Open
Lately when I find four leaf clovers, I’ve been leaving them. 🍀🤷🏼‍♀️

So if you’re in Maryland, and you happen upon a lonely, little 4-leafer with very little grass, weeds, or leaves around it, I don’t know WHO tried to set you up for success.

#yougotthis #keepyoureyesopen #itsthelittlethings #kilpattyluck
View
Open
Okay—how do we know if someone has dyslexia? 

Which professionas are able to make that important determination? 

▶️ Watch to find out. 

Hit me with the questions you still have about dyslexia—and know we have a few more posts to go!

#demystifyingdyslexia #raiseareader #teachreading #readingteachersofig
View
Open
What are some of the common signs of dyslexia?

Watch to learn and find out!

#demystifyingdyslexia #readingteacher #raiseareader #teachreading #dyslexia
View
Open
True ✅ or false ❌?

#demystifyingdyslexia #dyslexiaeducation #readingteacher #raiseareader #teachreading
View
Open
What do you know about dyslexia? 

What questions do you have about dyslexia? 

For the next few weeks leading up to my own start to the school year I am sharing a new series called “De-Mystifying Dyslexia” and I would love for you to join me! 

Follow in my stories or on the highlight above!

#dyslexia #teading  #readingteacher #raiseareader #demystifyingdyslexia
View
Open
(Part 2) 

The series will be shared on IG stories, on tiktok, on the teachmama facebook page, and in the Take 5 newsletter. 

Look for the logo on social, and if you want to receive the whole thing via email, then sign up for Take5 on the link below. 

I’m really excited about this. It’s taken a long, long time to create, and the only thing I ask is that you, once viewing it all, could take 2 minutes to give me some feedback. There will be a google form on the last of the slides, at the end of the series. I thank you, I appreciate you, and I look forward to learning along with you.

Join the Take 5 list if you want this series to land in your inbox: 
https://take5.teachmama.com/

#raiseareader #demystifyingdyslexia #readingteacher teachersofIG dyslexia teachreading
View
Open
Hi and thank you for your interest in watching my ‘de-mystifying dyslexia’ series. 

My name is Amy Mascott, and I’m a reading specialist and former high school English teacher. I’m also the creator of teachmama.com  where since 2008, I’ve helped families make meaningful connections with their kids and build bridges between home and school. 

As an educator, I’m always trying to share important information—bc I really think that when we know better, we do better. This series is part of my final project for a course I’m taking through Advancement Courses called ‘understanding dyslexia’. 

And as a reading teacher, I need to know all I can about this condition. What I realized is that I had a lot to learn—maybe you, as a parent or teacher yourself, can also stand to learn a little bit. 

Maybe, like me, you’ve grown up thinking that dyslexia was a condition where people read letters backwards—b for d or p for g? Maybe you thought, like I did, that if a person was dyslexic, they saw all of the letters jumbled together on the page? I’m here to tell you that both of those things are untrue. 

So if you would like to learn a little about dyslexia—if you would like for me to ‘de-mystify dyslexia’ for you, then follow along! 

(Continued on next VIDEO)

#readingteacher #teachersofIG #demystifyingdyslexia

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