It’s week #6 of our Smart Summer Learning Challenge, and it’s our biggest and baddest week of the campaign!
We’ve got prizes galore this week, and the focus this week is Space Week–Out of this World Week–but like the last few weeks, anything parents do to show how important–and totally fun–summer learning can be is game!
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 the previous weeks, it’s not too late to jump on board now.
With a calendar full of ideas and prizes, 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 #6, Out of this World Week:
- Write a poem about an astronaut’s travel. Act it out.
- Try some Reader’s Theater with your kids!
- Take your Reader’s Theater a step further and make it a podcast!
- Make a Pinterest Board with space-related photos you find online
- Create a space ship out of a paper roll.
- Examine the NASA site for information on the last space shuttle mission
- Use styrofoam balls to make a planet mobile
- Go stargazing at night and identify constellations.
- Use Google Sky and learn about what constellations are close to you
- Create your own constellations using glitter and black construction paper
- Read about how constellations got their names
- Show the phases of the moon in cookies.
- Learn about the phases of the moon
- Play phases of the moon games
- Check out tons of moon activities (including phases of moon in cookies, and more!)
- Visit a local planetarium or observatory.
- Take a minute to learn about noted Women in Planetary Science
- Have an at-home field trip on NASA’s 3D site
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!
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!
