Addressing Summer Loss: Fun and adventure keeps kids excited about learning during the summer break
Kids learn throughout the year, but when summer time approaches, they’re excited to ditch their books and leave classrooms behind. Does that mean that, for the next several weeks, they should also forget about learning? Well, probably not a good idea! Completely “unplugging” from learning makes it harder for them when it’s time to get back to school, and it can result in Summer Loss. Summer programs in Gaithersburg, MD help balance fun and adventure with ongoing learning.
Why Keep Kids Engaged with Learning
Summer Loss, also known as “summer slide” and “summer setback”, is real, and dates to over a century or more. It refers to a phenomenon where kids lose some academic skills during school breaks. After a year in school, focusing mainly on academic activities, however, kids certainly deserve a break. Most children look forward to that much deserved interval in the spring and summer.
But research suggests that, if left fully unplugged, more than half (52%) of the students between grades one and six will experience summer learning loss. Thankfully, there is a way to address summer loss, that educators and children’s learning specialists at our Gaithersburg, MD summer programs know well. It comes in the form of summer programs wrapped in fun and adventure – but which also have a tinge of continued learning.
Secrets to Stemming Summer Loss
Academic skills and competencies, like reading, math and science, come from continual exposure to subject matter aimed at developing them. During holidays, however, kids tend to disengage from regular academic activities. Over that time, they are most likely to forget what they’ve learned. Gaithersburg preschools have designed programs that help reduce the impact of that loss.
Some of the characteristics of those programs include:
- Safety in Fun: Primarily, kids in these programs have fun in a safe, supervised and friendly environment
- Staying Fit: Summer programs in Gaithersburg, MD are based on curriculums that have many more fitness-focused elements than the usual schooling curriculum
- Being Creative: Summer breaks are a great way to encourage children to experience new creative skills by exploring things they typically don’t during regular in-class sessions
- Being Outdoors: Outdoor activities, such as nature walks, participating in summer camp programs, hiking and field sports, are great to strengthen kids’ bodies. But they’re also a great way to develop their minds, which enables greater academic pursuits too
- Networking and Social Skills: Many summer program activities bring students from diverse backgrounds, ages, and abilities together. This offers much broader networking and social interaction to students – more so than they have inside classrooms or during school-year recesses and break times
Reinvigorated and Refreshed
A well-structured and successful summer/spring break can leave young children refreshed and reinvigorated to face the remainder of the school year. Gaithersburg, MD summer programs offer kids the opportunity to develop mind and body beyond the regular school programs. It helps them remain in touch with many of the academic pursuits of the previous months, and includes fun activities like group sports, swimming, field trips and much more. With learning made even more fun in the holidays, it’s unlikely that children will suffer too much Summer Slide!
