If you have a child moving up to a new level next school year (Kindergarten, Primary, Intermediate, LMS, UMS, or High School), today’s blog post is for you! We know that there can sometimes be a little anxiety about “Stepping Up” to the next level, but rest assured that your student will be ready and so will you!
There are 2 things we highly recommend to everyone who will be Stepping Up to Kinder through UMS:
1. Attend the Step Up meeting scheduled for your child’s new level next week. Information about these meetings is in the weekly update, and may have been emailed from your teacher as well.
2. This summer, read your Field Guide for the level your student will be entering (available on the password-protected parent page of our website). We can’t stress this one enough! In fact, we strongly encourage ALL parents to read their Field Guides over the summer, whether your child is stepping up or not. They are packed with essential information for parents new to that level, and they are a wonderful refresher for those staying in the same level.
But today Down Home has a bonus for you as well – let’s hear from our Lead Teachers at each level, with some reassuring words and practical advice about how you and your student can best prepare to Step Up next year:
Kindergarten
The best preparation for next year is to let your kinder enjoy his summer with lots of outside play! Then, when you need some down time during the day, read aloud to your kinder. You may be surprised how much you and your child enjoy these moments! For mom and dad, I highly recommend reading The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. This is an easy summer read with SLOCA’s values intertwined throughout!
Primary
The best way to prepare for Primary is to first and foremost, enjoy your summer! Beyond that, read aloud the summer family read (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson), and anything else that interests your family and child. If your child is a reader encourage them to read to you. If your child is working on letter names and sounds, there are lots of simple games you can play with a quick google search. There are also lots of math card games you can play (again – a quick google search will provide a plethora!) to retain and strengthen number sense and basic math skills. We encourage as much learning through play as possible! We look forward to working with you in the fall!
Intermediate
All students can benefit from regular math fact practice over the summer! In Level 3 math, students will learn long division so it is really important that their multiplication skills are strong. Students are willing to practice more when they have fun, so consider using games for review. They will also go on to working with higher numbers so having their addition and subtraction skills down will be a boon as well.
Keep in mind that when students begin IEW at Level 3, we go very slowly and break it down nicely. However, if your student currently struggles with copy work, it would be really helpful to assign it periodically. Review spelling by providing dictation practice periodically too.
Students will have more to keep track of in Intermediate and that may be the biggest challenge for some students. You may want to develop some little routine around organizing that can spill right over into next year when they will have different sections in their binder (BOB) for their various work assignments.
If you want to try one or two writing activities over the summer, see the last few assignments in First Language Lessons regarding ordering your thoughts from an event. Students will put their thoughts in order and practice writing it into a short and informal composition. This will be a nice segue to the written narrative that follows our history readings.
They greatest gift you can give your child this summer, is time on the sofa, or on a blanket on the lawn with a great book at hand. In the summer at my house we try to do an all family Read-Aloud and this is a great way to wind up our time in the evening together. Have your child read aloud to you too!
Summer goes by so fast – so don't load yourself up with too much pressure about how to prepare for the upcoming year. It is our goal to make the transition as smooth as possible. If you read your Field Guide, you will see that there is a wide range of what is considered acceptable when assignments are due. So I do encourage you to be sure to get plenty of play time and down time in as well!
Lower Middle School
Keep up the writing skills by encouraging your child to write in a journal over the summer. Have them practice informal writing, and also practice their narration skills on anything they do, learn or read. (Summary of a book read, highlights of a vacation or camping trip). Require children to proofread their writing, and encourage them to include dress-ups as they write… but with no pressure!
Continue to have your child recite and practice the grammar definitions they have memorized including the list of prepositions. Play mad libs on a family trip to practice parts of speech. Can those words be dress-ups??
Math facts! Coming into Level 5 with mastery of multiplication facts will be a huge help!! On a road trip, practice mental math by asking your child to visualize and solve a problem in their head (example: start with 100, divide by 2, add 6, and divide by 8…what is the answer?).
READ READ READ!! Encourage independent reading, but continue with the tradition of a family read-aloud.
There's lots to look forward to in LMS, so please make sure to read the LMS Field Guide and attend the Step Up Meeting to learn more our LMS program!
Upper Middle School
The best preparation for UMS is to relax and enjoy your summer break with friends and family! Be sure to continue reading on a regular basis. I encourage you to continue (or begin) family read-alouds and if you have younger siblings, begin to read regularly to them. While each family will obviously have a different amount of free time over the summer, remember to continue learning together. Semper Discentes!
High School
Thank you, teachers! Notice the common themes of reading and relaxing… take these to heart this summer! It’s going to be great to Step Up.
