Tips from the Trenches-Preventing Summer Brain Drain

Summer is finally in full swing, and you’ve seen the reports: students lose more than two months of knowledge during the summer. This phenomena, otherwise known as “brain drain,” is a formidable foe. Here are some tips from local teachers to help your child keep that hard-fought-for knowledge.

Libby Chichester, elementary teacher in Kearney, MO

• Get a library card for your child; go to the library at least once a week. Check out the summer reading programs; they give free books as rewards. Libraries also have some good programs (usually once a week) for different age groups.
• Cook with your child using a recipe. Go online to find kid-friendly recipes. This activity encourages math skills, like fractions, measuring and time and temperature, as well as great comprehension skills, like following multi-step directions. You can go as simple as making Kool-Aid popsicles or as involved as crafting a birthday cake.
• Make a simple puppet theater with sock puppets and put on a performance of a well-loved story, fairy tale or even a favorite movie. This encourages retelling comprehension. Making the puppet theater and puppets together also covers a multitude of skills. First, sit down together and develop a list of the supplies you will need to make your theater. I use one of those Tri-Fold presentation boards. Cut out a square in the middle section. Decorate with paints, markers—use your imagination. Tape a small hand towel or scrap of cloth over the opening. For puppets use wiggle eyes, scraps, socks, felt, markers, etc. Practice your play and perform for neighborhood friends, relatives or each other. This is great on a rainy day or an extra hot day.

Cheryl Hodge, middle school teacher in Kearney, MO 

• Encourage your child to read throughout the summer. The library’s summer reading program can be a good motivator/incentive.
• Play board games with your child. That is a sneaky, but fun way to practice language and often math skills.

Kimberly Brownlee, high school teacher in Liberty, MO 

• Have children help research, plan and prepare a family trip. This can include calculating expenses for the trip, reading about the geography and climate of the region, exploring information on attractions and activities, and making calls to arrange lodging and activities
• Read a new or classic novel with your child. Talk about the characters, plot, setting. What makes it worth reading? What can you learn from it? (Consider books from college reading or Advanced Placement lists for older children) 
• Explore local art museums, history museums and children’s museums, but do so with intention. Where did the exhibits come from? Why are they worthy of display? What part of our culture do they represent? What message do they have for us today? 
• Open a savings account for your child, and allow her to earn money and track its growth.
• When going to an amusement park, pay attention to the different cultures represented, to the physics of the roller coasters, to the way the park planners incorporated the structures into the existing geography.

For more ideas, Discover our Secretly Educational Outings in KC to help pull the plug on summer brain drain.

Jennifer Higgins is a freelance writer and teacher from Kearney.