Keep Your Children On Track This Summer

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The school year is coming to an end, but instead of sports days and celebrations, things just seem to be fizzling out. We have been faced with huge and unprecedented disruption in children’s education in the past few months, which is leaving many parents worried about their child’s progress – especially for parents of children in exam years or for children right at the beginning, in Reception and KS1, where development is key.

Firstly, all children have had this setback in their learning, so it is something schools and teachers will accommodate and be aware of when everyone goes back to school in September. However, to keep learning development going and to stay on track over the summer, there are things that you can to in order to help your child progress:

  • Read. Keep reading to your children! Or let them listen to audio-books as they follow along with the book– the more language they are exposed to, the more their reading will develop.

  • Be consistent. I always tell the children that I teach to  practice every day – while this can seem daunting, it is much better to do 10 minutes of Maths a few days a week, instead of trying to do everything all on one day. Routine is key, and making a timetable really helps.

  • Play games – There are thousands of fantastic apps and online games out there such as Doodle Maths and Karate Cats (loads of great ones are listed here: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/mar/29/learning-apps-for-stir-crazy-kids-while-schools-are-closed)

  • Analogue Games - If you have the time and energy, playing games that promote learning and use kinesthetic skills can really help.

Building a clock. You can easily create a clock with a paper plate and a split pin – this is a tried and tested way of practicing telling the time. For older children try dividing up each 5 min gap into minutes to help them practice precision.

Build shapes. Building for Maths can really help cement knowledge, and printing out net shapes online like pyramids, and building them with your child can be a great activity. This also helps revise 3D shapes.

Story Cubes – Rory’s Story Cubes are like dice that you roll to inspire ideas for stories. But you can also make your own by printing out a cube template and putting your own story ideas on the cubes. Your child can write their story down, or simply tell it out loud. This helps develop imaginative and creative skills too.

  • TWINKL – Twinkl is a fantastic and endless resource of educational activities and learning materials. Teachers and schools have subscriptions, but they have launched a free ‘home learning hub’ for parents, and it is crammed with fantastic resources and fun ideas to keep your children learning: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/home-learning-hub

  • Online Classes – join our online classes! We have had to adapt how we teach over the last few months here at Hyde Tutoring, and have launched online group classes. These have been a huge success and really enjoyable for the kids who get to see their peers online. Our classes will be continuing over the summer.

Finally, relax! Whilst this is a really challenging time for everyone and worries about educational development can be really overwhelming, it’s important to take time to have fun and relax over the summer so that your children can return to school in September refreshed and ready to get going again.