Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Washington, DC

5 Great Sites to Keep Kids Learning This Summer

by Leticia

June 23, 2009

With beautiful weather, camps, pool time, and vacations it can be hard to ensure that your school aged child is keeping up with their skills over the summer months.  It has been proven that academic progress made during the school year takes a major hit over the summer.  How can you keep your child learning over the summer to prevent this?  There are workbooks galore and academic camps but in case your child like the interaction of learning through multimedia websites, here are some of my favorite free and subscription websites that target academic skills:

DreamBox Learning- This K-2 site has gotten rave reviews from parents because it makes learning math fun through stories, interactive games, and more.  The site motivates children because constantly assesses their progress while they are playing so the are being challenged, but not to the point of frustration, as they complete 350 lessons built on the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards.  Children are also able to use virtual manipulatives that provide a hands-on component to make abstract math concepts more concrete for young learners.

OneMoreStory.com- One More Story is an online subscription story site that features a wonderful collection of stories that children can listen to while reading along. There are multicultural tales like Crow Boy classics by Ezra Jack Keats, and favorites like Pete’s a Pizza by William Steig, Stellaluna, and A House is a House for Me. As the books are being read, each word turns red to distinguish it from the rest of the text. This allows children to make the connection between the written and spoken word and therefore build their site word vocabulary. Seeing the same words in print over and over again embeds them in a child’s mind and allows them to be easily recognized which aids in fluency.

PBSKids Play- This subscription site is designed to help children ages 3 to 6 learn through interactive play to teach subjects like math, science, literacy, language development, creativity, healthy development, and social studies. All of the games and activities that are part of PBS Kids Play are designed to meet nationally recognized educational standards and benchmarks which ensures that the learning experiences that your children are getting through the site are recognized as learning benchmarks for their age and grade level.

Scholastic Summer Challenge- This summer Scholastic is looking for kids who love to talk, think and read to help children in need.  Once kids accept the free summer reading challenge, they take a fun quiz that sorts them into one of four color teams, joining other kids from across the country and the world to record their minutes spent reading, earn points for their team, play games and chat about books. Throughout the summer, kids will be learning about Save the Children's U.S. programs: Literacy, Early Steps for School Success, Emergency Relief and Nutrition/Physical Fitness. At summer’s end, Scholastic will make a financial contribution to the Save the Children foundation on behalf of all participating readers.

SmartyCard- This site features educational content from e-learning leaders such as Learnstar, Ignite, and Learning.com and gives kids ages 6-12 the opportunity to engage in fun and interactive online games, quizzes and lessons. SmartyCard’s learning activities have been correlated to state standards for education and provide real learning experiences that reinforce classroom instruction.  SmartyCard is perfect for older elementary students who need the motivation through an incentive system to keep up their skills.

Tuesday List: 100 Things to Do Before Kindergarten

by Leticia

January 27, 2009

As a mom of a child who will be a kindergartner this fall, the thought of kindergarten readiness can be daunting. As a former first grade teacher, I often think of the skills that my students entered my classroom with having learned or not learned in kindergarten. It is true that kindergarten is becoming increasingly academic but the chances are if you read to your child, talk to them about the  Read more...

Back to School Tips for the First Day and Beyond

by Leticia

September 02, 2008

There's nothing quite like the first day of school. The shiny floors, bulletin boards with everyone's name, cups of sharpened pencils, untouched boxes of crayons ready to be opened, and the excitement and nervousness of entering a brand new classroom. As a teacher, I love the first day of school. Friends with children who are about to start school often ask me how they can make sure their child  Read more...

Savvy Pick: Favorite Being Savvy Posts from Around the Country (Part 3)

by Leticia

August 02, 2008

Over the last 2 days I covered 16 cities around the country in Parts 1 and 2 of my favorite Being Savvy posts. Today I continue my virtual journey and also head to Canada to bring you my favorite posts written by my fellow Being Savvy City Editors. If you are looking for ways to spruce up your car's playlist with more adult music, check out Kim Tracey Prince's Sneaky DJ: Essential Summer  Read more...