Athlos Summer Learning Challenge

“Another year gone! What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are a little fuller than they were…you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts!”-Albus Dumbledore

-JK Rowling

We know summer is for fun, but we hope our students will not follow Dumbledore’s advice and return with “empty heads.” We hope our students will stay engaged with learning and discover new interests to share with classmates and teachers next year.  To help, here is a fun schedule to keep you learning, exploring and having fun! “Lessons” should be no longer than 20 minutes. Below are ideas and resources.

Athlos Summer Schedule

Monday

• Warm up activity: *Read for 20 minutes
• Lesson: Math
• Theme: Lazy Monday

Tuesday

• Warm up activity: *Read for 20 minutes
• Lesson: Science
• Theme: Take a Trip Tuesday

Wednesday

• Warm up activity: *Read for 20 minutes
• Lesson: Athletics
• Theme: What’s Cooking Wednesday

Thursday

• Warm up activity: *Read for 20 minutes
• Lesson: Art
• Theme: Try a Craft Thursday

Friday

• Warm up activity: *Read or 20 minutes
• Lesson: Writing
• Theme: Fun Friday!

Theme Ideas:

• Lazy Monday: Watch a movie, play in the backyard, do something simple and take it easy!
• Take a Trip Tuesday: Go out and explore! Walk your neighborhood; go on a hike or a bike ride, go to a park, or a museum. Learn something new about where you live!
• What’s Cooking Wednesday: Cook something new today
• Try a Craft Thursday: Make your own playdough or slime. Try finger painting or a new way to paint.
• Fun Friday: Do something fun-anything!

Ideas for reading:

• Go to the library or sign up online for the summer reading program-https://www.slcolibrary.org/summer-reading/srp
• Talk enthusiastically about books you’re reading. Research shows that one of the greatest indicators or children’s literacy success is having role models and guardians who show they value reading.

• https://www.readworks.org/summer-reading
• https://thecraftingchicks.com/read-a-thon-bingo-at-home/
• Library Scavenger Hunt (found on planningplaytime.com)
• 100 books of summer (found on momgenerations.com)
• Visit your local library, they have reading lists based on age and genres
• com has lots of reading resources, you do have to sign up for their newsletters to access them.
• PBS Kids-http://pbskids.org/
• ABCya-http://www.abcya.com/lightbot.htm
• Enchanted Learning-http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/colorado/
• Word Wall-https://wordwall.net/community
• Epic!-https://www.getepic.com/
• Madlibs-http://www.funbrain.com/
• Newsela-https://newsela.com/
• Check out this link to free decodables and keep kids reading: https://literacylearn.com/free-decodable-readers/ or https://portal.flyleafpublishing.com/instructional-resources/?fbclid=IwAR2JDg64M48s_z8MfHaAEQ4mIWolEeA2Y-im0KHTCMtrRVZQ6JnuSB369jw or Fly Lead Publishing-Free Decodables https://portal.flyleafpublishing.com/learners-resources/

Find Book Levels

• • http://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.aspx
  • http://www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/
  • Rev created free Grade Level Must-Read summer book lists and challenges. There is also a blog for parents about inspiring summer reading. https://readingrev.com/blog/

• It’s not all about books! Have your child read and write recipes, scavenger hunts, treasure maps, “how-to” articles, travel brochures, song lyrics, game directions… the list goes on and on. Create a literate environment! Place interesting reading material everywhere.

Ideas for Math:

• com (K-8 Printables)
• Fun math games to play outside (found on lookwerelearning.com)
• 50+ fun and simple summer math activities (found on mathgeekmama.com)
• Math Scavenger Hunt (found on leanincolor.com)

Ideas for Science:

• Magic Milk Science Experiment (found on littlebinsforlittlehands.com)
• 12 science experiments for kids (found on cafemom.com)
• Storm in a Jar (found on growingajeweledrose.com)
• Water fireworks (found on craftingchicks.com)
• Popsicle Stick Catapults (found on littlebinsforlittlehands.com)
• Create your own Geodes (found on dollarstroecrafts.com

Ideas for Writing:

• Summer Writing topics for kids (found on mothersniche.com)
• 30 day summer writing challenge for students (found on kirstenskaboodle.com)
• Mad Libs
• Keep a summer journal
• Write a daily observation
• Make sure they have a quiet space to practice writing…plus a journal and cool tools, chalkboard and chalk, whiteboard and markers, and magnetic letters. Play Hangman, Scrabble, etc.
• A few ideas for writing (depending on the grade level): have a topic jar to choose from letting them create it if possible, create lists/ itinerary for a Summer trip, write weekly shopping lists, and write snail mail and send them to friends and family, write an email to a grandparent, write a book review for the Public Library.

Ideas for Lazy Monday

• Lounge in a hammock
• Have indoor smore’s
• Campout in your backyard
• Make a blanket fort
• Explore your backyard
• Have a picnic
• Read a book outside
• Birdwatch
• Engage in conversations with your kids. Expose them to vocabulary in a natural and organic way.
• Tell the oral folk tales of your native country, in your native language, as bedtime stories, or tell them funny stories about your own childhood. They love hearing stories about their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles from childhood. And they acquire a bit of background knowledge about how life and the world were different and how it has changed.

Ideas for Take a Trip Tuesday:

Ideas for What’s Cooking Wednesday

• • • Make Ice cream in a bag
    • Make astronaut ice cream (found on teachbesideme.com)
    • Try a new no-bake recipe
    • Have a Disney day-watch a movie and have a Disney inspired meal (found on movienightsathome.com)
    • 28 recipes kids can make themselves (found on merakilane.com)

Ideas for Try a Craft Thursday/Art

• • • Paint 4^th of July Stars (can purchase wooden stars at the Wood Connection)
    • Make Tie Dye shirts
    • Paint and Hide rocks around your neighborhood for neighbors to find
    • String painting
    • Cardboard and string art
    • Make friendship bracelets
    • Sharpie Crafts (found on DIYCRAFTS.com)

Ideas for Fun Friday

• • • Do a slip-n-slide
    • Do a service project
    • Go to a Bee’s Game
    • Visit the Olympic Park (Park City)
    • Find the murals in Salt Lake City

Other ideas:

https://hip2save.com/tips/dollar-tree-diy-summer-activity-ideas/

Musuems: * indicate free admission

• • Utah Museum of Fine Arts (University of Utah)
  • Red Butte Gardens
  • Utah Museum of Contemporary Art
  • Natural History Museum of Utah
  • Museum of Natural Curiosity (Thanksgiving Point)
  • The Leonardo
  • Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Arts*
  • Fort Douglas Military Museum*
  • Rio Grande Depot Museum
  • Utah Sports Hall of Fame Museum*
  • Petroliana Museum (Provo)
  • BYU Museum of Art*
  • BYU’s Museum of People and Cultures*
  • Museum of Ancient Life (Thanksgiving Point)
  • Butterfly Biosphere (Thanksgiving Point)
  • Hutchings Museum (Lehi)
  • Roots of Knowledge (UVU), can take a virtual tour as well