Keep Budding Skills Strong During Winter Break
Winter break isn’t different, just shorter. :)
We all know that the holiday season is a time when things get hectic as we add many exciting activities into our days. The winter break from school is a welcome relief for our children and us.
But please remember, just like during summer break, your kiddos need to practice their reading, writing and spelling skills during winter break. If they don’t practice, their skills can slip, especially if they struggle with reading, writing and spelling. I don’t want any of them to begin a new year feeling like they’ve lost ground.
Winter break does give us the opportunity to introduce different subjects as they practice their skills.
Here are a few ideas:
1. Have your children write and draw about your family’s holiday traditions and where they came from. Interviewing you, their grandparents, their aunts and their uncles will open up your children’s eyes about family traditions and why they are important to your family. Interviewing requires them to use all their skills as they speak clearly, take notes and write stories. Plus, interviewing loved ones strengthens family ties.
2. If you are traveling for Christmas, it’s the perfect opportunity to explore new places. Research with you children where you are going, how long it will take to get there, how many miles you will be traveling, what the weather is like where you’re going and how winter holidays are celebrated there. These activities offer lots of opportunities to write and draw.
3. Another fun exploration is researching holiday customs in other parts of the world. For instance, in Australia Christmas is in the middle of summer. How different are their customs?
4. Cooking and baking is a great way to write, draw and practice skills. Children have to read recipes and use their decoding skills on any words that are unfamiliar. They will learn new vocabulary and practice measuring.
Holiday baking is filled with some wonderfully tasty and aromatic spices. Explore where cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves come from.
A VERY fun exploration is researching what is happening when something is baking or cooking. How does that blob of cookie dough turn into that flat cookie you want to eat? They can watch with you through the window of the oven and document what is happening by drawing and writing. What happens if you don’t bake it long enough or if you bake it too long is another fun exploration.
5. And of course, it’s very important to take a half hour or more each day to reread their work from the first part of the school year. This keeps everything fresh in their minds and ready for January.
Perfect times to reread their past work are:
o Traveling - there’s lots of down time.
o During the 12-14 minutes it takes for cookies to bake.
o While they are eating a warm cookie and waiting for the next batch to bake.
o During those last sweet moments before you tuck them into bed.
o I know you have many other perfect times.
My strong, heart-felt encouragement – please don’t let your kiddos’ skills fall back during winter break, especially if they have been struggling. Plan your explorations and practice with them before the winter break begins. With your plans in place, their practice and explorations won’t slip to the sidelines. They have to practice daily in order to keep their budding skills strong.
If you have further questions about winter break activities, feel free to contact us.