Great Summer Reading List for Colorado Elementary School Students

The summer is a great time for your students to relax, but all that downtime can result in a phenomenon called the summer slide. Studies show that students lose up to 20% of the academic gains they made in the previous year.

Encouraging reading is a great gift to give your students. They will sail through all those high school and college texts and with every book, they are learning new facts and improving their reading, writing, comprehension and communication skills while expanding their vocabulary. Help your student to get ahead this summer with these enthralling reads.

Poop by Nicola Davies, 2007. A wonderful fecal adventure through the many ways in which animals poop. This is a fun, engaging, scientific exploration of the animal kingdom through the same fart-joke humor your students no doubt already enjoy.

The invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (2007). Hugo is an exceptional boy who can fix just about anything. Orphaned at a young age, Hugo finds an ‘automaton’ built by his father who shared his inventive spirit. Hugo is sure that if he is able to repair the robot, it will write a message from his father. This is a wonderful book about the incredible bravery and indomitable spirit of youth. Don’t be surprised if they can’t put this book down!

Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary (1992). Ramona has an entire series of books that deal with the inevitable conflicts of young life. In this novel, Susan’s bouncy curls prove irresistible to Ramona who can’t help but pull on them.

Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez (2003). This is a gripping recount of how the son of migrant farmers leads a 300-mile march for worker’s rights. It’s a truly touching tale that explores the real bravery and incredible resolve of one of the greatest champions of non-violent protests. A great way to learn about a pivotal historic figure.

Molly Moon’s Incredible Book of Hypnotism by Georgia Byng (2004). Molly’s rather dull existence is transformed by the discovery in her local library of a book that teaches her how to hypnotise. She leverages her new-found talents to get the life she’s always wanted until her efforts are thwarted by a criminal mastermind. If your children love Roald Dahl or J.K. Rowling, then they will love this book.

Dogku by Andrew Clements (2007) is a great way to introduce your students to the haiku. This is a sweet story about a stray dog who finds a loving home. Each page is written in a haiku format and beautifully illustrated.

Atomic Ace (He’s Just My Dad) by Albert Whitman (2004). A truly funny tale of how superhero Atomic Ace deals with family life. Great comic book-style illustrations give the book a hybrid feel and make this a great choice for the visual student who may be a reluctant reader.

Don’t let learning take a vacation this summer! Get all your favorite stories at your library and encourage your students to participate in the library activities.

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How to Come Up with a Great Science Fair Idea

A successful science fair project can do wonders for your grade point averages and can even catapult you to stardom in the way that it has for some of our young entrepreneurs. The biggest hurdle for science fair projects is coming up with an original idea. Once you have your idea, you will follow the scientific method for determining the outcome.

What is the scientific method?

A good place to start is to examine the scientific method itself so you can understand where you’re headed.

• Step 1: Based on something you have observed, formulate your question.
• Step 2: Predict the answer you think most likely and formulate this as a hypothesis.
• Step 3: Create an experiment that will show whether your answer (hypothesis) is true or false.
• Step 4: Analyse the results of your experiment and decide if your hypothesis is valid or invalid.

Let’s look at an example: If I observe that the plants in my room grow better than plants in the rest of the house, I can ask the question: “Why do the plants in my room grow better than the plants in other rooms of my house?”

I then formulate an answer or hypothesis: “The plants in my room grow better because I play music in my room.”

Now you design an experiment to test your hypothesis. This will involve two plants who have exactly the same growing conditions where one is exposed to music while the other one is not. You will record their growth rates over the stipulated period.

Analysis of the data should lead you to confirm or reject your hypothesis.

If you have time, you can do further experimentation. For example, you can test whether different kinds of music have different effects on plants.

Formulating a hypothesis

Once you understand the scientific method, you can see how easy it is to ask questions about anything in the world around you. Start by thinking about your favorite hobbies and interests; is there a question you can ask about these? You will be spending a lot of time with your science fair project, so it may as well be about something you like.

Look online: Sure, we know that you want an original idea, but looking at other science fair projects can really inspire you. Perhaps you will look at the experiment above and decide to test whether tap water or boiled water will help plants to grow better, or maybe you will want to test whether yelling at plants or complimenting them has an effect on their growth. You can take an existing experiment and put your own spin on it.

Start thinking about your science fair project now so that you have tons of time to come up with a great idea. Remember that science fair projects are only as great as the original question. Here are some resources that offer ideas for science fair projects. Use these to get inspiration for your original science fair project idea.

Science Buddies

Education.com

Science Bob

Science Kids

Buzzfeed

Scholastic

All Science Fair Projects

How to Teach Sequencing Skills at Home

Parents know that every waking moment for a child is a moment to teach them something new or help them develop a skill. But who knew you could easily incorporate a sequencing lesson during that bedtime story, cooking those Sunday morning pancakes or doing those weekly chores?

Sequencing — putting events, ideas, objects, places and even people in logical order — is an essential skill for children to learn. We all organize our busy daily lives with sequencing and understand our roles and places in groups through sequencing. Sequencing seems simple, but it’s one of those “higher-order thinking skills,” as we teachers say. Learners use sequencing as they apply steps to solve a math problem;it’s also necessary for reading comprehension and required for good writing.

Here are a few ideas you can try at home to help your kids understand sequencing.

1. Fiction sequencing. It’s helpful when reading to youngsters to stop occasionally — careful not to overdo it — and talk for a few moments about what you’ve read. Pretend you’re not too bright and ask questions. “I forget. What happened before Cinderella went to the ball? Afterward?”

2. Nonfiction sequencing. This is especially important for subjects like history. There’s more brain power involved in knowing the chronological order of the presidents than you’d think.Sequencing helps kids put history in context.

3. Kitchen sequencing. Recipes are nothing more than sequencing steps, although it’s especially nice that they result in something yummy. Read a recipe together, and then ask your kids to help you create something tasty. “What should we do next?”

4. Chores sequencing. When you’re washing the car together, figure out the best order to accomplish it. Top to bottom? Wheels first? Windows? What should come first? Then what? Why?

5. Hobby sequencing. Have your kids explain how they maintain their favorite hobbies. How do they paint those landscapes? Build those model spaceships? Create those online videos? If you can understand the process, they’re doing a good job of sequencing.

6. Sports sequencing. Explaining a sport — not to mention playing it — requires sequencing skills. Ask about the rules for just about any sport, and you’ll begin a conversation that involves sequencing.

7. Family history sequencing. Ancestry is family sequencing, and family trees are the very definition of sequencing in picture form. Tell your family history, or learn it together, and draw your family’s ancestry tree. Plus, you’ll learn so many good stories as you talk to your older relatives and hear their stories.

8. Direction sequencing. Ask your kids to give you directions to their best friend’s house, how to get from their homeroom to the cafeteria in their school or where to find a hidden treasure in the back yard. (“First you go to the big fir tree. Then you take seven steps to the left. After that, you turn right and head to the swing set. Finally, look next to the left rear leg of the swings.”)

9. Homework sequencing. Together, figure out the most effective sequence of homework time. “Math can be difficult, so I’ll start with that. The book report is due next week; have I read today’s chapter? Do I have all my supplies nearby?”

10. Prediction sequencing. This can be fun when you’re discussing a book you’re reading together, a movie you’re watching or a TV series the family is following. “What’s going to happen next? Then what? Why do you think so?”

For some kids, I find it helpful to write the steps of a process on flash cards. Decorate the flash cards, shuffle them and then put them in order. No reason why sequencing can’t be fun, right?