Here are some suggestions for continued practice of reading and writing skills during the summer months:
Gifts That Promote Reading and Writing
- Books, both fiction and nonfiction (includes cookbooks, craft books, biographies, etc.)
- Magazine subscriptions
- Models that have written directions for assembling
Reading Activities
- Reading newspaper and magazine articles
- Reading recipes and cooking foods
Writing Activities
- Sending a card or letter to someone far away
- Writing family shopping lists (for groceries, presents, etc.)
Memorizing Activities
- Story retelling
- Songs
Games That Require Reading
- Trivia games
- Spelling/Vocabulary games
- Board games
Reading and Writing Activities Using the Newspaper
- Cut out words that belong to word families we have studied.
- Collect interesting pictures. Be ready to explain what they are about.
- Learn a new word every day. Tell what section of the newspaper it came from.
- Collect interesting news items.
- Collect interesting cartoons, and draw one of your own.
- If your newspaper has a puzzle page for students, try to work the puzzle.
- Look in the classified ad section. Find a job you would like to have. Try to figure out what the abbreviations in the ad stand for.
- Design a newspaper ad for your favorite consumer item.
- Pretend you have made an amazing discovery or invention. Write a newspaper article about yourself.
Other Ideas to Try
- Play a twenty questions game.
- Compare and contrast items at a store.
- Explain all the different things you can do with a variety of objects.
- Diaries
- Reading directions for making gifts
- Reading street signs and maps
- Writing thank-you letters for gifts
- Poems
- Plays
- Crossword puzzles
- Word searches
- Dictate a story to a friend or relative.
- Write clues for a treasure hunt.
