Tag Archive | flashcards

Summertime

Jun30
Photo by Juan Salamanca on Pexels.com

Ah! It’s summer, one of my favorite season of the year. You can enjoy all of the outdoor activities and soak up the sun. But, what about school? Do you close the books and not look at anything again until the week before school begins? If you do, I’d like to propose an idea to consider. Those academic skills and concepts that your student learned this past year need a bit of review in order for them to become solidified. There is evidence that shows that there is such a thing as Summer Slump. So, instead of being frustrated at the beginning of the school year with blank stares when you ask a question that they knew in May, do a bit of reviewing each week. I’d even dare to say, every day. Here are some ideas to keep those brains active:

Summer Reading Programs- Join the library reading program or create your own. It’s not bribing, it’s incentivizing. 🙂 This is crucial to be reading daily for new readers and those who struggle. Also, grab a book and read too. Modeling shows your child the importance of reading.

Writing- Have a question of the day written in a small notebook. Leave it on your child’s pillow at bed time and allow them to answer it before they go to sleep. I set a timer of 10 minutes for lights out. You can also put it by their plate in the morning or in a favorite spot. My kids were encouraged to ask me a question and leave it on my pillow or my desk. It was fun to see what they were going to ask me. Sometimes they were silly questions, but other times they were insightful. Some questions to ask: What is your favorite animal/ why? If you could travel anywhere, where would you choose/ why? What is your favorite: snack/ meal/ restaurant?

Beginning writers/ readers- Give your child sticky notes and let them label things around the house. There’s just something about getting to do an activity that is not typically allowed that causes kids to be willing to try it. You can also use this same idea and you write simple words in places throughout the room (or house) for your child to read.

Cooking- What a great way to have practical application of fractions, measuring, following directions, adding, calculating time, discussing nutrition, etc. Start with dessert because if something goes awry, dinner won’t be ruined. I once added 1 1/2 cups of water to the brownie mix when I first began baking- whoops!

Math Facts Review- Yep, it’s important to be able to know those addition/ subtraction, multiplication/division facts without having to think about it. This knowledge helps a student to quickly calculate difficult problems, leads to fewer mistakes, and takes less time. Does it have to be flash cards and worksheets of 50 problems? No, there are other ways to make it more engaging. Your student can play online games. Check out this website for lots of great places for your children to use. Always check out the sites yourself before allowing your student access. https://www.differentiatedteaching.com/math-fact-games/

If you are limiting your child’s time on electronic devices you can make up your own games. For instance:

Concentration- Use flashcards that have the problem on one card and the answer on the other card. Shuffle the cards and create rows with all of the flashcards facing down so you can not see the problem or answer. Take turns by choosing two cards and turning them face up. If it is a match, then you keep it and continue until you miss. The person with the most matches wins. Free flashcards-Teachers Pay Teachers has free and others you must pay.

Go Fish with Flashcards- Deal just the problem cards to players and the “pond” will have the answers.

Twister- Use the Twister game and attach index cards to the colored dots with the answers . You call out the problem (11-5) and the kids have to find the dot with the 6 on it. You will need several problems with that answer to extend the time of the game. You can use this for phonics too. Place vowels on the colored dots and say words with short vowels. (cap, cup, dab, dub, bud, bid, bed, bad, etc.)

Have fun!

~Lisa~

Online Study Helps

Aug8

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Did you know that if you wish for something to go from short term memory to long term memory that you need to practice, practice, practice? Think back to when you first started to learn something, whether that was learning to tie your shoes, type, or learn a skill such as cooking, it took repeated times before it became “automatic”.

I remember the first homemade spaghetti dinner I made for my husband included Italian breadsticks. I hadn’t worked with yeast before so I didn’t know what the bread should look like when it was ready. I followed the directions and let it “rise”. After the prescribed time I took the dough out of the bowl, and began making the bread sticks. For some reason the dough still looked to be the same height as when I had originally begun. As I put them in the oven I thought maybe they would rise a little more from the heat. Well…when they came out of the oven they looked the same as before they went in, but since I was a new baker I thought that was what they were supposed to do. I proudly laid the breadsticks on my new husband’s plate along with a plate of spaghetti and sat down to eat my spaghetti dinner too. We each took a bit of the breadstick and about broke our teeth! They should have been called “breaksticks” instead! Of course, I had to throw the entire batch away, but I did learn a lesson. I would have to practice making the dough again and again to get them “just right”.

That pathetic and funny story is a reminder to me of teaching a new concept to my students. When my students first come to my classroom they don’t know all the countries and capitals of the world and where they are located. But, they can learn them so when I say, “Cuba”, they will know it is off the eastern coast of the United States and its capital is Havana. Through repetition, facts and processes can go from ignorance (as in my breaksticks), to knowledge, to automatically remembering (automaticity).

If you are like me, your eyes gloss over and you don’t think you can take looking at the 8×8 flashcard  with your son or daughter one-more-time!  I am here to offer help (and relief) for your children to practice those facts that are foundational for learning through online games or . I am including websites for older students as well since they are in need of these helps as well.

Elementary/ Junior High

sheppardsoftware is a website that I refer many parents to because it has fun games that provide drill.

Fun Brain has reading and math games that your child can play and for a reward on a job well done can play other games afterwards

ABCya! has games from preschool through fifth grade that include phonics, reading, math, logic, social studies and  keyboarding, just to name a few!

Studyladder is interesting because it provides online lessons and worksheets as well as drill. Areas of study are: math; English; science, health, safety; and language.

Junior High/ Senior High

quizlet is a great tool to use to create flashcards, but it also has a wonderful feature to be able to use a variety of ways to review. You can even have your student take a quiz that automatically grades it. You can record this for a grade if you choose.

studystack is a flashcard creator, but you can also use other cards that have been created. There are many subjects to choose from and several ways to play. Some of those ways are hangman, crossword puzzles and letter scramble.

studyblue (high school/ college) can be used to create flashcards or search for sets other people have created. They are ways to share flashcards with others and there is a free version, as well as two pay versions.