Summer Worksheets for First Graders

Breaks from school are so nice (and so necessary), but long ones can have a negative impact on a student’s achievement. Year after year, we often have parents asking for summer worksheets, so I’m not sure why it took me so long to jump on board and make some.

I think summer break should be a time for kids to let loose and embrace all the freedoms that go along with being a kid. And because I hold that belief in high regard, I used to bristle at the idea of sending home extra work… until my husband told me something I didn’t already know about him.

Apparently, he was the kid who would finish an entire workbook of math problems and word searches in one day and then beg his mom for more…. like on DAY ONE of summer vacation. Who does that?

Learners. That’s who.

So, thanks to his sweet little nerdy story and some research on the topic, I finally acquiesced and made a set of summer worksheets for our first graders.

WHAT IS SUMMER LEARNING LOSS?

If you’re working in a year-round school, this likely isn’t a concern of yours. But for children in schools with a traditional ten-month calendar, the long summer break poses a risk. A regression in academic proficiency is possible and younger children are at a higher risk for the most learning loss because they’re at a crucial stage in their development.

Dr. James Kim, an assistant professor at Harvard University, writes: “In general, kids learn a lot more in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade than kids in middle or high school. Learning follows a curve where it’s accelerated early in life and then plateaus. Skills like decoding, letter knowledge, and word reading are very susceptible to decay without frequent practice, as are math facts like addition and subtraction.” You can READ THE FULL ARTICLE here.

Related Article: SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF SUMMER READING LOSS

FIRST, AN END OF THE YEAR PUSH

In the last month leading up to the long summer break, plan for some fun review of the skills taught throughout the school year. Children love to play READING GAMES and do fun MATH ACTIVITIES with their friends. So gather a bunch of your favorites and let the fun (and learning) keep going all the way to the end!

WHAT CAN FAMILIES DO?

To help prevent a summer slide, we’ve been giving families these simple suggestions for years. They’re kid-friendly, budget-friendly, and still hold true.

Make time to read with your child every day. Get comfortable, keep it casual, and talk about what you’re reading.
Work on puzzles and play games designed for children.
Stock the car with flash cards, books, children’s magazines, and educational toys.
Field trips aren’t just for school. Visit cool places in your town… a science museum, a hiking trail, or a park, for example.
Let your child help you shop for groceries and prepare meals. These might seem like chores to you, but they’re full of opportunities to follow directions and talk about math.
Help your child learn a new skill or start a new hobby.
Watch an educational show or a kid-friendly documentary and spend some time talking about it.
Give your child a brand new notebook and set of markers. A summer journal is a great place to write about, well, anything!
Play simple word games like Hangman. Taking turns in this game allows your child to practice both reading and spelling.
Go on scavenger hunts outside, but throw in a little learning twist such as, “Let’s find things that begin with vowels.” Or, “Let’s look for things that are longer than six inches.”
Run by a dollar store, grab some card games, and let the fun begin!

This list could go on and on. The point is to provide busy families with simple suggestions that keep their children from parking themselves in front of the TV for two months.

SUMMER REVIEW FOR FIRST GRADERS

This year, for the cherry on top (so says my husband), we’re now adding a PACKET OF SUMMER WORKSHEETS that reflect a variety of ELA and math standards. It’s a win-win all the way around.

For the workbook-loving kids, it’s pages and pages of skill review. (I can already picture some of the kids playing school with their stuffed animals.) And for the I’d-rather-get-dirty-in-a-mud-puddle kids, simply doing 1-2 pages a day throughout the summer will help keep them sharp and prepped for second grade.

The resource includes multiple cover options and enough reading, writing, and math content to last children up to nine weeks… assuming they don’t plow through it all in one day.

As a matter of fact, I’d probably encourage parents to help their child with pacing. The purpose of the workbook is to provide an ongoing opportunity to practice skills so kids don’t experience losses in achievement. For that reason, it would be best to do a little bit of work each day.

If your budget doesn’t allow for the printing of a class set of summer worksheets, I get it. Another option is to share the link to the resource (or one like it) with your students’ families. That way, they can download the materials on their own at the beginning of the summer. I think many families understand the economic challenges of school budgets and are able to make small investments where they can.

PREPPING THE SUMMER PACKETS

Don’t be scared off by all the color.👇 The covers are provided in black-and-white for students to color on their own. Actually, one of my favorite low-cost hacks for making something pop with color is to just have it printed on vibrant copy paper. (See the yellow sample above.)

And what about binding? We have a machine and tons of PLASTIC COMBS… they’re affordable and easy to use. But these summer packets could also be stapled or simply sent home inside folders or large envelopes.

Whichever way you decide to go, I think the important thing is help parents help their kids. The idea that their children will be away from school for more than eight weeks can cause anxiety for a lot of parents, in more ways than one…

…who remember the STAPLES commercial where the dad is gleefully doing his kids’ back-to-school shopping while we listen to It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year playing in the background? LOL

A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA… FUN SUMMER READING

How do you know the ocean is friendly?

It waves!

Children love silly jokes… the cornier, the better. What we love about this printable SUMMER JOKE BOOK is the level of text difficulty and the opportunity for children to illustrate each page in a way that makes sense to them. On the last page, there’s an invitation to try writing their own silly summer joke. It’s a really simple end-of-the-year gift to send home with children. They’ll be entertaining their families with these jokes all summer long!

(And parents everywhere just sighed. 😂)