By Michelle Moskowitz
Sentinel Correspondent
The end of the school year has finally arrived and students and parents alike are happy to have a respite from the school time routine.
But enjoyment of summertime fun and family getaways can also result in a significant loss of academic progress for students, otherwise known as “summer learning loss.”
Recent research confirms that students who do not read or engage in meaningful “thinking” activities over the summer break can lose up to 30 percent of the progress they gained during the previous school year.
But one activity that can sharply reduce learning loss and even help children improve their skills is digital learning.
Greenwich Public Schools have recently launched their “Seamless Summer Learning Program,” which provides students with access to myriad online learning programs and educational tools, such as IXL for Math and their newly released Summer Reading Library through Overdrive, in partnership with Greenwich Library.
Through any web-enabled device, students can visit www.greenwichschools.org and readily access a multitude of engaging resources, many of which are available throughout the school year—but more important, for use over the summer months when academics are otherwise absent in the course of one’s day.
Available to all Greenwich public school students, free of charge (and free of advertisements and chat capabilities), these comprehensive, high-quality resources are vetted by educational professionals.
Programs such as Big Universe, LightSail, Discovery Education, BrainPOP.com and Follett Destiny (which has access to thousands of e-books) are just a sampling of the programs that students can explore from the comfort of home.
While many of these programs are embedded in student curricula throughout the year, both in their media specials as well as being incorporated into required homework assignments, students are encouraged to utilize these tools over the summer in order to maintain their academic progress.
That said, by the end of the year, students are quite familiar with these learning tools, making the transition to summertime usage that much more seamless.
However, it is critical that parents encourage and reinforce the importance to their children of logging onto their devices every day, as challenging as that might be with summer camp schedules, later curfews and family vacations.
“Parents can find ways to fit this time into their child’s summer plans. These apps are perfect for long road trips and/or just taking some quiet time at the end of a busy day,” says Heather McGuiness, media specialist at Julian Curtiss.
The GPS Library Media Services team work tirelessly to advocate the importance of fostering a love of reading and communicating to parents how instilling this passion ultimately contributes to a child’s success in life.
This newly developed digital Summer Reading Collection encompasses all genres, timeless classics and popular new titles as well. In addition, students earn prizes and badges for their work.
In conjunction with its partnership with the library are district-wide field trips whereby kindergarten students tour the facility and apply for their very own library cards.
The goal is to create excitement about reading and encourage frequent visits to the library, particularly over the summer. This also provides a forum for librarians to meet with students and create an awareness of the many engaging programs and resources the library offers on an on-going basis such as book clubs, Lego and robotics classes, family yoga and much, much more.
For those families who do not have readily available devices at home, all students now have the option to borrow their school iPads over the summer break.
Accessible anytime and anywhere, avoiding summer learning loss is just a click away. Visit www.greenwichschools.org and www.greenwichlibary.org.
