Using Data to Drive Meaningful, Targeted, Brain-Based Math Instruction

     Imagine a student's face lighting up upon seeing a math quiz, running home to excitedly show their parents the current math homework, or begging for more word problems at the teacher table. Now envision your own contentment at knowing the math they are excited about is targeted directly to the needs of those very students. I want to share how I create this excitement in my class using data. I'm a data-nerd...I admit it.

     In Texas we have end-of-unit Curriculum Based Assessments (CBAs). Our instruction is delivered through the workshop model. The goal is to meet with our lowest students at the teacher table every day, all the way up to our highest students once a week. The teacher table does give us valuable information. However, life happens and there will inevitably be a group of students who don't get to the teacher table for one reason or another. Since there aren't "turn in" type assignments, I wanted an additional method of monitoring individual student mastery and need of intervention.

     The Solution
     My solution is a multifaceted approach. It involves knowing your students interests well, reflecting on the content you have already taught, what you will be teaching, student performance on past quizzes/CBA's, knowing the language your students need to know to be successful, and then it all circles around again. 

     To Begin
     As an example, if you are teaching 3D shapes next week, sit down and analyze what students need to know. Design instruction and stations around the content, and language, and then blend in their personal interests whenever possible (music, sports, games, etc). Use data to determine which content you need in your spiraling stations. As much as possible in stations, use student names, names of their friends, other teachers, and school staff in problems. They will be more engaged with more brain involvement because the work will become meaningful.
 
     The Language
     Before I explain "language," let me emphasize that I am not talking about teaching to the test. I experienced a pivotal moment when a woman named Sue McAdams told me that it is simply unfair to give students a test without preparing them for the language (or vocabulary) they will be tested with. I had never really looked at it that way.  For example, one of our 2nd grade CBA questions is worded like this:

  Which value is the shaded portion of the fractional model closest to?

     If I didn't prepare my students by using that language (value, portion, fractional model) in my daily instruction/quizzes/homework, they would likely be thrown off by the wording of the question even if they understood the concept. If I were teaching to the test, all of my instruction would be based around only what the test will cover. That would be just as unfair to kids as not teaching the language would be. Moving on...

     The Next Step
     At the end of the week, if you want to see what they learned and what they still need help on, you need data. If you were unable to get a class-wide feel for it at the teacher table, create a quiz. It is very important that you continue to use the language, names and interests, and spiraling content. Here is page one of a quiz I've written for next week.

     You'll notice I've used student names, interests, necessary language, and spiraling content while still maintaining a high level of thinking.
     When you grade your quiz, note the questions kids missed the most. I like to have a tally chart to mark each time a question is missed. If you notice a class-wide trend... it's time to reteach! Then be sure to revisit that concept on your next math quiz.
     Use the individual data to target your instruction at the teacher table.  For example, if I had four students miss number 4 on the quiz above, I would call those four back to the teacher table to work on two-step problem solving. As part of that targeted intervention, I create problems using their names and interests.  I am also careful to target their learning and processing styles during instruction. This is so important because you WILL get more engagement from them. They always ask for more!

Morning Math Talk

My student teacher, Mrs. Harris, working on the morning math talk.

     Every morning we write four math problems on the board for students to solve. The problems include content we know students need more work with. This is based on data from quizzes, homework, and teacher table discussion. Morning math can also include current and spiraling content. 
     During morning math, students discuss strategies and different ways to solve the problems presented. This way, students get to hear how their peers think through problem solving in different ways.

Homework
     Homework can be a valuable tool if it is not overused.  Every other week our grade level team sends home math homework. There are four days of homework with six to eight questions a day.  Again, we utilize current content, spiraling content, content that needs to be reinforced, student names and interests, teacher names, and even parent names. Additionally, trying to wrap content around a real-world theme makes it even more meaningful and engaging for developing brains.
     For example, we are currently participating in a food drive.  One of the other 2nd grade teachers (Mr. Wandersee) has agreed to shave his head if our pod brings in the most donations. As a result, one page of our homework looks like this:

     On this page of homework, there are 3 current content questions, and 3 spiraling questions centered around a real-world theme students that are currently experiencing. Additionally, both teacher and student names are used, and a high level of thinking is maintained.
     In this next example, I spiraled content around one of our 5th grade math teachers. Mrs. Tipton asked me how we come up with our homework questions. So I highlighted her on a page for fun! Students will be excited to see her included in our homework. In this example, you will see that I opened with a current content question, then spiraled through several past units using real-world applications.  The brain looks for patterns and connections, the connections are obvious here.

    
     Through the spiraling content in homework, you are also given a peek at things students might be forgetting (although the hope is the spiraling will keep them from forgetting), or still struggling with. Again, this gives you valuable data to drive your teacher table instruction.  

     If you are concerned about the time involved, consider involving the rest of your grade level team. My 2nd grade teaching team is wonderful about sending questions for the quizzes and homework as well.  That makes it much less labor intensive.

     Finally
     These techniques give you immediate data to drive meaningful, targeted, brain-based instruction.  Begin with in depth reflection on upcoming content. Weave the students names, interests etc. into morning work, daily instruction, quizzes, and homework. Use your data from your teacher table, quizzes, and homework to meaningfully drive your instruction and intervention. Wrap content around real world situations and themes.
    

Tips for Productive Math Groups

I was at the teacher table, working with a small group. Glancing up, I tensed as I noticed Tommy, Sarah, and Tanisha arguing about who should have the first turn. A game of Rock, Paper, Scissors ensued to solve the disagreement. Congratulating myself on having taught such a valuable problem solving skill (*cough*), I refocused on my group. A few moments later, Tommy appeared at my table. He tearfully explained that he had been winning the Rock, Paper, Scissors best-of-three round, when Sarah changed the rules to "next-one-wins." I quickly UN-congratulated myself for not seeing that one coming, (sneaky little Sarah!) and then spent the next few minutes dealing with the Rock-Paper-Scissors conundrum. Due to the crisis, Tommy's group lost a good 8 minutes of work time. My teacher table group lost about 4 minutes of valuable intervention work.

Personalities

Sound familiar? Maybe you have these students in your class too. You may also have: excuse makers, wanderers, socialites, the bosses (Sarah), the I'm-too-good-to-work-with-him/her, the argument makers, the wallflowers (Tanisha), the criers (Tommy), and the refuse-to-work with anyone else students. Hopefully you've also got the all important: always-on-taskers, the peacemakers, the little teachers, and the rule-followers. With such a range of personalities, how can you make math stations productive?

What Do We Want?

Before looking at HOW to make productive stations, we need to define WHAT we want. First, how will our students be held accountable? As teachers, we need proof that our students were actually doing their work rather than visiting (or arguing) while we were engaged at the teacher table. Next, how do we ensure that all children participate? We don't want our rule-followers and little teachers doing all the work while our wanderers and socialites do their own thing. Finally, we need to know that students are practicing how to get the correct answers. That was my biggest fear; I was afraid students were practicing and reinforcing incorrect procedures. Once those pathways in the brain are reinforced, it can be difficult to undo! Let's look at solutions now.

Accountability

How do we know students are doing their work? I have tried station answer sheets and weekly station rubrics which were glued into their math journals. However, students often forgot to glue them in and/or fill them out (2nd graders). I want their grades to reflect their math ability rather than their gluing ability! Additionally, the students' station rubrics ended up taking valuable time, and both solutions wasted paper. I finally decided on what now seems such an obvious answer...have them write the answers directly in their journals (*facepalm* Why didn't I think of THAT first?). Students title the page with the station name and write the answers underneath. If the station is unfinished, then they can go back to the page to complete it next time they are at the station.

Participation

Wouldn't it be nice if they were all able to take turns? If they could support, listen to, and coach each other with ease? Pipe dream? Nope... Kagan structure! Our district has been training us in Kagan structures, and I have to say I am sold. It compliments the valuable research and strategies I learned in the BrainSMART graduate program.

Update: I've updated the structure listed on this post after a discussion with a Kagan representative.  I discovered there is an even better structure for math stations, with more involvement! 

The structure we now use for our groups is called RallyCoach (Kagan, 2009). Students work in pairs. First, partner A solves, while partner B coaches. (Students need to be instructed that coaching means helping and guiding, not giving answers.) Once the problem is solved, partner B will give partner A praise and then the roles switch.  Now partner B will solve, and partner A will coach. Each student is getting a turn to solve and coach.

I have mentioned on this blog before what a powerful tool peer-coaching is. Students who teach each other will retain far more than students who work alone. The RallyCoach (Kagan, 2009) structure has this powerful brain-based component built in.

For more information about Kagan please visit the website www.kaganonline.com.

Correct Answers

Now that we have the accountability and the participation pieces in place, we need to make sure the kids are practicing the correct procedures. I try to have an answer key at each station. Therefore, the “answer checker” is able to be sure of his or her response if a challenge is issued.

Another, more fun way, is to use QR codes. After student 2 works out the answer, student 3 can use an itouch or ipad to check the corresponding answer embedded in the QR code. The app store has tons of free qr code readers. I like the one called Scan. Students love to check their answers with technology, so you’ve got instant engagement! Best of all, you can easily make your own qr codes.

Creating QR Codes

QR codes are embarrassingly easy to create! Simply google “Create QR Code” and you’ll have lots of possibilities. I usually use the website http://www.CreateQRCode.AppSpot.com. Type in the information you want to appear when the code is scanned, click on the “create qr code” button, and the free website will create the code for you. All you have to do is copy and paste the code into your document! (There are also iphone/ipod apps you can use.) Here is an example of station task cards I created:

You can download this taskcard set free in my TPT store Number Sentence Task Cards for a closer look. 

Now I am comfortable at the teacher table because I know my kids are LEARNING! They are problem solving and determining the best way to get the correct answer.

Finally
Are my stations perfect now? No.  However, things have dramatically improved! Now I know my kids are all engaged, I have proof of their work, and I know they are practicing correct procedures. Plus, I won't have to deal with the whole Rock, Paper, Scissors issue because the student with the lowest class number always goes first! What procedures do you use in your classroom?



Resources:
Kagan, Spencer & Kagan, Miguel. (2009). Kagan Cooperative Learning. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing. www.KaganOnline.com.


Reading Thinking Stem Guide

Get your free download in my TPT Store!

     The Math Thinking Stem Guide in my last post was so successful, I decided to create a guide for the Reading Thinking Stem as well.  As I have posted quite a bit about thinking stems already, I will not go into detail about them other than to say that my students have shown significant growth in their reading, their ability to use metacognition across all subjects...as well as vastly improving their writing skills! 

     I have two different rubrics for the reading thinking stem. One is a basic rubric to generate a reading grade. The other generates both a reading and writing grade. All of the rubrics and guides are available as free downloads in my TPT store.

     Give the thinking stems a try if you haven't already. We've got to get our kids thinking critically! For help in getting started, see my post here: How to Introduce Thinking Stems.
   
     Let me know if you have any questions or comments!

The Math Thinking Stem Guide

This poster is available for download in my TPT store.

Encouraging students to THINK is a large part of what I do in the classroom. I don't want my 2nd graders to recite facts back to me...I want them to think, analyze, infer, compare, contrast, etc. (I do, however, want them to remember their math facts!) It is relatively easy to facilitate higher level thinking in reading. I've blogged before about Thinking Stems in reading and social studies. But, what about math? Math seems rather cut and dried. There's only one correct answer, right? Well, yes...but there's more.

A high level of thinking is achieved by simply solving a complex math algorithm. However, we can take it a step further by including metacognition in the mix and having students articulate their thinking in writing. This brings me to the math thinking stem!

The Math Thinking Stem
The math thinking stem is similar to the reading stem in that it encourages students to use their thinking skills for a specific purpose. These skills include: schema, inferences, predictions, comparisons, visualizations, questioning, and more. In math, the thinking stem forces students to look closely at the math skill they are learning, and really pick it apart for analysis. Even 2nd graders can do it! Here is an example of a math thinking stem:

We are learning about place value. When you use place value, you break numbers down into hundreds, tens, and ones. You can use it to understand numbers. For example, 200+20+3 equals 223. That is the same as 2 hundreds, 2 tens, and 3 ones. I can visualize the base ten blocks showing 223. I predict it will help me when I add and subtract. I infer place value can show even bigger numbers because you can add more blocks. Place value is fun! 

The thinking stem not only encourages their higher level thinking, it exercises writing skills and helps students see that thinking and learning skills are applicable in all subjects!

With this in mind, I've created a math thinking stem guide for students and teachers. Follow this link if you would like the downloadable file at my TPT Store.  I use the thinking stem in math stations every week! Enjoy.

Metacognitive Thinking Skills for Life and Learning, Part Two: Listening

     This is part two in my Thinking Skills for Life and Learning series. Part one explored practical optimism. (Part one: Practical Optimism) Part two will focus on the skill of listening.

Listening 

     Donna Wilson of BrainSMART defines listening as, "The skill of hearing and attending to the words of others," (Wilson and Conyers, 2005, p. 12). Listening is a basic skill necessary in school and life, yet this basic skill is rarely explicitly taught to children.  Once a child is aware of listening as a specific skill, he or she is able to be metacognitive in its application. However, as with all skills, it needs to be reinforced throughout the school year and at home. 

    Due to the importance of listening in the development of young children (grades Pre K – 3rd), I prefer to teach the skill of listening separate from the skill of focusing. This distinction is made because listening is foundational in learning to read, write, and for oral language development. Consider the words of Judy Willis in her book, Teaching the Brain to Read: Strategies for Improving Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension: "Young children's listening and speaking competence is in advance of their reading and writing competence. They understand more words spoken in context than they can read independently." (2008). E. D. Hirsch, Jr. further confirms the connection between listening and learning in his book The Knowledge Deficit: Closing the Shocking Education Gap for American Children. He says, "At the youngest ages, two through seven, long before children can read as well as they can listen, progress in language occurs chiefly through listening and talking, not through reading and writing," (Hirsch, 2006, p. 27). Now that we have established the importance of the skill of listening, let’s look at ways to teach it! 

Getting Started 

     Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers love to point out that, “facts fade, but stories stick.” With this in mind, introduce listening with a story of a time you or someone you know missed out on something great because you (or whoever) hadn’t listened well. For example, I might tell of the time I missed an important track meet because I hadn’t listened well when told what time the bus would leave! Next I would be sure to share that I learned from my mistake so it didn’t happen again. Ask a few students to share similar stories. Question them about what they learned. Then through questioning guide students in discussions of how listening helps in school. 

Strategies 

     Students can practice listening by using the fun Listen and Repeat strategy. Separate students into pairs. One student will share a sentence or paragraph about something they’ve done or learned. Their partner will then repeat it back to them. Then they switch roles. Afterwards, ask students what it looked and felt like when they were listening closely. Consider making an anchor chart of their responses and refer back to it often. 

     One strategy that Wilson and Conyers suggest in their book, BrainSMART 60 Strategies for Increasing Student Learning, is called Name That Tune (Conyers and Wilson, 2011, p. 279). It is similar to that old game show that those of us of a certain age will remember! Pick several songs that your students are familiar with. Play just a few seconds of each introduction. Have them raise their hands or write down the answer as soon as they get it. Finally review how many got correct answers. This strategy not only provides practice listening, but it also helps “students to appreciate how brilliant their auditory learning capacity is,” (Conyers and Wilson, 2011, p. 279). 

     One of the best strategies is one I find many districts are allowing less time for. That is read-aloud time, or story-time. Not only do read-alouds develop the skills of listening and focus, it also helps grow a life long love of reading and allows students to enjoy books that are above their reading level. I am appalled at districts that do not see this as a priority, particularly in lower grades (oops, I better slide right back off that soap-box). Start with shorter storytimes at the beginning of the year, then gradually extend the time based on grade level. You will see the ability to listen closely for longer periods grow! 

One More Step 

     As with all the strategies, you will want to revisit and frequently reinforce the skill of listening. I find the best way to do this is by modeling the behavior myself, and by pointing out when I see someone doing a great job of listening! Also try to tie it in with other skills. For example, I might say, “I am optimistic that you will listen closely!” 

Finally

    The skills in this series should become a regular part of your daily vocabulary with students. The more these skills are recognized and reinforced, the more students will internalize them. As the skills are internalized, you will see behavior issues decrease and academic success increase. 

References 

 

Hirsch, J. (2006). The knowledge deficit. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Willis, J. (2008). Teaching the brain to read, strategies for improving fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Conyers, M., Wilson, D. (2011). Brainsmart: 60 strategies for increasing student learning. (4th ed.). Orlando: BrainSMART.

Conyers, M., Wilson, D., (2005). Thinking for reading. Orlando, FL: BrainSMART.

Metacognitive Thinking Skills for Life and Learning Part One: Optimism

This is the first in a series of thinking skills for life and learning. Those of you who follow my blog know the dramatic successes I have had in my class since implementing these BrainSMART strategies. My goal is to provide the reasoning, and practical implementation ideas for each strategy so that you can apply them in your classroom or individual teaching situation.

Optimism

I consider optimism to be the most important tool. If you only take one tool from this series…let it be optimism. Optimism (aka positivity) opens the mind to be more creative and find solutions that are not readily apparent (Frederickson, 2009). This effect was clearly demonstrated in a powerful study by Seligman, which is discussed in BrainSMART’s 60 Strategies for Increasing Student Learning. Seligman found that when fourth graders were presented with a challenging task, “two distinct groups emerged. One group appeared to be optimistic in the face of the challenge. That is, they asked questions and stayed with the task until it was completed.” In contrast, the pessimistic group “gave up easily when the task became difficult. It was as if they did not think they could solve the problems, so they did not continue to try. Their cognitive ability dropped to that of first graders” (emphasis mine) (2011a, p. 32, 33). That is mindboggling. Clearly, these students were under the misconception that intelligence is fixed. The creative and problem solving centers of their brains shut down. They didn’t try because they didn’t believe they could succeed. Therefore, it is imperative to teach all students that the brain is changeable. The plasticity of the brain is a life-changing concept for pessimistic students. This is where explicit teaching of strategies to rewire the brain for optimism comes in.

Getting Started

Once students understand that their brains are changeable, and that you are going to teach them strategies to rewire their brains for thinking and learning, introduce practical optimism. In the book Thinking for Results, Wilson and Conyers define practical optimism as, “An approach to life that focuses on taking practical positive action to increase the probability of successful outcomes” (2011b, p. 148). Share the studies mentioned above to drive home the importance of optimism. If you have a story to share of a time optimism helped you or someone you know, share it. Ask students for examples of times optimism or pessimism has impacted them. Use discussion and questioning strategies to draw out the following: 1. Optimistic people view success or failure as a result of the effort they put in, and 2. Pessimistic people view success or failure as a result of ability. Since students now understand that their brains are changeable, their ability is changeable…success is based on effort! Once students understand optimism, you can discuss strategies to rewire their brains for optimism.

Strategies

            On one of the BrainSMART class DVDs, Marcus Conyers lays out three essential strategies for an optimistic mindset: Deal with it, TNT, and Delete.

By ‘deal with it’ he is saying to take care of the problem, issue, or assignment right away. He draws a comparison between problems and anacondas by saying; problems are like anacondas, if you don’t deal with them when they’re little, they’ll grow and strangle you! Students sometimes put off assignments because they are afraid of failure, and then by the time they start working it is too late to do a good job which then results in a poor grade. They’ve created a self-fulfilling prophecy! Alternatively, a student who understands their grade is a result of their effort (optimism) rather than their ability (pessimism) will deal with the assignment right away. The optimistic student will see greater success because of the increased effort.

TNT stands for The Next Time. When things don’t work out well, an optimistic person will think about what they will do differently the next time. After all, success is based on effort!  Let’s go back to the student who didn’t start the assignment right away. At this point he or she would not reflect on what caused the bad grade, because a pessimist believes success is based on ability. The optimist however will look at his or her grade and determine what could be done better the next time, how the effort could be refocused or adjusted, and then follow through. An optimist grows and learns from mistakes by thinking about TNT.

Finally, we want to delete the negative. Humans have about 4,000 thoughts pass through the mind every day. According to Fredrickson in her book Positivity, our positive to negative ratio should be about 3:1 (2009). So how do we change our thought patterns? Conyers says to put the negative thoughts on the RADAR. First, Recognize a negative thought when it occurs. That is being metacognitive. Next, Assess the thought for accuracy. (Will I really NEVER be able to finish this assignment, or do I need to be more optimistic?) Then Dispute the negative thought. Why is the thought inaccurate? (I can finish the assignment by being more optimistic because optimism broadens the mind allowing for creativity and problem solving). Then find Alternatives. What is another way you could approach the problem or assignment? And finally, Rehearse. Practice or visualize the alternative.

            Another wonderful strategy is to prime the brain at the beginning and end of each day. Last year my students kept an optimism journal. Every morning they would record something good that happened the day before, and something good they expected to happen today. It was difficult at first, but as their minds were rewired towards optimism, the task became easier. Conyers points out that the brain is most open just before sleep. Therefore it is a great time for parents to participate by asking their child about positive experiences from the day, and positive expectations for the next day. Involving parents also makes them more metacognitive about their own optimism.

One More Step

            Once optimism has been introduced and discussed in class, refer back to it regularly. For example, when I see a student trying hard on an assignment I’ll comment to the class about the great example of optimism. Or when a student makes a positive comment, I’ll remark on his optimistic attitude. I also tie optimism into being supportive and respectful of each other, because optimistic people want other people to do well also.

Finally

The most important thing of all is to model optimism. Sometimes you will be the only example in a student’s life of an optimistic attitude. Therefore, you must use optimism, and talk optimism. Your optimistic attitude will make your class a better place, which will result in increased student success.  Let's keep our students cognitive abilities strong with optimism.

References

Conyers, M., Wilson, D. (2011a). BrainSMART 60 Strategies for Increasing Student Learning (4 ed.). Orlando: BrainSMART.

Conyers, M., Wilson, D. (2011b). Thinking for Results: Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement by as Much as 30 Percent. Orlando: BrainSMART.

Fredrickson, B. L., (2009). Positivity: Top-Notch Research Reveals the 3 to 1 Ratio That Will Change Your Life . New York: Three Rivers Press.

Plasticity of the Brain: Spread the Word!

English: PET scan of a normal human brain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

They rang my doorbell about 5pm yesterday. Two high-schoolers from an underprivileged part of the city selling candles to earn money. I ended up doing a sales pitch to them about the incredible potential of their futures. Poor kids...I probably seemed like a crazy old lady to them! I wanted to make sure they understood the  plasticity of their brains though, because they are the future and it was clear that they did not understand their tremendous potential.

"In their book How People Learn, Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (2000) make the case that:

1. learning changes the physical structure of the brain;
2. structural changes alter the functional organization of the brain (in other words, learning organizes and reorganizes the brain), (as cited in BrainSMART Thinking for Results, 2011, p. 31).

 Intelligence is not fixed! This is the plasticity of the brain, a life changing concept (and scientific fact) that we as educators must spread far and wide. We have all seen students who have accepted the misconception of fixed intelligence; they don't try because they don't think they can succeed. They simply need to learn how to use thinking for learning strategies in order to be "the boss of their brain". These strategies cross over as life skills as well. I have blogged about the strategies before, but I am beginning a series next week where we will look at each strategy in depth.

Please explain the plasticity of the brain to your students, your neighbors, the kid at the cash register, and to random kids who appear at your door selling candles. My last word to the kids on my doorstep was, "Okay, now go change the world!" Because if they believe they can, they will try. Oh and yes, I did buy a candle.

For more information on the BrainSMART programs, please visit www.brainsmart.org.

Ways to Beat Brain Drain this Summer

Another excellent guest post by: Melissa Crossman!

Students lose as much as three months of learning during the extended summer break. Free from the discipline of the classroom, students experience what many educators call “summer brain drain.” While year round school could eliminate this loss, most schools follow a traditional September to June calendar year. What can parents, teachers and students do to combat summer brain drain? Working as educational communities, they can produce an effective plan of action that keeps a student’s skills current and fresh. In preparation for school in the fall, six tips can start students on the path to academic success.

Brain Drain (Photo credit: What What)

Old Standards

Flash cards refresh essential skills students learn in any subject. As students review the states and their capitals, multiplication and division facts or Chemistry elements and the signs, they develop fluency in these areas. Parents prepare flash cards by copying important information onto laminated note cards. Students reinforce and material and develop fluency as they quiz siblings or try to stump their parents during car rides to the pool.

Printable worksheets, online math games and board games cultivate math fluency. For interested parents and students, teachers willingly provide worksheets that engage students at home. In addition to educational online games, board games like Monopoly or Life help students develop math skills as they serve as the banker and face real life financial situations. LIkewise, students can calculate the tip after eating at a restaurant or budget the family's amusement park adventure. Math skills are typically lost more quickly than reading skills so any extra math assistance gives learners an advantage in fighting summer brain drain.

Contemporary Digital Options

More than entertainment, video games help students retain important skills. Memorization, strategy and problem solving are a few essential elements in a game that fight brain drain while a child plays. Edutainment involves games that educate students while keeping them entertained, and many video games fit this description.

Online classes provide excellent resources for students who wish to stay mentally agile during the summer break. Full-credit classes, cyber classrooms and online tutors motivate and engage students while helping them retain educational skills.

Traditional letter writing helps students practice their organizational skills and critical thinking. Instead of writing letters by hand, children could write a few sentences in an online journal every day to document their summer activities. Typing emails to friends or relatives also provides mental exercise for students of any age, as long as they type proper English rather than texting shortcuts.

Reading is Still Fundamental

Reading remains one of the most popular summer learning activities. Students choose books that interest them as they read aloud to a parent, grandparent or stuffed animal and listen to books read to them. Local libraries often offer supplemental programs to encourage reading. Reading road signs while traveling for vacation or menus at mealtime offer additional summer reading practice.

Working as a community to engage students throughout the summer allows parents, educators and students to fight brain drain. With video games, worksheets, flash cards, writing, reading, and online classes, the community combats the loss of knowledge during extended school breaks. This strategy ensures that students can find success in the classroom when school resumes in the fall.