Capture Summer Fun with Daily Journal Writing and Activities
Help your child sharpen their skills this summer with daily journal writing and other exciting activities! These practices can enhance:
- Comprehension
- Writing
- Reading
- Vocabulary
- Sensory detail
- Memory
- Fine motor skills
- Confidence
- And more!
Summer is full of people to see and places to go, making it the perfect time for your child to have enriching experiences.
Do’s to Sharpen Skills During the Summer
- Daily Journal Writing
- Capture thoughts, events, and questions that come to mind every day.
- Reading Together and Independently
- Read magazines, books, and other interesting materials.
- Drawing and Writing Summaries
- Have your child draw and/or write a brief summary about a reading.
- Encourage them to explain their drawing or writing and discuss their journal entries.
- Playing Board Games that Include Reading
- Reading and Shopping
- Read ingredients from a recipe and locate the items in a grocery store.
- Creating a Kid-Friendly Blog or Email Account
- Example: Kidblog
- Playing Online Educational Games and Reading Sites
Keep Skills Sharp Over the Summer
Make it a point to incorporate reading and writing into your summer activities.
Recommended Books
For Students in Grades K-2
- Amelia Bedelia (Series)
- The Story of Ruby Bridges
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Skippyjon Jones
- Henry and Mudge: The First Book (Series)
- Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark (Series)
- Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus (Series)
- Charlotte’s Web
- The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body (Series)
- Poetry Speaks, edited by Elise Paschen and Dominique Raccah
For Students in Grades 3-5
- Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
- Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
- Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
- Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
- The Witches by Roald Dahl
- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
- Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
- Holes by Louis Sachar
- Wayside School is Falling Down (Series) by Louis Sachar
- Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective (Series) by Donald J. Sobol
- The Boxcar Children (Series) by Gertrude Chandler Warner
- The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Series)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
- Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
- Ben and Me by Robert Lawson
- The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body (Series)
- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
- The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
For Students in Grades 6-8
- The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
- Goosebumps: Welcome to Dead House (Series)
- The Hunger Games (Series)
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
- The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
- Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
- Soldier’s Heart by Gary Paulsen
- Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson
- An American Plague by Jim Murphy
- Poetry Speaks: Who I Am, edited by Elise Paschen
- Middle School, the Worst Years of My Life (Series) by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts
- To Kill A Mockingbird by Walter Dean Myers
- A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry