7 Easy Ways To Prevent The Summer Math Slide

Do your students return to school after summer break a little rusty? Do you find that much of the material covered the year before has been forgotten and you must spend the first few weeks of school reteaching skills?  The summer slide is real, and research has shown that for students from lower income families, the learning loss is greater. This can cause a wider gap between them and their higher achieving peers.  The Covid pandemic has surely intensified this issue.  This post focuses specifically on math and things students and parents can do to keep skills sharp throughout the summer.

1. A few a day – You don’t have to spend hours poring over math problems to prevent summer slide. Just three to four math problems per day can keep skills sharp. I always had a daily chore list that my kids had to do before they did anything with their friends. It consisted of some simple tasks to help around the house. I added 3 math problems a day to their lists.  They were not allowed to make any plans for the day until everything was checked off the list, including the math problems.  If they really struggled, I’d set some time aside in the evening to help them. You can get these problems online or in math workbooks you can find at a local bookstore.  If you work long hours and just don’t have the time to spend  reviewing math, there are lots of online videos that cover math standards for every grade.  Khan Academy is a great place to start. Just a few problems a day  can help students close the gaps in their math skills or retain what they learned during the year, so they are ready for September.

2. Read math books and stories together. You can combine reading and math to boost math scores. Picture books or short stories are great.

The website Bedtime Math Stories provides a daily story with math problems that range in difficulty.

Amy Axelrod has written a series of math picture books.  Here is a link to a read aloud of Pigs Will Be Pigs,  one of the books in the series.  Look up Amy Axelrod at amazon.com or at your local library to find more of her math stories.

Visit Stuart Murphy’s website for math stories and related activities for grades 1-4.

K-5 Math Teaching Resources has lists of book suggestions organized by math topics.

The Butterfly Teacher shares her list of favorite math read alouds here.

3. Play games that involve math: Yahtzee, Monopoly, Blokus, and Sequence are just a few of the games that will help kids work on math skills while having fun. They can also play with pattern blocks, tangrams, and  jigsaw puzzles.

4. Involve children in everyday math.

• When at a restaurant, look at the prices on the menu. Based on your child’s age, come up with different ways to incorporate math. Find the highest priced item, the lowest priced item, the cost of two items, etc.  When my kids were in grade school, I started having them help me calculate the tip when we went out to eat.  We always solved for 20% of the total.  I would show them how to find 10% and then double it.  We’d also talk about rounding up to the nearest ten or hundred.  Lots of math concepts can be covered.  And as an added bonus, when your kids start going out to eat with friends, they already know how figure out the tip!!
• When shopping, ask your kids to find the cheapest item on a shelf. Or have them calculate the difference between two items. Use rounding to figure out about how much your bill will be. If you pay with cash, help your child decide how much to give if you don’t have the  exact amount.  Figure out how much change you’ll get.
• Almost all parts of cooking involve math. Choose a recipe and cook together. Start simple.  Bake cookies or make a smoothie. Measure, estimate, and scale recipes.  Your little chef won’t even know they’re learning. 

5. Use summer math calendars for a problem a day. Math Gook Mama offers free summer math calendars for grades K-5. Get them here.  Print them out and hang them on your fridge each month.   

6. Practice basic math facts. When children don’t know their basic facts, it makes it much for difficult to move on to more challenging material. Summer is a great time to gain proficiency with basic facts.  Decide on the operation (+,-,x or ÷) and spend a little time each day practicing. Flashcard games are a great option, and they can be played any time; in the car, on a plane, in a restaurant, on the beach, you get my drift.  Physical flashcards are fine, but many kids may be more engaged with online flashcards games.  Here are some of my favorite sites. These are sites with both flashcards and math games.  On some of them, you may need to choose the operation and level of difficulty.

7. Play a License Plate Car Game

Some of the most productive time can be spent when traveling in a car.  The kids have nothing else to do and it helps pass the time. You can play different versions of the license plate game based on your child’s age:

These suggestions can be implemented throughout the year, not just during summer.  But if you want to keep your kid’s math skills fresh and have them ready for a new school year, try some of these together this summer.