Spring and summer are the perfect seasons for involving your children in gardening. Children love the outdoors and have a natural curiosity for insects, mud, flowers, plants, snails, and wildlife. Gardening can teach children about the earth, nature, and healthy foods. You can even start plants indoors and move them outside later. There is something to learn from gardening for children of all ages. In addition to planting and watering activities can include creating plant markers, reading and interpreting seed packages, distinguishing seeds and plants, distinguishing edible plants, insects, and creating a compost pile.

Gardening with kids encourages their interest our earth, conservation, and preservation. You can teach children how the world’s eco-system works from a garden. Preschoolers can catch insects, blow the seeds off dandelions, and create planting holes, water, and plant seeds. For younger children, the seeds, insects, and water are interesting. Science, math, and spelling can all be incorporated into garden learning.

This is a simple hands-on project that presents many learning opportunities.  Planning your outdoor garden includes subjects such as considering each plant’s needs, soil type, sunlight exposure, drainage, and water access.  Let your child choose what they would like to grow.

You can teach respect for nature and how growing plants provides oxygen and recycling helps earth. You can choose to plant flowers, fruits, vegetables, or a tree. Teach kids how each insect plays a part in nature. Older children might be interested in farming technology, horticulture, or plant biology.

Education is much more than sitting in a classroom all day. You can teach your children how to learn outside the classroom and form a bond with them as a teacher. Gardening can be a fun and educational activity. You can instill an enthusiasm for nature in them that will carry on for a life time.

by David McLeod

Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher

David has been teaching elementary school in Central Texas for over 7 years and has over 15 years of experience in online education related websites and blogs.

While high school age students certainly are not immune to the summer brain drain of knowledge, there are also numerous other items and things they forget during the summer that can affect their new school year:

Students usually get new computer passwords and locker assignments at school each year but not always. High school students have a tendency to forget these even on their own computers.

High school students often have items that go with them from year to year such as athletic equipment, laptops, art supplies, watches, and so on. Many have a tendency to misplace these items over the summer and forget where they are when the new school year begins.  The last thing most students want to think about at the end of a school year is starting the next grade however, making a list of these items and where they are can save time and money at the end of summer.

High school students can forget their organizational skills.

High school students can forget their study habits over summer break.

These students often have deadlines for class registrations and need to complete paperwork and enrollment forms over the summer that they forget about. This can lead to changing class schedules and not getting in to desired classes because they are full.

Many extracurricular activities including sports and associations require signing up before the school year begins and students are preoccupied with summer activities and can get left out.

High school students often take more responsibility in their lives and parents take less. This can result in students forgetting they need physicals or other medical requirements before attending school.

Transferring high school students often forget to get transcripts from their old high schools over the summer.

High school students often forget to return library books they checked out during the previous school year.  This can result in fines and revocation. The same applies to returning text books to the school.

Older high school students often depend on themselves for transportation. Many forget to renew their driver’s licenses or pay their auto insurance over the summer leading to last minute panic at the start of school or even worse.

by David McLeod

Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher

David has been teaching elementary school in Central Texas for over 7 years and has over 15 years of experience in online education related websites and blogs.

Students do not retain everything they have learned in the previous school year over their summer break.  Some of this information is critical to their success in the next grade. The ten things many middle school aged children tend to forget over summer include:

Study habits. If your child has developed good study and homework habits do not be surprised when he or she seems to have forgotten these at the beginning of the new school year. Most of the time these behaviors will return quickly however.

Math skills they learned the previous year. Simply spending a few hours a week during the summer practicing the equations they learned can help increase their retention.

Reading skills learned in the previous school year. Also reading only a few hours a week during the summer can help elementary maintain reading skills.

Grammar, punctuation, and spelling skills.

Students this age are often growing space between themselves and parents. They can easily forget to tell parents they want to sign up for a sport or other activity over the summer or before the new school year begins. Parents need to get a schedule of possible school activities for the upcoming school year and discuss this with their child during the summer.

Middle school children often forget information relating to new subjects they have been introduced to during the previous school year. If they were introduced to fractions for example, quizzing them over the summer with real world problems involving fractions can help them retain this new skill.

These students often tend to put subjects they have had difficulty with out of their minds. After all summer is about fun. While students need to be encouraged and you should emphasize their strengths, spending a little time on the more challenging subjects while there is no
pressure during the summer can help them improve greatly.

Subjects that involve memorizing facts and figures tend to be put out of mind during the summer. Often playing games during the summer break that involve these subjects can help your student retain important information.

Middle school children have safety rules they can forget during the break. Reminding them will often help them later, even over their objections!

These students forget many of the basic needs for the new school year such as getting the list of supplies needed, what text books if any, lunch money, back packs, jackets, umbrellas, and so on. Preparing these items before the first day of school can save you and them some headaches.

by David McLeod

Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher

David has been teaching elementary school in Central Texas for over 7 years and has over 15 years of experience in online education related websites and blogs.

Some educators call this the summer brain drain and evidence shows students do lose reading, math computational, and other skills over summer break.  The ten things many elementary children tend to forget over summer include:

1. Math skills they learned the previous year. Simply spending a few hours a week during the summer practicing the equations they learned can help increase their retention.

2. Reading skills learned in the previous school year. Also reading only a few hours a week during the summer can help elementary students maintain reading skills.

3. Spelling skills can fall behind during summer break.

4. Kindergarten and first graders often forget their addresses and phone numbers during summer break. This is information they often do not need over summer vacation. Because adults use this information regularly parents often assume that their children will remember this simple knowledge.

5. Because history involves memorizing dates, many students fall behind in history over the summer because they forget the dates associated with events. A periodic review of what they learned in the previous grade can help them retain this information.

6. As is common with most people, if you don’t use it you lose it. Such is the case with younger children and telling time and tracking calendar dates over the summer. They lose track of days without their routine of attending school and can lose their ability to track days.

7. Elementary children often forget their listening skills developed in the classroom environment. After all they have usually not had to raise their hands to speak all summer. While these will be reinforced by a new teacher, the first few weeks after returning from summer break can result in disciplinary challenges.

8. Elementary age children can forget their manners if the same standards are not practiced in the home consistently.

9. Many students forget the school routine and what things they need to take to school each day such as books, lunch money, back packs, jackets, umbrellas, and so on.

10. Younger children often forget school and safety rules. Do not assume your child knows all the safety precautions from the previous school year especially when their health and life might depend on it.

by David McLeod

Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher

David has been teaching elementary school in Central Texas for over 7 years and has over 15 years of experience in online education related websites and blogs.

Being aware of where your child stands and where he or she should be upon entering the ninth grade will help you help him or her become academically prepared. By starting high school at a proficient level they will not be in a catch up mode. Students who enter high school academically behind will often struggle throughout all four grades.

Math Skills Needed
Ninth grade is often an important year for math subjects. In addition to the development of basic math skills, this year might be a student’s first introduction to algebra and more complex geometry concepts.
A student entering ninth grade needs an understanding of measurements of area of shapes as focus will be on learning mathematical equations for three dimensional objects. Familiarity with pyramids, cubes, circles, cones, spheres, and cylinders including congruence to solve geometric problems is helpful.

These students are expected to understand the impacts of the four basic math operations on whole and mixed numbers, as well as fractions, decimals, and integers. They should comprehend the inverse relationship of positive and negative numbers. These students should be able to apply properties of real numbers to solve problems that are associative, distributive, equality, inverse, and closure properties.
They should b e able to solve real-world problems by selecting correct operations with integers, ratios, rates, proportions, percents, decimals, and fractions.

Students entering ninth grade should know standard numerals for integers, fractions, decimals, percents, exponents, scientific notation, absolute value, radicals, and ratios. They should understand rational and irrational numbers in real-world situations and associations between fractions, decimals, and percents in real-world context.

Writing Skills Required
Writing skills are imperative for success in high school. By the time your child completes eighth grade he or she should

Be able to express a viewpoint in writing.
Solve problems by writing.
Combine relevant ideas.
Write at a higher level than their speech.
Use a writing a subject appropriate writing style

by David McLeod

Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher

David has been teaching elementary school in Central Texas for over 7 years and has over 15 years of experience in online education related websites and blogs.

Many students advancing to sixth grade are leaving elementary school and transitioning to a middle school. There can be many changes involved in this promotion including a new school, new classmates, a different attendance schedule, moving about the school for classes, a locker, and numerous teachers for different subjects. The academic work might be more challenging and the homework load can be heavier. There are often more responsibilities too including those that require organizational skills for assignments and deadlines.

Organizational skills often make the difference at this age between students who excel and those who perform poorly. These same organizational skills will be needed in the future and developing good habits now will be of life-long value. You can help your child develop these organizational skills with tools that best fit his or her needs and preferences. For example a watch is often better than a cell phone for tracking time. A cell phone is often tucked away in a back pack or purse and not allowed in some schools and classrooms. A watch keeps the time readily available. A watch with hands is said to be more beneficial for grasping the concept of time than a digital read out watch.

Sixth grade students need to be proficient in oral and written language for expressive, informational, argumentative, and literary reasons. They should also be adept in grammar structure and rules and be able to speak and write correctly. They need to be able to interpret, form arguments and debate, and have a broad vocabulary.

Additional academic skills a student advancing to sixth grade needs include:
Multiply and divide common fractions and mixed numbers
Perform percentage problems
Formulas for circumference, radius, diameter, and area of a circle
Analyze dialogue, imagery and mood in literature
Read and summarize information
Create multi-paragraph compositions
Identify good writing
Your student entering sixth grade needs to “as smart as fifth grader!”

by David McLeod

Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher

David has been teaching elementary school in Central Texas for over 7 years and has over 15 years of experience in online education related websites and blogs.

While school educational requirements and teachers vary most will agree the following skills are a good foundation for starting first grade. Check with your child’s first grade teacher or the school the year before to find out if they have a checklist of requirements or educational criteria level for first grade.

Your first grader should be able to do the following:
Recognize and identify colors
Count to 100
Read basic words
Recite the alphabet correctly
Recognize upper and lower case letters
Understand and identify the value of money (coins)
Tell time at least by the hour
Write the numbers to 100
Write the letters of the alphabet
No longer need daily naps
Write his or her name
Identify basic shapes
Follow two directions in one sentence Example: Set the cup on the counter and bring me the spoon.
Understand opposites
Understand the calendar and identify the days of the week
Count by twos
Know the vowels and their sounds
Understand simple addition and subtraction
Indentify rhyming words

If your child is deficient in any of the needed skills the sooner you can begin working with him or her than the better off your child will be. No student likes to start off behind the other children. Encouragement and praise with emphasis on the skills your child has mastered will help build confidence for developing the skills your child is having difficulty with.

There are many teaching aids available including games for children of this age. If your child is not capable of mastering most of these skills before first grade, meet with his or her teacher. If your child has vision, hearing, or a learning challenge identifying that as early as possible will allow you to make the needed accommodations to get him or her on track.

by David McLeod

Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher

David has been teaching elementary school in Central Texas for over 7 years and has over 15 years of experience in online education related websites and blogs.

High school can be full of ups and downs for students. This is an exciting time of great self discovery as well as the awkwardness of fitting in. There will be new experiences such as dating, driving, and preparing for college. This is a time when many life long bonds are formed and nostalgic memories generated. While your student might seem self reliant, there are things parents can do to support this transition.

Discuss your young person’s future plans. Get them thinking about college and making career choices.
Let them know that grades now carry additional weight as they will appear on their transcripts and follow them to college. Meet their teachers and attend open houses. Develop the lines of communication with the educators should you have questions or should challenges arise later. Most educators say student academic achievement is often higher when parents are involved and aware of their student’s performance.

Visit the school prior to enrolling and discuss course selections with your student. Meet with the guidance counselor or at least make sure your student does. Many high schools allow students to make course selections based on individual needs and goals. In addition there might be honors and advanced placement courses. This is a time of discovery for many students and they might change their direction after completing a course. This is acceptable and they should be encouraged to try new subjects. While students need to maintain acceptable grades they must also pursue what interests them.

At this stage of life peers can often have a great influence over your student. The friends they choose can sway their direction. Many times this can be a positive experience. Encouraging your kid to get involved in activities, can have some weight as to the friends they make. Communicating with your student during high school is critical. Your role as a parent is slowly changing from teaching consequences and disciplining to guiding.  By staying involved you can help your child stay on the right path.

by David McLeod

Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher

David has been teaching elementary school in Central Texas for over 7 years and has over 15 years of experience in online education related websites and blogs.

Many children have attended one elementary school that has been a safe haven filled with memories. Transitioning to middle school can cause a child to be nervous with anticipation. There will be many questions for your student and you. As much as many children at this age might shun their parent’s involvement, they often are looking to their parents to provide assurance and answers.

Developing a connection with your child’s new school and being involved in the transition will benefit you and your student. Visit the school before the school year begins. Attend and parent and student orientations. Find out who your student’s guidance counselor will be and schedule a meeting. Attend an open house and ask questions about, teachers, curriculum, classes and scheduling. Getting all the information you need and registering well before the first day of school can make this experience much smoother.

Find out about the supply requirements, lunch needs, and the school’s dress code before you go back to school shopping. Some students will require back packs, athletic wear for physical education, or even uniforms. Keep your child involved and let them make as many decisions as possible. This can be a time where your child can feel things are a bit out of their control so give them the reins as much as you can. Show them the school requirements and then let them make the buying decisions within adherence to school policy and your budget.

Discuss with your student what new personal responsibilities your child might have. There are often changes that demand students are more self reliant than in elementary school. Your student might be required to change classes throughout the day and need to know their schedule and the locations of many rooms. Your student might have a new mode of transportation and need to know bus schedules and rules.

Middle schools are often larger than elementary schools and your preteen will be at the bottom of the age food chain and possibly exposed to many new things. Discuss the basics of acceptable behavior, what they have learned about avoiding drugs, and what they should do when they encounter students who are violating school policy.

by David McLeod

Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher

David has been teaching elementary school in Central Texas for over 7 years and has over 15 years of experience in online education related websites and blogs.

Because kindergarten is the beginning of official education for many children and will often be the start of a new routine, children and parents need to prepare. For some children kindergarten will be the first time they are separated from a parent or home environment for such an extended period each day.

Parents can lay a solid foundation by preparing the year before the student is to begin school.

If your child has no siblings or is the oldest and first to attend school, this experience can be overwhelming. Children with older siblings who are in school usually have had more exposure to the routine and expectations. They see their older brothers or sisters return each day none worse for the wear! However, depending on the older sibling’s attitude toward school this can also be an obstacle.

Visit the school with your child before the first day. If possible meet the teacher and introduce your child. You will want to collect the following information from the school:

• Enrollment forms and requirements including medical records, immunizations, documentation, and emergency numbers
• Transportation information (bus routes and schedules, drop off and pick up times and location)
• Meal arrangements
• Registration dates and a school year calendar
• After school programs
• Contact information of other staff members, the principal, other parents

Preparing your child for learning in kindergarten is also important. Help your child learn:

• the alphabet
• learn the letters of his or her name
• write letters
• count to 10 or 20
• to memorize your address
• to memorize your phone number
• how to make the sounds of letters
• how to hold books right side up and identify pictures

Reading to your child each day will help develop reading skills. Read your child’s favorite books and talk about the stories and the characters. Ask your child what is happening in the pictures. Preparing your child for learning includes developing enthusiasm for school. Getting a child started on the right foot with the skills they need and a level of comfort about school and excitement for learning can develop attitudes and habits that will carry him or her through their education.

by David McLeod

Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher

David has been teaching elementary school in Central Texas for over 7 years and has over 15 years of experience in online education related websites and blogs.