Set a Routine

First, routine is critical. Kids in their early years thrive on routine, and they most consistently get this in school. It’s important to establish a daily routine while your child is at home and to follow it. Set times for reading, math, snack time, lunch, and even free play.

Keep a Journal

Encourage your child to write down what they see, hear, think, and feel briefly each day. If your child isn’t ready to write independently, have him or her dictate their thoughts to you. Any subject is fair game, whether or not it relates to the coronavirus. You’ll be making a lot of memories together during this time, and written recordings of them will become treasures for you and your child later on in life.

Start a Pen Pal Program

Kids love to get mail. Because contact with other kids may be limited, consider starting a pen pal program with classmates, family, and other friends. They can send their letters by email or by good old-fashioned snail mail. And, not only do kids get the benefit of writing, they’ll also love practicing reading when they receive letters from their pen pals!

Tell a Shared Story

Work together to make up a fun story. Begin a with an opening like “Once upon a time, there was a hungry frog.” Then ask your child to say the next sentence. Continue taking turns adding to the story until it is finished. This is a rich literacy and language-development activity that’s bound to bring big laughs. And when you’re done, you can create illustrations that bring the story to life.

Practice Measurement 

Before kids learn about standard units of measurement, like inches, feet, pints, and gallons, they can begin to understand the concept of measurement using non-standard units. Use shoes to measure the distance across a room (How many shoes does it take to cross the room?) or pencils to measure the length of a table. Use different sizes of cups and glasses to fill a large bowl or bucket with water. Then talk about how the size or the cup or glass affects the number of times you use it to fill the bowl or bucket.

Work with Patterns

We’re most familiar with visual patterns—patterns of shapes, sizes, or colors, for example—but patterns can also involve sounds or movements. Work with your child to identify the next item in a pattern you start, or alternatively have him or her start patterns for you to continue. Here are a few examples: Visual Patterns

• Small, large, small, large
• Red, red, blue, red, red, blue
• Circle, square, triangle, circle, square, triangle

Sound Patterns

• Snap, snap, clap, snap, snap, clap
• Long sound, short sound, long sound, short sound

Motion Patterns

• Sit, stand, sit, stand
• Arms up, arms out, arms down, arms up, arms out, arms down

Sort, Count, Compare

Provide your child with a pile of objects that includes different colors, shapes, or sizes, such as buttons, paper clips, or blocks. Ask your child to sort the objects, count how many are in each group, and order the groups from fewest to most. Challenge your child to find other ways the objects could be sorted. As an edtech company, we’re excited to do what we can to help everyone make the best of this unprecedented situation. And we’re here to tell you that you can do a lot to for your children during this time. Take a deep breath, do a little prep, and good luck!

Our Digital Learning Programs

Lastly, if you’re looking for educational screen time, we are providing free access to our award-winning digital library, ReadingIQ. Use the code LOVEREADING. You can also sign up for ABCmouse and Adventure Academy, or get free access through your school district. — Joel Kupperstein, SVP Curriculum at Age of Learning

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Dr. Mackey’s research into second language learning appears in all of the top scholarly journals in her field, as well as in edited collections with Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and other leading publishers. In addition to authoring more than 100 journal articles, chapters, and reports, Dr. Mackey has published 16 books—three of which focus on children’s language learning. One of her best-known works, co-authored with Professor Kendall King, is The Bilingual Edge: Why, When and How to Teach Your Child a Second Language (HarperCollins), which has been translated into multiple foreign languages and will soon appear in Chinese.

“Age of Learning’s focus on using empirical findings in education research to drive children’s language learning outcomes at scale is very exciting,” said Professor Mackey. “I am very pleased with this opportunity to join Age of Learning’s Curriculum Board and support the company’s work in developing effective educational programs for children around the world.”

Professor Mackey has taught linguistics around the world, consulted for major language learning companies, and reviewed international baccalaureate and language programs. With her colleague, Susan M. Gass, she is a past winner of the Modern Language Association‘s Kenneth W. Mildenburger prize, awarded for outstanding scholarly books in the fields of language, culture, literacy, and literature that address the teaching of languages other than English. Professor Mackey carried out her graduate work at the University of Sydney and Cambridge University, where she earned her Ph.D. and M. Phil., respectively.

“Age of Learning’s Curriculum Board is central to our curriculum and product development process, ensuring the latest research and understanding of educational best practices guide our work to create the most effective learning experiences for children,” said Age of Learning founder and Executive Chairman Doug Dohring. “We are very pleased to welcome Professor Mackey and her leading expertise in language learning to our team as we continue to enhance and expand our ABCmouse English language learning programs.”

Professor Mackey joins several other leading experts in early childhood education, child development, and language learning who guide the development of Age of Learning’s educational programs.

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Adventure Academy

Our partnership with HMH brings an outstanding collection of classic, award-winning children’s titles, some of which include:

• Jumanji and The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
• Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
• The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
• Several Curious George^® titles by H.A. Rey
• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
• The Napping House by Audrey Wood
• Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Our recent nationwide survey of 1,000 teachers and 1,000 parents found that lack of access to high-quality books is a major challenge for children 12 and under, and that expanding availability is critical to improving reading skills. Students with access to both a traditional and digital library are 53% more likely to be reading above grade level, and exposure to a significant variety and volume of books fosters a lifelong love of reading. Guided by these findings and our team of literacy development experts, Age of Learning continues to expand our educational programs with quality children’s literature and non-fiction.

“Increasing children’s access to books that engage, inspire, and educate is fundamental to our mission,” said Doug Dohring, founder and CEO of Age of Learning. “Partnering with HMH to bring more award-winning and classic books to ReadingIQ, ABCmouse, and Adventure Academy will provide more opportunities for children to experience the joys and benefits of reading in our educational offerings.”

Our award-winning ReadingIQ platform recently added Reading Level Assessments, developed by the assessment team here at Age of Learning, in cooperation with leading education and assessment research organization SRI International, to seamlessly match learners with books at the appropriate reading level. ReadingIQ includes three widely used book leveling systems—Accelerated Reader^®, Lexile^®, and Guided Reading—and all books in the HMH collection are assigned a reading level. Many HMH titles are also professionally voiced to support engagement and comprehension among pre-readers and developing readers.

Visit www.ReadingIQ.com, www.ABCmouse.com, and www.AdventureAcademy.com to learn more about Age of Learning’s educational programs, or download the apps via Apple’s App Store or Google Play. All programs are available for families on a low-cost subscription basis.

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We’ve heard from many of the millions of ABCmouse parents and teachers about the positive impact ABCmouse has on young learners’ academic skills and love of learning. But it’s not just anecdotal. A dozen research studies, including several large-scale randomized controlled trials conducted by leading education researchers, show that ABCmouse accelerates learning and helps children make significant gains in early literacy and math skills with as little as 30 minutes of usage per week.

Across the globe, children are learning to count, understand their letters, and become strong readers on ABCmouse. And, just as importantly, they are having fun! In ABCmouse they can explore the natural world, keep dinosaurs and unicorns as pets, race cars, solve puzzles, and read adventures tailored for their age and interests. Through play, they do some serious learning!

More than 4 billion learning activities completed is an exciting milestone. But we won’t stop here—we are committed to continuing to expand, enhance, and increase access to our educational programs. ABCmouse is available to families on a low-cost subscription basis and is free in classrooms, public libraries, public housing authorities, and other community centers as part of our Education Access Initiatives. These initiatives have helped educate more than 6 million children across all 50 states, at no cost to families, teachers, or libraries.

If educating one child can make a difference to her and all the people she will influence throughout her life, imagine what could happen if every child had that opportunity. At Age of Learning, we are committed to making that a reality, one book, game, and puzzle at a time.

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Reaching this 4-billion milestone demonstrates the power of highly engaging educational activities to bring learning to life for children. It also represents a meaningful contribution to improving educational outcomes at scale. A growing body of researchassessing ABCmouse’s effectiveness shows that the program accelerates learning and helps children make significant gains in early literacy and math skills, with as little as 45 minutes of usage or 15 learning activities completed per week.

Developed by education experts and launched in 2010, ABCmouse is the leading and most comprehensive digital learning resource for children ages 2–8 and has won numerous top awards from education, parent, and media organizations. With a research-validated curriculum for preschool, pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and 1st and 2nd grades, ABCmouse has more than 10,000 individual learning activities. ABCmouse is available to families on a low-cost subscription basis for use on computers, tablets, and smartphones.

To support children who are furthest from opportunity, Age of Learning makes ABCmouse available for free in classrooms, public libraries, public housing authorities, and other community centers. Cumulatively, these initiatives have helped educate more than 6 million children across all 50 states, at no cost to families, teachers, or libraries.

“From the beginning, we have strived to help educate children everywhere by making high-quality learning easily accessible to families and educators,” said Doug Dohring, CEO and co-founder of Age of Learning. “We are thrilled to see so many kids engaging with ABCmouse in a meaningful way. We couldn’t be more excited to build on this milestone as we continue to enhance and expand our educational programs.”

ABCmouse is available at www.ABCmouse.com and on all major smartphones and tablets via the Apple App Store, Google Play, or Amazon Appstore.

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Research shows that the summer slide has a significant, cumulative impact on academic achievement, particularly for children in low-income households. The summer slide is a key factor behind a stunning statistic: by the end of 5th grade, disadvantaged children are, on average, nearly three grade levels behind their more affluent peers in reading (source: The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading). And, according to the National Summer Learning Association, summer learning loss accounts for two-thirds of the achievement gap in reading between children from low- and middle-income households by 9th grade.

But there is hope. While the school year will start before we know it, there’s still time for children to reinforce what they learned the previous year and prepare for the next one. Engaging and effective learning experiences can help prevent the summer slide by getting children excited to continue learning over their summer break.

Below are some helpful tips that families can use to maintain academic achievement over the summer from National Teachers’ Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Rebecca Palacios, Senior Curriculum Advisor at Age of Learning.

Visit Your Local Public Library

Visiting the library can help develop a love of reading and learning at an early age. In addition to thousands of books, libraries offer technology access, research areas, and fun learning activities.

More than 8,000 public libraries nationwide make ABCmouse.com available for families to use on site at no cost. Families get full access to the more than 10,000 ABCmouse Learning Activities, including books, songs, puzzles, and games that encompass key academic subjects. Patrons in some areas, including the San Francisco Bay Area and Detroit can also check out ABCmouse accounts from their local library to use at home through the Bring Learning to All initiative.

Read, Read, Read!

A 2004 American Academy of Arts and Sciences study concluded that children should read at least 4 to 5 books over the summer break to prevent summer  learning loss. Research shows that books that are “just right”for children–those that aren’t frustratingly hard or too easy–make the best learning experiences.

Regular reading matters: Choose a fun and engaging weekly book that you can read aloud as a family. Read a chapter each night, if it’s a longer book. Here are a few tips for making these reading sessions even more interactive and engaging:

1. Talk to your child about words in the book that rhyme or begin with the same letter.
2. Ask your child questions about what is happening in the story as you’re reading.
3. Discuss the book’s characters: their names, appearance, feelings, and actions.

With thousands of books to choose from, ABCmouse provides rich reading experiences for children in preschool through 2nd grade at their listening-comprehension or independent reading level.

Be Prepared for On-the-Go Learning 

Whether you’re on a plane, at the park, or in a store, every outing can be a learning opportunity! Ask questions and show kids different colors, shapes, words, and numbers in the world around them.

Listening and singing along to music is also a wonderful way for children to learn about the world around them and build a rich vocabulary. You can now access 175 ABCmouse children’s songs, including a special summer playlist that teaches the alphabet, numbers and operations, shapes, colors, and geography, on major streaming platforms such as Spotify, Google Play, and Pandora. Children can sing along to “The Letter S Song, “The Statue of Liberty,” “Five Little Monkeys,” and more.

Families can also download seven ABCmouse apps that offer ABCmouse content for offline use, making ABCmouse even easier for families to access—no matter where they go.

A recent research study showed that students who regularly used ABCmouse for at least 70 minutes per week over the summer demonstrated literacy gains equivalent to one month of academic instruction! These gains were sustained well into the following school year. Invest in summer learning today and reap benefits for your children this fall, and in all school years ahead.

The post Closing the Achievement Gap: Tips for Preventing Summer Learning Loss first appeared on Age of Learning.

See a full list of our new back-to-school features and capabilities for teachers and schools here.

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See a full list of our new back-to-school features and capabilities for teachers and schools here.

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