Summer Skills to Prevent Regression - This Week's #PTchat

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By Dana Sirotiak


As in the words of Alice Cooper "Schools Out for Summer"! Well, at least it is very close.  As another school year comes to an end, families contemplate what to do with their children over the summer break.  If parents are contemplating keeping their children home for the summer, regression becomes a concern.  Regression is the loss of learned skills; usually after breaks in instruction once school is let out for summer vacation.  Some regression is normal in all children, but in some instances,  students are profoundly affected by lapses in instruction. These students may be unable to store concepts in their long-term memory in a way that can be easily recalled. The amount of instruction they need to recover or "recoup" their abilities may be longer than other students need, and they may need additional instruction to catch up.  This week's PTchat is to discuss techniques, strategies, and activities to prevent regression from happening.  Some suggestions are reading activities, calculating grocery bills, planning/budgeting the family's summer vacation, journal keeping, scrapbooking, and more.  


Please join us at 9PM EDT on Wednesday, 6/12 as we discuss Summer Skills to Prevent Regression.  

Sharing K-12 Summer Reading Ideas - This week's #PTchat

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Last year the @NYTimesLearning blog held a conversation on summer reading, sharing many resources which added to the 2012 #PTchat discussion on summer reading. This week we've got a variety of amazing connected educators and parents ready to share out during the annual #PTchat on summer reading. 

We've invited teachers, librarians, parents and all around good people like @joycevalenza @SOMSlibrary @cybraryman1 @ontheshelf4kids @shannonmmiller @johnfritzky and others to pace our conversation. Below are some of the questions we'll be posing during the one-hour chat.

• What K-12 expectations should we have for students to read over the summer? Why?
• What are the ways classroom teachers can encourage summer reading?
• If parents are encouraging summer reading, what kinds of things are they most likely doing?
• How can keep school libraries stay virtually open when so many are closed from June-September?
• What tech tools can be used to encourage summer reading, keep logs or share literary experiences?
• How can the whole family encourage summer reading? What practices would you recommend?
• How can we make these summer habits the norm in students' homes?

Please join us Wednesday, 5/29 at 9PM EDT for a one hour conversation on how parents and teachers can make the most of summer reading opportunities for kids. Use #PTchat and #summerreading in your tweets. 

Pros & Cons of Family Engagement Incentives - Tonight's #PTchat

Schools and parent organizations are always looking, and often struggle, for more parents to attend events and participate. Some schools are now providing incentives to parents, saying they’re simply doing what it takes to get families involved when they might not otherwise consider. Incentives vary from offering a small $5 gift card to larger items such as meals or used computers.

Do you offer incentives? Do they work? Do demographics play a part? Bring you ideas or play "idea bandit" with others as together we continue planning for 13-14.

Join #PTchat Wednesday, 5/22 at 9PM EDT and share your thoughts and ideas on the pros and cons of providing incentives for family participation at school.

This Week's #PTchat: Parents and Educators Teaming Up to Cultivate Soft Skills in Children

By Dana Sirotiak

If you looked into today’s classroom, what skills would you see being taught through the doors of a Kindergarten class? 4^thgrade class? AP Science class?  When preparing students to be college and career ready, schools normally focus on the skills students will be in order to be successful in a competitive 21^st Century world.  “Schools do a good job of teaching reading, writing, science, math and other “hard” skills that are both essential and valuable to performing well on the job” (Aricia E. LaFrance,Parenting and Career Coach).  In order to prepare students both at home and at school, soft skills are also important traits to be included in daily interactions.  La France (2013) defines “soft skills” as a complex system of traits and habits including: confidence, flexibility, honestly, integrity, the ability to see things from different perspectives, optimism, and common sense.  These soft skills are habits that have been cultivated over time; starting in the home, then developed throughout time in school. 

This week’s #PTchat will focus on how parents and educators can join together to help students cultivate soft skills both at home and in school.  Join us this Wednesday, May 15^th at 9pm EDT/6pm PDT, to discuss specific strategies families and educators can use to help students develop soft skills. 

Tools & Techniques to Engage Families - Open Idea Sharing Session on #PTchat

Tonight's #ptchat is an open sharing session based on the tools & techniques you are using to engage school families and the community. What is working? What is not? Bring our ideas and help others push forward as we head down the home stretch. We'll also discuss logistics on a summer bookchat using Beyond the Bakesale

Join us tonight, May 8th at 9PM EDT / 6PM PST using #ptchat.