Week four discussion 

Initial Post – When students leave for summer vacation, they take with them all of the information they learned throughout the year. Unfortunately, some of this information is not retained as children’s main focus during summer is usually “summer fun!” In fact, approximately two months or 22% of instructional time is typically lost during the summer months; as a result, teachers need to spend at least one month re-teaching the material to make up for this “summer regression” (John Hopkins Summer Learning Report, 2002). This summer regression idea can be applied to children who are also entering kindergarten. To ensure a child is ready for kindergarten, professionals who work with young children and/or parents can engage children in fun summertime activities that promote and maintain learning. 

For this post you will start by providing a summary describing the stages of child development for children that are entering Kindergarten. Next, you will create an interactive factsheet. This factsheet will highlight each stage supported by activities and/or ideas that will help prepare and engage children for Kindergarten during the summer months. Include specific examples, videos, articles, or pictures of the developmental milestones that a child will need to meet to be successful upon entering kindergarten and provide appropriate summertime activities that families can engage in with their children:

• Motor development (e.g. balance on one foot for 10 seconds)
• Cognitive development (e.g. follow simple 3 step commands)
• Communication development (e.g. says rhyming words)
• Language development (e.g. tells stories)
• Social Emotional development (e.g. communicate needs and feelings)