SAINT PETERSBURG, Fla. — Every school year, parents and teachers talk about the summer slide: how students can lose some of the knowledge they gained over the school year during the summer break. This year, that period of time was even longer, thanks to COVID-19. Lissette Godwin is the regional manager for the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County. She joined GDL to give lots of tips, broken down by age, on how to beat or reverse some of the COVID slide, whether your kids are going back to the classroom or virtually learning from home. The biggest tip, which applies to every age group: Read, read, read! Many more resources are available from the Office of Early Learning at floridaearlylearning.com/parents.
Godwin’s tips:
General tips that apply to all age groups:
- Establish a love of reading/being read to
- Get back into a routine and schedule
- Get excited about back to school
- Self-help skills
- Social emotional intelligence (naming their feelings and how to work through conflict)
Toddlers
- Importance of play – Unplug and let toddlers explore their environments through their senses. Help them expand on language through conversation as well as name their emotions.
- Reading: This is how children begin to learn the rhythm and cadence of language.
Resources
3Ts (digital tool for parents) – “Tune In, Talk More, Take Turns”
The ELCHC has partnered with the TMW Center for Early Learning & Public Health, PNC’s Grown Up Great, and the University of Chicago to bring the 3Ts to Hillsborough County. Tuning in means be in the moment with your child. Talking more means using a wide variety of words. Taking turns means engaging your child in conversation. When a parent uses all 3Ts at once, they build the strongest brain possible for their child. 3Ts provides parents information about how you can incorporate the 3Ts every day during regular activities. The online, digital tool guides parents through potential opportunities for interactions at their child’s age level.
Parents can access the digital tool in English at the3Ts.org or in Spanish at la3Cs.org.
Preschoolers
- Play is still important. Children are beginning to question how things work. This is a great age for developing more STEM skills and problem solving why something doesn’t work. HOW & WHY should be your new favorite words when talking with your preschoolers and early elementary students.
- Continue reading: Good time to focus on story elements: setting, characters, etc.
Resources
Five for Five series: These are mini segments focused on the Florida Office of Early Learning Standards. Available on YouTube channel: youtube.com/ELCHillsborough
Elementary (1st grade to 5th)
- Great time to start journaling (hopes, fears, dreams, wishes)
- This provides an opportunity to practice writing skills and leads to conversations in return.
- Work on helping them name their emotions
- Expand their comprehension in reading: inference and expand into some non-fiction
Resources:
We just held our first “Teacher Talk: Virtual Discussion” for parents of preschool age children who will transition to kindergarten, as well as families with new VPK children or preschoolers. Teachers provided valuable insight to the differences between the two early learning environments and tips to prepare your little one for this next adventure.
Middle School
Although this is not Godwin’s area of expertise, she’s a mom who has passed through middle school already. Here is what she suggests:
Middle schoolers are becoming more independent learners and need to learn how to self-advocate for their own educational and personal needs.
- Time management is crucial, as they will have more work assigned than when in elementary school. (Get an alarm clock and agenda)
- Be ready to make new friends.