As you get your kids ready to go back to school, we're helping you fight what teachers call the summer slide. Research has shown that students can lose up to 30% of the knowledge they've gained in the school year over the summer. That means teachers sometimes have to spend weeks, if not months, getting kids back into the school mindset, and regaining the knowledge they lost.
So 7 Eyewitness News asked a local teacher what students and parents can do to fight back against the summer slide. Fifth grade teacher Colleen McNamara told us it's important to make learning fun, to explore, and to go on educational adventures to places like the Buffalo Museum of Science, if possible.
McNamara also told us students should also be sitting down to do some school work almost every day during the summer.
"You want to be reading for at least 20 minutes a day, and also working on math for 20 minutes a day," she suggested. "And the best thing you can do is review old school work, and if you're ambitious, go online. You can look at the skills you'll be learning in your next grade level, and you can find so many resources to start getting you prepped for that."
McNamara suggested parents and students can use workbooks or go online to find practice problems. She suggested the Khan Academy website, which offers some free online lessons. You can check out the site by clicking here.
