All year I have been commenting on how fast the time is flying by and now we are sending out our last newsletter of the school year- wow! It is hard to believe that our little Kindergarten students will be big first-graders next year and that our mighty fifth graders will be moving to middle school. It truly has been another great year at Flory Academy! None of the success that we have seen this year would have been possible without the hard work of our teachers and staff and the great support that we received from you- our F.A.S.T. families. Whether you have helped out in the classroom, served on the board of the PTA or Booster Club, or volunteered for School Site Council or for one of our many events, we have greatly appreciated all of your hard work. The old adage is true- it takes an entire village to raise our children and we appreciate all that you continue to do to make Flory a truly wonderful place!

As the lazy days of summer approach, it is important to remind your students to continue to read and practice their math skills. A report from the U.S. Department of Education reports that, on average, children are set back by 25 percent in their reading skills and approximately 2.6 months of grade-level equivalency in math computation skills over the summer months. It is, therefore, vital to keep students reading and practicing their math facts and computation even when school is out.

Here are some ideas for encouraging summer reading, writing, and math:

Build reading and writing into everyday activities. Some ideas to pass along: (1) set aside a certain time of day for the whole family just for reading, (2) read directions together for how to play a new game, (3) help with meals by writing up a grocery list, finding things in the grocery store, and reading the recipe aloud for mom or dad during cooking time, or (4) If you are planning a vacation this summer, write to the visitors’ bureau of places you will be visiting and ask for information on the area and any special attractions, check out books from the library to get background information, or get brochures from your travel agent, share this information with your child; ask for their input on what activities they would enjoy.  Hang a map of the places you will be visiting and/or traveling through on the wall and chart your travel route.  These techniques will work after travel too.

Encourage writing. Provide children with a stamped, addressed postcard so they can write to friends and family about their summer adventures. You can also recycle school notebooks and paper into summer journals or scrapbooks. Students can draw pictures of summer activities and write a story to go with them.

Look to the outdoors for mathematical inspiration! The summer months provide a great opportunity for children to spend some quality time outdoors, especially in Southern California. Children can explore some fascinating mathematical possibilities in the world around them every day. For instance, math can be found outdoors in nature: Look for symmetry in leaves; count the number, sizes and kinds of trees on your street and graph the results; and look at the various shapes and patterns of blooming flowers; or even just practice multiplication facts while on a family walk! Children will be learning math and enjoying it, too!

I wish each of our students and families a wonderful summer vacation and hope that you all find some quality family time that you can spend together and enjoy each others company. Thank you again for all that you have done and will continue to do for F.A.S.T. and we will see you next year! J

Sincerely, Mr. Winters