Looking for Some Fun Summer Reading for Your "Wimpy Kid" Fan?

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has taken the elementary schools by storm. One mother recently likened being able to read it to a "rite of passage." The kids LOVE these books!

But what about after they've been read? What about the kids who can't quite handle the series' reading level yet? What other books can you get to entice your reluctant reader?

Here's a suggestion: another diary-format series called Nate's Journal. This series chronicles the trials and tribulations of Nate's grade 8 year. However, each book is a stand-alone story so they don't have to be read in order.

They'll remind your son or daughter of the Wimpy Kid books. They are written in journal fashion, complete with quirky line drawings accompanying the text.

Best of all-they're an easy read! While they were written to attract 4th to 6th grade readers, the easy to decode text is written at a grade 3 level.

Sometimes the key to getting your child to begin to enjoy reading is finding the right series to "hook" them. The Nate's Journal series might be just the "bait" you need to catch the interest of your young reader!

Look for them online or at your local booksellers. Happy Reading!

Summer Suggestions

Wondering what you should do to keep your child's skills sharp or to better prepare him or her for school next fall? There are 5 key areas you should think about.

Each will take only minutes a day. Why not set aside an hour a day this summer to keep your child's academic momentum going?

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING AND WRITING PRACTICE

1) Read! 20 to 30 minutes daily. Sometimes challenging material (to further their decoding skills), and sometimes easier material (to work on fluency).

2) Build a sight word base for reading! Use a word list from school or other list with common words. Print words on 3 by 5 index cards and review daily. As words are mastered, review less often and add new words to cards for daily practice.

3) Build a sight word base for spelling! Use the same word lists as for the reading sight word base. Practice spelling the words daily. When a word is correctly spelled for a week, replace with a new word. Work on about 10 words a day.

4) Vocabulary! Learn the meanings of words discovered in reading or spelling tasks. Improving vocabulary skills can lead to improved comprehension! Put new words on 3 by 5 index cards with short definitions on the back to practice. Use the words in sentences or use as part of the daily writing activity.

5) Write! Write 2-3 sentences or a short paragraph describing what was just read, or anything of interest! Be sure to proof for spelling and punctuation.

Now go out and have some summer fun!

Should We Do Summer Work?

Summer is quickly coming upon us. As the days grow sunnier and warmer, spring fever begins to set in. Our thoughts wander to the delights of summer--afternoons at the pool, a trip to the beach, summer camps and other fun things!

Thoughts of school fade to the background. However, summer is an ideal time to enrich or remediate reading, spelling, and comprehension skills! An hour or two a day devoted to these areas can lead to improved skills, better grades in the fall, and less flack about homework.

But what should you do? Well, that depends on the specific needs of your child. Some possibilities include:

Enrichment Work

Many people think that if their child is doing okay in school, no additional work is needed. And it's true, they don't need remedial work. However, our experience at Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers is that clients who are already performing in the average range can make significant gains by doing enrichment work to enhance their skills. Why settle for average if the potential is there to be a star student? Enrichment work is often completed in just a few weeks time, or can be done only one hour a day for a bit longer. An evaluation of your childs' learning skills could identify any areas that might benefit from enrichment work.

Summer Review

Perhaps your child has completed work at our center in the past. While regular reading and writing are the most important things your child can do to maintain or further his or her skills, a review of strategies learned could provide the boost needed for them to excel or move to higher level material. In this case, no formal evaluation may be needed. A call to your Learning Coordinator is likely all that you need. Your Learning Coordinator will be happy to make suggestions and discuss options. Over the summer, we often have weeks available when full-time clients are out for vacation that your child can fill--a win/win situation for both us and you!

Remediation

Is your child currently struggling? Are you worried they may not be able to keep up next school year? Are you fearful they may not be promoted this year? If so, an evaluation would give you insight into exactly where your child's skills break down and what you should do to remediate them. Many families feel that summer is the best possible time to do remediation work since it does not have to be done after a full day of school. Summer is a great time to play catch-up and prepare your child for the upcoming school year.

Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers

2520 Bardstown Rd.

Louisville, KY

(502) 473-7000

We teach reading and spelling skills for life. Spread the word!

Ready for Second Grade!

Nothing is worse than having to dread school starting up in the fall! Collin and his family won't have to do that this year, as Collin has been working all summer to prepare!

He completed his session work with us in June, with a promise of continuing on his own this summer so that he would be well-prepared for second grade. Collin's Learning Coordinator, Kristin, sent home sight words to practice, spelling words to master and a recommendation for lots of fun reading and writing. Collin's summer plans included signing up for the reading club at his local library.

How great for Collin to start a new school year feeling prepared and confident! We hope he wow's his teacher this year!

Isabell

Here's another delightful child we had the pleasure of working with this summer. Isabell is an example of one of our students who really just needed a boost for her skills to help her put all the pieces together more effectively. Isabell's family reports increased confidence in school this year.

Teddy's Reading Novels

When Teddy first came to work with us, his Learning Coordinator, Mary, created a customized plan of action that developed his reading and spelling up to the simple multi-syllable level. Upon finishing that phase of work, he stopped attending daily sessions and then returned the following summer for 2 weeks to work at the complex multi-syllable level. This is often done with our younger clients so we can give them time to stabilize their new skills and then work on the more complex levels at the same time this type of work is increasing in school, usually after the third grade year.

This past summer, Teddy returned for a one week review. Teddy is now at the level where he is beginning to read novels so we also did some work on Novel Noting. Our Novel Noting sessions help with organizing and planning this type of school reading to gain a deeper understanding of the book. Our work includes ways to organize the setting and characters, develop main ideas of each chapter, and also learn new vocabulary words.

More Langsford Lobby Fun

This is Katie, another sister of one of our clients who enjoys playing in our lobby with the blocks. This summer she's also come in with her swim suit on, ready for a day in the pool. As I've seen quite a few swim-suit clad families picking up their kids this summer I've been thinking Langsford should figure out a way to have our summer sessions at the pool too!

Following Up: The Learning Continues

Kristin, one of Langsford's Learning Coordinators, recently followed up with a family of a student who will be entering 8th grade this fall. At the end of his work here, Kristin prepared further recommendations so he could continue to benefit and strengthen the gains he made from his work at Langsford.

Kristin's main recommendation was that the student continue to work on writing this summer. So as summer arrived, she contacted his mother to remind her about that and to offer specific suggestions. She wanted to offer ideas that would be fun, help motivate and give him more control over the process, so she recommended creative writing. She gave the mom the following link to help along those lines. Readers of this blog may want to check it out as well. Click here.

Another recommendation Kristin made for this particular family was to investigate the possibility of using a Franklin Speller. Technological advances such as these electronic dictionaries and spellers can be helpful depending on the situation. Sometimes these tools are used soley for accomodation or compensation. Langsford believes it's important to concentrate on remediation first and then move to technology to assist in learning and the Franklin Speller can be a great tool.

Finally, Kristin recommended that this family have some fun with a Group Story. A Group Story is where someone starts a story and then passes it off to another person who writes a few sentences and so on. The stories can get quite crazy and you never know how it's going to turn out. I know I (Debbie) did this several times with my children and I still have my favorite. We suggest everyone give it a try.

Kristin received this feedback from mom after her follow up:

Good Morning Kristin,

I hope this finds you well. Yes, Brock did finish with a great report card. All his grades were 88 and above. He made second honors for the very first time! YEAH!

I purchased the Franklin speller for him and he seemed to benefit from it. Thanks for that good suggestion.

To say the least I am impressed with your follow up! I always appreciate people that hold me to my word. I purchased the notebook for the combined story writing weeks ago. Now, making the time for the writing. Thanks for the nudge.

Please pass along my thanks and appreciation to your staff for their part in Brock's success!

Take care,
Courtney

Evan's Tapering Plan

This is Evan and her little brother Tommy. Evan's mother has a special education background and when she first called to speak to us, she said she knew Evan was struggling, but not really at an extreme level. She thought Evan would benefit from a boost and wanted to do something to help her self-confidence when it came to reading. Mom reports that school says she is now reading above grade level.

Working In conjunction with her Learning Coordinator, Mary, Mom has decided to continue bringing Evan in sporadically over the summer to ensure that she has more time to apply what she's learned. At Langsford, we refer to this part of our customized plan as "tapering," which means that we want to gradually move a student out of sessions as they demonstrate the ability to apply their new skills. This tapering plan will differ with each individual client and his/her specific needs.

Our goal is to make sure that every client leaves Langsford with the skills needed to be a self-correcting, independent learner.

You Can Learn A Lot By Observing

We are often contacted by educational professionals who want to learn more about Langsford so they know what sort of student may be appropriate for the work we do. These professionals want to be knowledgeable about local resources so they can help any families they come in contact with who may need extra help, or are looking for a boost.

So, what's the best way to learn about Langsford?

How about setting up a visit and learn first-hand what goes on here, by meeting with us, discussing the characteristics of our typical client, and through observing actual sessions?

In other words, see us in action!

Below is a recent email sent to our Director, Stephen McCrocklin, from a local professional who visited a couple of weeks ago:

Stephen,

Thank you for taking so much time out of your day to spend with me. I truly enjoyed all the background information you shared with me about Langsford, as well as all the wealth of information you shared regarding various programs, research, etc. Your knowledge and passion for the field is contagious! As time allows I would love to set up a time to return and observe a session. It is such a blessing to have such a wonderful resource that you, your wife, and your team provide to our community. Thank you, again… :)

Have a blessed day,

Robin D'Aniello
Elementary Academic Support
Christian Academy of Louisville

We will soon be packed to the gills with all sorts of students this summer, so if you are an educational professional with some extra time this summer, why not take advantage of your time off to visit with us and learn about Langsford?

Story from Lexington Kentucky

In the post titled Langsford Little Sisters are Great, we mentioned how Kendra and her mom spent time hanging out in Louisville because they traveled from Indiana to bring Brandon for sessions.

At the end of last summer and into the fall, we had a mom bring her son Thomas from Lexington, Kentucky for sessions. He did work in comprehension at that time and this summer, the family plans on returning for about a week for a customized refresher and review of the work he did last year. When mom called to sign up for this review, Jenny, our scheduler, received an update:

Mom called. Thomas doing great!! She said he no longer qualifies for some of the services he received in the past because he just soared this year, having completed Langsford last summer. Said she is always available to talk to anyone about her experience!

Any readers of this blog who are interested in speaking with another family who has had experience with Langsford can call (502) 473-7000 and ask for our Admissions Coordinator, Debbie.