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Summer

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From outdoor movie nights to app-enabled scavenger hunts, find easy ways to keep the summer fun (and learning) going. Advice from Common Sense Media editors.

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Summer Nature Apps

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13 Dazzling Discoveries Kids Can Make with Outdoor Apps

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Hit the road, dig in the dirt, watch the night sky -- all with apps that offer deep exploration of the natural world. Advice from Common Sense Media editors.

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Summer Memories

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16 Ways for Kids to Preserve Summer Memories

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Road trip? Day at the beach? Lemonade stand? Easy-to-use apps help kids keep summer memories alive. Advice from Common Sense Media editors.

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Summer Creativity

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Essential Creativity Guide | Common Sense Media

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Help foster your child's interest in art, science, music, and construction by using these educational apps, games, and websites to unleash creativity.

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Summer

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At the beginning of the 21st century, the definition of digital equity revolved around the provision of a digital device to every student. Usually, that meant desktop computers, iPads, and laptops, either in small groups or 1:1. As digital equity discussions matured and hyperbole became reality, educators found that those loudly-touted digital devices often became paperweights. The reasons were varied (teacher training, infrastructure, and professional support to name a few), but one of the most prominent was money. Good intentions to give all students access to the world's knowledge were derailed by the cost of the websites and webtools that made that happen. Turns out - and not really a surprise - the cost of the digital devices was minor compared to the cost of the websites and webtools required to meet goals.

There is one bright spot in this story: Online books. Thanks to the efforts of many devoted professionals and the financial support of more, there are a wide variety of free/inexpensive sources for books that students can use for classroom activities as well as pleasure.

Here are eight sites that offer free books for kids to adults:
Bookopolis is a large collection of fiction and nonfiction books for ages 7-12. Here, students can read, get ideas for new books, comment on books, and earn badges and points to reflect their love of reading. Educators sign up with a Teacher account and then set up classes and accounts for students. Students can practice persuasive writing, comprehension, and typing skills by completing reviews, reports, and reading logs online. Parents can sign up home accounts to help students keep track of favorite books. Available books include Newbery Award Winners as well as many other reader collections. Kids can even watch book trailers before making a selection. Books can be read online or on most mobile devices.
This site provides thousands of digitized books, audio recordings, DVDs/CDs from the public domain (or out-of-copyright). This includes Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Sherlock Holmes, A Tale of Two Cities, Heart of Darkness , and more. These are great for all ages to not only read but research topics that might have been well-covered years ago but not so much now (like primitive tribes).
You can read them online, on a mobile device, or download them. The ICDL offers over 4,600 digital children's books in over 59 languages that exhibit tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages, and ideas. Most books are only available through the website or a link to the website. Open Library is a curated list of over 20 million books (and growing) that are available worldwide to all age groups whether from the public domain or under copyright protections. Once you find a book, you access a scanned version (if available, say from Project Gutenberg) or purchase it at a linked bookstore. Access this catalog via the website. Books are made available from a variety of sources including the Library of Congress. Readers search by title, author, country, or category (or several other options such as ISBN). By setting up an account, readers can add tags to books and organize them according to their preference. Many ICDL books are classified as "activities" meaning they are perfect for digital story times, scavenger hunts, and creative writing exercises. Access this collection via the website. From Scholastic, Listen and Read's fifteen non-fiction audio books are told through words, images, and sound. Elementary and middle school children can read the books or have them read aloud to them. The online activities can be used for one-on-one instruction using a computer, tablet, or class instruction on an interactive whiteboard. Books are read on the website or a tablet. Unite for Literacy provides a variety of books that celebrate the languages and cultures of international communities with the goal of cultivating a life-long love of reading. Aimed at school-age children, categories include, earth, animals, STEM, family, create and play, know and learn, technology, and more. Some books are available in multiple languages and some are audio. The site is gorgeous, easy-to-navigate, with bright, visual, colorful books to entice readers. Books are read online. World Cat is a comprehensive curation of books, CDs, articles, videos, and more available at all libraries in a geographic area or around the world, for all age groups. This includes not only public libraries but colleges and universities. Once you've located a resource, you check it out from that local library. You can get help from a librarian, leave comments and reviews, even factual notes (much like Wikipedia). World Cat only includes libraries that have joined the World Cat group.
Prism is a collaborative approach to reading books, poetry, and other written material whether for a class or personal entertainment. It includes thousands of books with comments, notes, and highlights from people who have read them. Notes are color-coded so readers can categorize them properly and readers know how many people contributed to the shared input. Resources include The Raven, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and The Road Not Taken.
Owned by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, MeeGenius is a nice selection of over 700 books for grades 2-8. It's organized into categories like humor, fables, fairy tales, and more. The books can be accessed on the website, iOS, Android, Amazon, and Nook. Mighty Books includes over 600 K-8 animated storybooks, games, songs, and puzzles that can be read online or on mobile devices. They are organized by age group and category. This collection is especially useful for ESL and special needs as students can highlight words that are then spoken to the reader. Many of the books include complete lesson plans and quizzes. Books can be read online or on mobile devices. One More Story includes a large collection of books for school-age children, narrated by professional actors, and some accompanied by original music and sound effects. Books can be searched by reading level, Lexile, and keyword, and include books from Fountas and Pinnell and Accelerated Readers as well as publishers like Harper Collins and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. In Read-Along Mode, each book plays with narration, music and sound effects. Each word is individually highlighted as it is spoken. In I Can Read It Mode, there is no music or narration so children can read books without distraction. If a child cannot read a word, s/he can click it to hear it spoken aloud. In school subscriptions, quizzes are available to assess student basic comprehension skills. Books can be read online or via iOS, Android, Google Play, and Amazon. RAZ Kids includes hundreds of K-5 interactive, animated leveled ebooks spanning twenty-seven levels of reading skill. Choices include fiction, poetry, and songs in English and Spanish (a limited availability). Titles include everything from My Body (for Level A readers) to Abraham Lincoln (for Level Z readers). Each book can be read or listened to by the student. Students can even record themselves to practice reading skills such as pacing and understanding punctuation. As a teacher, you can manage your class, track what's being read, supervise equizzes, and more. Books are easily pushed out to students. When the students logs into the app, s/he only sees the books that fit his/her reading level. Books can be read online or on mobile devices. TumbleBookLibrary is a curated database of over 1100 elementary age ebooks. It includes animated books, talking picture books, read-along chapter books, national geographic videos, non-fiction books, playlists, graphic novels, math stories, as well as books in Spanish and French. There are additional dedicated libraries for Middle School and audio books. Books include Ramona Quimby, Nancy Drew, and a collection from National Geographic. Books can be read online or on mobile devices.
Here are five collections that require a fee, but much reduced from what it would cost to purchase the books:
-published first on TeachHUB
Thanks to this wide and varied collection of reading resources, no child should be consigned to the wrong side of the digital divide. Add "book collections" to the column of how technology successfully facilitates learning.
Ten Reading-with-Tech Tips You Don't Want to Miss 52 Resources for Read Across America Day 3 Apps That Encourage Students to Read Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-8 technology for 20 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, CSG Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice reviewer, CAEP reviewer, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and a weekly contributor to TeachHUB. You can find her resources at Structured Learning. Read Jacqui's tech thriller series, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days.
More on reading:

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13 Websites That Provide Lots of Digital Books for Summer Reading

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At the beginning of the 21st century, the definition of digital equity revolved around the provision of a digital device to every student. Usually, that meant desktop computers, iPads, and laptops, either in small groups or 1:1. As digital equity discussions matured and hyperbole became reality, educators found that those loudly-touted digital devices often became paperweights.

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Activities & Apps to help your child retain learning over the Summer

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With summer fast approaching all over the Northern Hemisphere, kids are eager for time away from teachers, textbooks, and To-do lists. In Ireland, Italy, Greece, Russia, and other Eurasian nations, summer vacation lasts about three months. In Australia, Britain, The Netherlands, Canada, and Germany, it's six to eight weeks. American students get roughly ten weeks.

While kids celebrate, teachers and parents worry students will lose their academic edge. It turns out that concern is valid. Statistics say over the summer, kids lose over two months of math skills, two months of reading skills, and one month of overall learning. Efforts to prevent summer learning loss propel often-unpopular year-round school initiatives and all manner of summer school and summer camps that focus on cerebral topics.

Worry no more. The cure is much simpler: Disguise learning as play. Using the websites below, kids will think they're playing games while actually engaging in the leading [mostly] free games and simulations in the education field.
A note: some must be downloaded and a few purchased, so the link provided might take you to a website that provides access rather than play.
General

Here are two gamified options that can be tweaked to address any topic:

Digital Breakouts - Players of all ages use teamwork and critical thinking to solve a series of challenging puzzles that ultimately enable them to achieve a goal. Digital Breakouts are an update to the traditional and popular webquests that have students explore the web as they gather content in a particular field - history, math, literacy, or others. A great collection of free, ready-made digital breakouts can be found over at Tom's Digital Breakouts. These don't have to be played online; for a fee, students can play unplugged.

Flash cards - apps like the free Brainscape provide topical flash cards kids can memorize in between the rest of summer stuff. You might even provide badges for the lists students finish.

Financial Literacy

Summer is a great time to learn topics that require dedicated periods of time - like a financial literacy program. These are important for high schoolers, but often not required for graduation. That means many students transition to that almost-adult point in their life where they need to understand credit cards, bank accounts, paying bills, and other financial concepts but have no real knowledge of how these work.

Here are a few sites that gamify financial literacy topics and can be completed over the summer:

Banzai - online free comprehensive financial literacy program

You are here - kids learn to be smart consumers

History

If you ask successful business leaders what subject is most important to their success, most will not say math or science. Surprisingly, it's history, where future leaders vicariously experience how others survived difficult situations and solved problems they had never before seen. Yet, history classes are often considered boring and not a serious subject like math and science. As if to prove their point, many history classes are dry and fact-oriented with rote drills about dates and events. Even students who thought they liked history might change their minds.

If your students are on the cusp of disliking this subject, change their mind this summer with these sites:

Math

Somewhere between arithmetic and algebra, students lose interest in math. For many, they find it difficult, confusing, and thus over their intellectual heads. If your students are struggling with this, try one of these gamified approaches to learning math:

Dimension M - math simulations for middle school and high school.

Jasper Woodbury - 12 adventures that focus on mathematical problem-solving; fee required.

Manga High - math content that adapts to particular student needs.

Origo Math - rigorous problem-solving activities and interactive digital games that enhance K-6 student thinking and reasoning skills.

ProdigyGame - game-based approach to teaching hundreds of math concepts for grades 1-8.

Problem Solving

Every day, kids are asked to solve problems. When young, they follow parent's or peer's advice, but by a certain age, they realize - if they're going to lead successful lives - they must know how to evaluate and solve problems themselves. Here are three sites that help them to develop those skills:

Programming

Let children build on class initiatives for programming by picking an option that works best for their learning style rather than the group. Let them spend as much of their summer vacation on it as they'd like. It won't feel like learning, but will improve their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Good choices include:

Reading

The importance of reading to education success is well-documented. Kids who read statistically excel in their academic journey; those who don't, don't. Being good at reading is not just about getting through a book, but remembering what you read, reporting on it to others, and transferring this information to other parts of life. Helping students enjoy this "close reading" requires a different set of tools than grammar, spelling, and vocabulary.

Summer is the perfect time to reinforce authentic and granular reading skills in ways that students will enjoy. Try one (or all) of these three tools:

Book reports - have kids prepare unconventional book reports on their summer reading using sites that share their review via video, audio, or a drawing. Collect these into a digital library that kids can access online, see what friends are reading over the summer, and find books that appeal to them. Over time, this will become a valuable summer resource to supplement student reading.

Book trailers - this is similar to the book report but more exciting! Just like the trailers students watch to help them pick a movie, book trailers summarize the book and share a hook without giving away the story. These can be created in a variety of programs such as Voki and Tellagami.

Sports Network 2 - practice reading skills in a simulated sports network setting.

Science

Science is probably the most under-appreciated fascinating subject taught in schools. Why? Understanding too often comes down to complicated concepts that are more theory than practical making kids wonder why they should learn something they'll never use. Science is quickly conflated with work and they move on.

If you have kids on the cusp of loving and hating science, remind them why they love it with one of these two sites:

Technology

So much of learning today is about technology. Kids think they know tech because they do stuff on Mom's smartphone she doesn't understand, but the bar is higher than that. When faced with the technology required for test-taking and applications, students can be confused and discouraged when they shouldn't be - because it's not difficult.

Take the stress out of technology by letting students use typical tech tools (like Excel or Google Sheets) to play a game. Here are several examples:

Test Prep

By the time students reach high school, if they're on a college-bound track, preparation for the SATs and ACTs becomes critical, but the thought of opening a Kaplan practice test book with questions they barely understand might derail their good intentions. Instead, give kids fun options that will still leave them feeling better prepared for a test that will decide their future.

Here are a few:

Writing

A great option for summer writing is digital storytelling where kids tell their stories without the worry and frustration associated with typing, grammar, spelling, and language rules. Instead, they focus on communicating with creativity. They might even consider scrapbooking about their summer vacation, journaling about their experience in a camp, or joining friends on a collaborative forum like Google Draw or Padlet to tell a group story.

Good options include:

Draw a Stickman - draw a stickman to represent the main character of a story you'd like to write. Then, this site turns it into a choose-your-own-adventure story, asking you to add detail.

Google Storybuilder - collaboratively write a story to share with friends and family.

Puppet Pals - create simple animated stories with puppets in this iOS app.

Telestory - tell your story with this free augmented reality video storytelling app.

Toontastic - tell your story with comics.

At the core of each of the twenty-five plus websites above is the belief that learning is fun. Let your students (and kids) live it this summer.
- this article was first published on TeachHUB
More on games and simulations:
Weekend Website #44: Mission US How Minecraft Teaches Reading, Writing and Problem Solving Teach Digital Citizenship with ... Minecraft Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 25 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, CAEP reviewer, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, a weekly contributor to TeachHUB, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

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How to Blend Learning with Play for a Kid-friendly Summer

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With summer fast approaching all over the Northern Hemisphere, kids are eager for time away from teachers, textbooks, and To-do lists. In Ireland, Italy, Greece, Russia, and other Eurasian nations, summer vacation lasts about three months. In Australia, Britain, The Netherlands, Canada, and Germany, it's six to eight weeks.

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Summer Tech Tips

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Summer Tech Tips for Parents and Students

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This Prezi was created for parents and students to help navigate summer learning. Read more at http://www.edtechdidi.com/1/post/2013/06/summer-tech-tips-for-parents-and-students.html

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Managing the Digital Landscape

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​​In a world where children are "growing up digital," it's important to help them learn healthy concepts of digital use and citizenship. Parents play an important role in teaching these skills.

Tips from AAP to Help Families Manage the Ever Changing Digital Landscape:

Treat media as you would any other environment in your child's life. The same parenting guidelines apply in both real and virtual environments. Set limits; kids need and expect them. Know your children's friends, both online and off. Know what platforms, software, and apps your children are using, what sites they are visiting on the web, and what they are doing online.

Set limits and encourage playtime. Media use, like all other activities, should have reasonable limits. Unstructured and offline play stimulates creativity. Make unplugged playtime a daily priority, especially for very young children.

Screen time shouldn't always be alone time. Co-view, co-play and co-engage with your children when they are using screens-​it encourages social interactions, bonding, and learning. Play a video game with your kids. It's a good way to demonstrate good sportsmanship and gaming etiquette. Watch a show with them; you will have the opportunity to introduce and share your own life experiences and perspectives-and guidance. Don't just monitor them online-interact with them, so you can understand what they are doing and be a part of it.

Be a good role model. Teach and model kindness and good manners online. Because children are great mimics, limit your own media use. In fact, you'll be more available for and connected with your children if you're interacting, hugging and playing with them rather than simply staring at a screen.

Limit digital media for your youngest family members. Avoid digital media for toddlers younger than 18 to 24 months other than video chatting. For children 18 to 24 months, watch digital media with them because they learn from watching and talking with you. Limit screen use for preschool children, ages 2 to 5, to just 1 hour a day of high-quality programing. Co-viewing is best when possible and for young children. They learn best when they are re-taught in the real world what they just learned through a screen. So, if Ernie just taught the letter D, you can reiterate this later when you are having dinner or spending time with your child. See Healthy Digital Media Use Habits for Babies, Toddlers & Preschoolers.

Don't use technology as an emotional pacifier. Media can be very effective in keeping kids calm and quiet, but it should not be the only way they learn to calm down. Children need to be taught how to identify and handle strong emotions, come up with activities to manage boredom, or calm down through breathing, talking about ways to solve the problem, and finding other strategies for channeling emotions.

Media and digital devices are an integral part of our world today. The benefits of these devices, if used moderately and appropriately, can be great. But, research has shown that face-to-face time with family, friends, and teachers plays a pivotal and even more important role in promoting children's learning and healthy development. Keep the face-to-face up front, and don't let it get lost behind a stream of media and tech.

The tips above were written from two AAP policies, "Media Use in School-Aged Children and Adolescents" and "Media and Young Minds," and the technical report entitled "Children and Adolescents and Digital Media," which were published in the November 2016 edition of Pediatrics. They were also drawn from the proceedings of the AAP Sponsored Growing Up Digital: Media Research Symposium, a gathering of media experts, researchers and pediatricians to address new developments in research and media and their impact on children.

Additional Information from HealthyChildren.org:

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media use~ digital age~ 10 tips for parents~ kids and social~ managing a kid's media use~ ipad~ cell phone~ iphone~ tv in bedroom~ phone in bedroom~ playtime~ video games~ communicating with your teen~ technology as a babysitter~ facetime

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Kids & Tech: Tips for Parents in the Digital Age

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​​In a world where children are "growing up digital," it's important to help them learn healthy concepts of digital use and citizenship. Parents play an important role in teaching these skills. Treat media as you would any other environment in your child's life. The same parenting guidelines apply in both real and virtual environments.

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How Much Screen Time is Okay?

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In many homes, getting kids to turn off their cell phones, shut down the video games, or quit YouTube can incite a revolt. And if your kids say they need to be online for schoolwork, you may not know when the research stops and idle activity begins.

When it comes to screen time, every family will have different amounts of time that they think is "enough." What's important is giving it some thought, creating age-appropriate limits (with built-in flexibility for special circumstances), making media choices you're comfortable with, and modeling responsible screen limits for your kids. Try these age-based guidelines to create screen rules that stick.

Preschoolers. There are lots of great TV shows, apps, games, and websites geared for this age. But too much time spent in front of a screen can interfere with activities that are essential for growing brains and bodies.

Go for quality and age-appropriateness. Not everything for preschoolers needs to be a so-called "brain-builder," but there's a difference between mindless and mindful entertainment. Our reviews can steer you toward titles that help preschoolers work on developmental skills like sharing, cooperation, and emotional intelligence.

Sit with them, and enjoy the discovery process. There will always be moments when you need to rely on the TV or an app to distract your preschooler while you get something done. But as much as you can, enjoy media together. Little hands and developing brains really benefit from your company (and guidance!).

Begin setting limits when kids are little. Habits get ingrained early, so try to establish clear screen-time rules when your kids are young. For games, apps, and websites, you may need to set a timer. For TV, just say "one show."

Elementary and Middle Schoolers. At this age, kids love TV shows, games, movies, and online videos. They begin to explore more and hear about new shows and games from friends. Because they can access these things by themselves, it's crucial to continue to supervise their activities and help them stick to your rules.

Start with an endpoint. Use whatever tools you have -- your DVR, Netflix, OnDemand -- to pre-record shows, cue them up, or plan ahead to watch at a specific time. That way, one show won't flow into the other, and you can avoid commercials. If your kids are into YouTube, search for age-appropriate videos, and add them to a playlist to watch later. Because most games don't have built-in endings (and are, in fact, designed to make kids play as long as possible), set a timer or some other cue that says "time to stop."

Help them balance their day. Kids this age need guidance from you on a daily plan that includes a little bit of time for everything. And staying involved works: Kids whose parents make an effort to limit media use spend less time with media than their peers do, according to a 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation study. Use the American Academy of Pediatrics' worksheets to create a family media plan.

Practice what you preach. It's tempting to keep reaching for your phone to check email, texts, Facebook, or the news. But your kids will be the first to call you out for not "walking the talk." Plus, they'll pick up habits from you. Model the media behavior that you want your kids to emulate.

High Schoolers. You'll have more success with teens if you explain the reasons why too much screen time is harmful. For example, social media may contribute to anxiety.

Help them make quality choices. You still have a say in what they see, hear, and play. Put in your two cents about the importance of quality shows, games, and movies.

Crack down on multitasking. High school kids who've discovered texting, IM, Facebook, and music tend to do them all at once -- especially when they're supposed to be doing mundane tasks like homework. But a University of Michigan study found that humans are terrible multitaskers and that the practice actually reduces the ability to concentrate and focus.

Find ways to say "yes." Look for movies they can watch. Find games you're OK with. If your teens ask to see something you don't approve of, help them find alternatives.

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In many homes, getting kids to turn off their cell phones, shut down the video games, or quit YouTube can incite a revolt. And if your kids say they need to be online for schoolwork, you may not know when the research stops and idle activity begins.

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Internet & Device Contract

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Digital Parenting Checklist