Enjoy this post by our guest blogger, Mel Hammen. Mel is our summer intern here at Cedar Valley Readers, and we are excited to have her! Mel is currently finishing her degree in Social Work at UNI. She has a passion for both serving others and for reading. When she was young, her mother had to force her to sit down with a book. Now, as a young adult, her mother has to force a book out of her hands in order to have a conversation. When Mel is not glued to a book, you can find her outside riding her bike or playing with her dog
Digital Options for Summer Learning
Everywhere we look we see technology in our children’s hands – from computers to tablets and smartphones. What if there were educational games and resources that they could be playing on these devices? Good news! There are a ton of children’s literacy games and websites out there and the benefits of children playing these games are endless.
Each summer, students lose critical literacy skills, widening the achievement gap and requiring a “catch up” period at the beginning of every school year. To prevent this “summer slide,” these digital resources provide an engaging learning experience that prepares students to enter the next school year on track. Literacy activities do not always have to be in a classroom setting or with a book in the child’s hands. Digital literacy activities can be fun and make reading more exciting for children. Below are just a few of the fun, literacy-enhancing websites for our kids.
Summer Slugger
This 18-week program, targeted at 4th to 5th graders, engages students with content that reinforces key foundational skills while enjoying the baseball themed, game-based learning experience. Activities are unlocked at regular intervals and rewards are offered for progress and consistency. Topics include units of measure, place value, arithmetic, geometry, spelling, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Visit the Summer Slugger site →
Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge
Join the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge by grabbing your favorite books, logging your reading minutes, and most importantly, having fun all summer long! Read as many books as you can and log your minutes to earn awesome virtual prizes! There is also a Summer Sweepstakes with the chance to win prizes from Klutz.
Read, Log Minutes, Earn Rewards →
Khan Academy
Khan Academy’s mission is to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Their website contains practice exercises and instructional videos. You can design your own personalized learning dashboard that empowers young learners to study at their own pace and outside of the classroom. They offer a variety of topics: math, science and engineering, computing, arts and humanities, economics and finance, and test preparation. Parents, there are many great educational resources for you here, too! Khan Academy→
PBS Kids
PBS Kids’ website offers free educational videos and games for children. There are a 
variety of topics that are both fun and meaningful with your children’s favorite characters. They also offer resources for parents, such as idea for fun, hands-on activities to do with your children. Visit PBS Kids→
Open eBooks
Open eBooks is an app containing thousands of popular and award-winning titles that are free for children. These eBooks can be read without checkouts or holds and there is no limit on how many of the available books can be read for free. Open eBooks→
myOn
myOn hosts an Annual Summer Reading Challenge that is designed to encourage children to keep reading wherever they are and whenever they want to. It is open to all PK-Grade 12 students. Prizes are awarded at the end of the summer for the top readers in each age group and everyone who reads at least 10 books will be entered into a drawing to win an iPad mini! Join the challenge!→
Cedar Valley Readers 