Summer Fun (oh - and Learning, too!)

Looking for a good way to keep academic skills in play and preventing the dreaded summer learning loss known as the "summer slide"? (Yes, this even happens to gifted kids!) Sign up for one of our awesome summer camps: http://www.seabury.org/summeratseabury2017/

I am super excited to be teaching three camps this summer:
The first is Genius Camp July 17-21, which will be a wonderful mash-up of art history, art practice, math, and science. We'll learn about and make art like Jackson Pollack, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Henri Rousseau and Henri Matisse, among others. We'll learn a little about Renaissance art and thinking and do some designing like DaVinci. We'll do some math with our own Vitruvian Man drawings and explore the engineering brilliance of Brunelesschi's dome.

In Percy's Mythology Quest Camp July 24-28, we'll learn about Greek, Norse and other world mythologies through the eyes of Percy Jackson. We'll create our own Camp Half-Blood, choose a demigod relation, consult the Oracle, make a minotaur maze and toga party like a band of bacchanals!

In BB-8s Galaxy Tour July 31-Aug 4, we'll travel to a galaxy far, far, away and compare it to our own. We'll learn all about the planets, make a "nebula jar," and delve into that age-old question - are we alone in the universe? We might be bringing home some interesting alien friends!

This year, there is also an incredible offering of workshops for older kids (5th grade and above):

http://www.seabury.org/summeratseabury-middleschool/

But if you're ready for a little less structure, that's OK too! Try one (or more) of the following:

My favorite list of summer activities for gifted kids is "The Summer Seven" at Mensa for Kids:
http://www.mensaforkids.org/teach/activity-plans/the-summer-seven/
which includes watching TED talks, being a tourist in your own city, and ideas for learning a new skill (one of these is Zentangle, which I have become interested in lately and plan to play around with this summer myself.)
Mensa for Kids also has some great educational games to practice grammar and math, as well as a fantastic reading list (see the Excellence in Reading tab).

Hoagie's gifted is also an awesome web resource for ALL things gifted (Seabury families - if you are not familiar with this site, you should be!), and their games for kids and teens span all content and interest areas. Click here for choices like: arts, theater & music; books & authors; brain teasers, logic puzzles & optical illusions; natural science; for the love of words; space; and virtual reality -- just to name a few!

I also love just about every You Tube video made by Sci Show Kids and Crash Course Kids - these cover a range of science topics and all kinds of other cool concepts.

If your child would like to build on some of the things we've learned about this year, here are a few great sites:

Citizen scientists/Nature mapping: http://www.projectnoah.org
Endangered Species: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/?ref=topbar
Plants: http://scienceoutreach.ab.ca/children/biology/botany/botany-grades1-6.php (includes an awesome-looking great plant escape interactive!)
Make things: https://diy.org

Every Gemstone loved the computer this year -- here are some great sites for learning to code/design video games:
https://gamestarmechanic.com
https://www.codecademy.com
https://code.org
https://scratch.mit.edu (This is the one we used in class this year, so Gemstones are familiar with it.)
http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker
and if they must just play, at least have them create: https://minecraft.net/en/ (Serious Minecrefters - Seabury is running it's own server this summer -- if you have not signed up yet, talk to Mr. Botsford!)

For more traditional core subjects -
My favorite is still Khan Academy for advanced math topics and practice (and a whole lot more - their tagline is "you can learn anything")
https://www.khanacademy.org

There are also great math, grammar, geography games: http://www.mensaforkids.org/play/games/

Keyboarding skills are  great to develop over the summer. We use:
Dance Mat typing: http://www.kidztype.com
Typing Web: https://www.typing.com

And here are some interesting looking ipad apps:
Learn and create on all kinds of subjects (lots of videos) with Wonderbox
Create ibooks with Book Creator - we definitely have some students who would love to do this!

Set aside reading time daily and check out your local library -- they are ALWAYS running some great summer incentive programs!

Don't forget the Seabury Library now has a giant catalog of new e-books and audio books that your Seabury students can access all summer long through the Overdrive link! Our fabulous librarian, Ms. Becky, has picked out some great titles and there is something for every age and reading taste. Be sure to check it out, Seabury families! (Each Seabury student has a sign-in. User name: First name and last initial, all lower case. PIN: The last four digits of the phone number listed in the class list in the directory.)

I recommend you highly incentivize summer educational work (personally, I do a 1-1 educational to recreational computer use time in the summer for my highly video-game addicted child) -- what is your child passionate about that you can use as a carrot?

For whatever subject area you are focusing on, the key is to keep it fun, but keep it in practice.
And, of course, to find time to also get outside, RELAX, and have a GREAT summer!

P.S. If you have other greta resources to share, please post them in a comment!