Review: Summer Bridge Activities Workbooks

Anyone who has been a long time reader of my blog knows that I am an avid believer that children should engage in educational activities outside of school. I even started my Kindergartner-in-Training series last summer to make sure my son was well-prepared to start elementary school. This summer, I did not have a clear plan about what skills my son should be working on. I know he was already doing some 1st grade work in kindergarten, so I wanted him to continue on that path.

When I had the chance to try out the Summer Bridge Activities books, I was excited. I usually think up my own activities, so it would be nice to have some that are created by experts.

These workbooks are designed to be a "bridge" between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next. It is set up so that your child does 2 pages per day for 60 days and it is estimated that it would take your child 15 minutes to complete those two pages.

Well, I have quickly come to the conclusion that these books are only a good fit for children who are a little behind or right where they should be in reading, writing, and math. If your child is a little ahead, then these books may be far too easy. In the Grade K-1 book, my son can do 8 pages in 10 minutes. He has not completed the entire workbook yet, but looking ahead, there is nothing in it that he will find challenging until the very last few days in the entire workbook.

Since not all children are the same, I want you to be able to judge whether this book would be right for your child. This book covers the following:

• Single digit addition and subtraction
• Writing upper and lowercase alphabet
• Sounding out parts of words (beginning sounds, vowel sounds, etc . . .)
• Telling time
• Sequences
• Counting by 2s, 5s, etc . . .
• Counting money
• Counting to 100
• Reading comprehension
• Following instructions
• Rhyming

There are probably a few more things, but this list should give you the general idea. There is something unexpected and fun I found in this workbook, which is the "Fitness Flash". At intervals, there are instructions for your child to do something physical. It could be something as simple as 10 shoulder shrugs or something like imagining you are an animal stretching, acting it out, and asking your parent to guess what animal you are pretending to be.

Overall, I think these workbooks would be useful as long as they match your child's skill levels.

You can find Summer Bridge Activities Workbooks on SummerBridgeActivities.org and other retailers of educational books, such as CarsonDellosa.com .

Thank you to Summer Bridge Activities for sending us a sample workbook free of charge to base this review upon.

Kindergartner-In-Training: Informational Pamphlet

This activity involves creating a trifold pamphlet that relays some sort of information. I think this activity brings together some of the other things we've been working on, such as descriptive words, handwriting, and spelling.

To make things simpler and to keep the activity shorter, I chose the theme and cut pictures relating to that theme for Jake to choose from. You can certainly invite your child to choose the theme and look for pictures to use. I chose a circus carnival theme because it is something Jake is familiar with and it is an interesting topic, making it easier for him to think of things to put in the pamphlet.

Magazine Clippings

My husband helped Jake complete this project. He actually did something I would not have done, which was to have Jake dictate what should be written and he wrote out everything in pencil. Then Jake traced over my husband's letters. I understand that he was just trying to help Jake with the spacing, but the main problem with it is that Jake's handwriting is much neater than my husbands. LOL!!

Here is what they came up with. I think Jake did a great job . . .

Front Cover

Inside Partially Open

Inside Fully Open

I definitely hope that I will have time to do another project like this with Jake before the summer is over. I would really like for him to make one mostly on his own from start to finish.

Review: Twist 'n Write Ergonomic Pencils

If you've been reading my blog during the past two months, then you know that I've been working with my 5yr old son to prepare him for kindergarten in the fall. One of the things he is doing is practicing writing in a journal. Sometimes his printing is beautiful . . . neat and uniform. Other times, it's different sizes and unsteady. So what could be causing the difference (other than a 5yr old's attention span)?

One thing that could be the source of the problem is which writing utensil he is holding. I noticed that he does much better with certain pens or markers over others. Depending on the shape and thickness of the pens and pencils, he tends to hold some too low, which is awkward, or he holds some too high, which gives him less control. So when I heard about the new ergonomic pencils from PenAgain, I wondered if they could help bring consistency to my son's handwriting.

What I thought about these Twist 'n Write pencils:

1) Based on both my son's and my experience with trying these pencils, they do fit in the hand of an adult as well as a 5yr old child. I thought it felt very natural to hold this wishbone-shaped pencil. My son also said that he found them very comfortable to grip. I am not certain how well they would fit an extra large adult hand though.

2) Once your fingers are in place, the pencil does not slip at all. You do not have to worry about holding it too high or too low, or even losing your grip on it.

3) Despite their unique shape, I like that these are standard No. 2 pencils.

4) There are two built in erasers . . . one on each side. My son really put them to the test and they did their job well.

5) Needless to say, the 4 translucent and glittery colors that come in each multi-pack are fun for kids. My son wanted to switch pencil colors even though they all wrote with the same result.

6) The pencil tips are retractable when not in use. You can do so just by twisting the bottom of the pencil.

7) I think these pencils would be perfect if PenAgain could figure out how to make them refillable.

In the end, I do think that these Twist 'n Write pencils gave my son more control. He did an excellent job writing his name with consistently-sized letters in a straight line on unlined paper. He even had more control as he was drawing with these pencils as well.

If you think you'd like to try Twist 'n Write pencils, you can find them online at Baumgarten, Amazon.com, Office Max, Office Depot, Staples, CVS, and other retailers where office products are sold.


Thank you to PenAgain for providing a review product for us free of charge.

Kindergartner-In-Training: A Dated Journal

One thing that is on our list of Kindergartner-in-Training activities is writing in a journal. I've come to learn during the past year that Jake actually can print and spell pretty well. I've helped him write enough thank you notes and birthday cards to see that clearly. What he actually needs practice with is writing numbers. We have a kindergarten-level math workbook that he loves to use, but it does not call for printing numbers very often. It concentrates more on sequences, counting, and logic. In his journal, Jake is able to practice printing and spelling, but also has the opportunity to practice writing numbers by including the date in each journal entry.

Here are a few things I did to try to make this activity successful:

1) I chose a smaller sized notebook. A 4x6 or a 5x7 notebook would seem less overwhelming. Being able to fill a page with one or two sentences gives Jake a bigger sense of accomplishment.


2) I invited Jake to decorate the front cover with stickers and his name so that he would feel proud and have a sense of ownership of the journal.

3) I make the activity very low pressure. I never require him to write more than once sentence and he is allowed to write about a topic of his choosing. I also do not force him to write every day, but rather when he thinks of something he would like to create an entry about.

4) Although I or my husband usually help him with the spelling, we always give Jake a sticker for completing the activity. This way, he can look through his past entries and feel proud about what he's accomplished and he is reminded that we are proud of him as well.

Click here to read past Kindergartner-in-Training posts.