Summer Bridge Activities: Kindergarten to 1st Grade

Rating:
Summary: Good Summer Review/Comments by Professional Educator at UAB
Review: Engaging for the child. Early math, shapes, sound matching, simple reading and other language activities of different types, styles, and complexities. Tasks get progressively harder toward the new school year. A good general purpose review and prep to keep skills fresh and build a few new ones before schools starts in August. Pretty well-illustrated.

Encourages independent reading (though what kids at this age can read is still fairly limited)and offers a suggested reading list. In choosing books for independant reading the key is for the child to enjoy reading challenging materials--let your child choose what interests them as much as possible.

Rating:
Summary: Kept him busy!
Review: I didn't want our son to forget what he had learned in Kindergarten over the summer, so I decided to challenge him for the 3 months he was off. This book was EXCELLENT! It breaks up the months and the activities so it's not all of the same thing until they get sick of it. The reward system worked great and if we missed a day, our son knew exactly how many pages he had to make up. I will definitely buy the 1 to 2nd grade book in June next year!

Rating:
Summary: If you want to help your child retain what he learned...
Review: in math and language arts this is a nice series to use during the summer break.

It may be best to buy the books a grade level or two ahead. My son worked the K-1 book prior to beginning Kindergarten. At that time he knew most of the material in the 1-2 book, however, we liked the K-1 book better, because the pages were more inviting (i.e. color).

The activities are short and simple, so they keep the information fresh in your child's mind without requiring much work. Also higher level material is presented as your child progresses through the workbook. However, this higher level material builds on what has already been learned/reviewed so it's not perceived as being harder.

There is a contract preceeding each section where you and your child establish expectations and potential rewards. There is also a reading list which includes books available in the public library. My son enjoyed marking his progress on the contract and counting the days till his next reward.

The K-1 book is good. It is in color and it includes a certificate that you can give your child when s/he completes the workbook. The 1-2 book is almost as good as the K-1 book.