Summer Learning Program

Why Is ThinkStretch a Summer Program, Not Just a Workbook?

Why Is ThinkStretch a Summer Program, Not Just a Workbook? 300 200 admin
Summer arrives every year before teachers are ready for it. 

We know its coming every year.  Every year we have the best laid plans to finish the curriculum, have time to neatly close out the year, and send home a meaningful packet of activities for students – and every year we slide into summer barely holding onto our sanity. We understand.  That’s why ThinkStretch is a system and not just a workbook.  We provide you with all the flyers, information, parent education and student materials you need – in a simple, easy to use packet with online support.  We strive to provide an accessible, fun summer program for kids, so that your students to return to you next summer confident and ready to learn.

Summer sneaks up on parents too!  

Going from a school year routine to a summer routine is a strain on many families. And just like schools, the end of the school year can catch parents by surprise. Frantic, last-minute summer workbook purchases to try and keep kids learning can lead to confusion, frustration and quitting altogether.  That’s why ThinkStretch makes it simple to bring a complete summer learning program to every family in your school with a few simple steps.  Because families want to learn over the summer, they just need the guidance to do what is best for their student and families.

Summer never comes too soon for kids.  

While summer often sneaks up on parents and teachers, kids are always ready!  That’s why ThinkStretch is the perfect summer review for kids too.  With just the right amount of math skill review and reading to keep their skills fresh, ThinkStretch does not require hours and hours of review every day.  And with cool bonus activities that provide lots of hands-on engagement, kids get to have fun and experiment – and they’ll barely notice the learning part.  Sneaky huh?

What Are Those Little Illustrations in ThinkStretch Workbooks?

What Are Those Little Illustrations in ThinkStretch Workbooks? 300 215 admin

Ever notice the margin drawings of Brain and his friends in the ThinkStretch summer workbooks?  Link those drawings together, and you will travel with Brain on a summer road trip, or meet his first pet, or build a fort to beat all forts. In the 4th grade heading to 5th grade summer learning book, Brain goes on an overnight camping trip complete with ghost stories and a pizza zombie encounter.  ThinkStretch does this just for the kids, because all work and no play makes Brain a dull guy!

Graphic novels require sophisticated visual thinking to link together disparate images into a narrative. In fancy education speak, graphic novels support metacognitive strategies for reading and writing.  In the speech of a graphic novel lover, children use many different strategies when reading a graphic novel to determine the emotions of the characters, the passage of time, and the core plot elements.  For example, children very quickly learn to identify text styles as an indication of emotion.  With hints from the art style and motion, children identify the passage of time.  By reading the lines of faces and the background visuals, students determine plot and foreshadowed events.

ThinkStretch is committed to providing students with a joyful learning experience.  It is completely unnecessary to have a graphic novel in the margins of a skill review workbook – yet every ThinkStretch summer learning book has one.  ThinkStretch was originally developed using feedback from teams of teachers, parents and kids, all of whom identified elements they believed would make summer learning successful.  The kids told us that they needed it to be fun.  They needed it to be different than school work.  They needed to want to do it.

The Brain and his adventures are our commitment to a joyful learning experience.

Why ThinkStretch? Because Kids Actually Finish our Workbooks!

Why ThinkStretch? Because Kids Actually Finish our Workbooks! 300 218 admin
What’s the difference between ThinkStretch and everyone else? While other companies only care care if you purchase the workbook, I care if you finish the workbook.

When I was designing the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program, my goal was to return all of my children’s classmates to school in the fall with all the knowledge that they had gained the previous school year.  I was not creating a business – I was building an enrichment program.  I was not creating a product, I was creating an answer to a problem.

Join me as I explore some of the thoughts, research and great shared ideas that went into creating kid friendly summer workbooks for the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program.  Because the business happened by accident, creating the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program as a useful resource for students, families and schools was the founding intention.

Implementing ThinkStretch is Easy with Program Coordinator Materials

Implementing ThinkStretch is Easy with Program Coordinator Materials 231 300 admin

Kicking off a summer learning program is easy as 1-2-3-…4 with the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program Coordinator materials.  In just four easy steps your school can offer a summer learning program that supports every student, teacher and family at your school.

It is one thing to send home a collection of leftover worksheets, a workbook, or a ditto pack as students leave for summer.  It is another thing entirely to offer a Parent Summer Education night, a student summer kickoff, and a Parent Guide to Summer that supports a grade specific activity book for every student.  The ThinkStretch Program Coordinator Materials allow you to do just that with a complete set of program coordinator materials that make the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program easy to run.

The Program Coordinator materials walk you through the four key steps to launch a summer learning program at your school:

  1. Host Parent Education Night
  2. Student Kick-Off Assembly
  3. Distribute Books
  4. Playground Study Sessions (optional)

With simple, easy and complete materials, any teacher, media specialist or involved parent can run ThinkStretch at your school.  The key responsibilities are organizing the parent and student event and distributing the books.  Every event has its own specific To Do list and Tips for Success, making organization and implementation a snap.  As a bonus, Program Coordinators can find ideas shared by other Program Coordinators from across the nation.

ThinkStretch Program Coordinator materials include:

  • Presentation for a Parent education night
  • Posters, letters and flyers
  • Animated DVD for Student Kick off Assembly
  • Lesson plans for Summer Playground study sessions
  • Simple order forms for books and medals
  • Tips for success for every activity

Available online and via snail mail as a part of every full school order, ThinkStretch’s  customizable forms and flyers make communicating with participants a breeze.  The Program Coordinator can use your school-specific details to make sure everyone has the best, most accurate program information.

Every year, program coordinators send us their best ideas for making ThinkStretch successful at their schools.  We share these ideas, improve the coordinator materials, and post additional support online.

Our program coordinator materials offer your school the opportunity to build a partnership between families, students and your school to maintain reading, writing, math and science skills.

[cta text=”Download our Program Coordinator Materials to see how quick and easy it is to set up a Summer Learning Program for a group or your school!” link=”https://thinkstretch.com/program-coordinator-materials-download/” color=”orange”] Download Now [/cta]

ThinkStretch: A Recommended Summer Resource for Parents

ThinkStretch: A Recommended Summer Resource for Parents 260 242 admin

ThinkStretch is proud to work with several districts as its preferred parent resource for summer skill maintenance.  If, for some reason, a school district cannot purchase the program for the entire school or through a group kit sale, it can still bring ThinkStretch to students as a recommended summer learning resource. Districts have the option to offer parents the ThinkStretch program directly from their websites and through district newsletters and communications.  Parents purchase the ThinkStretch program online, and ThinkStretch sends a summer learning kit directly to their home.  Each kit contains a Parent Guide to Summer, student activity book, and gold appreciation medal.

Parents have high anxiety around providing meaningful summer activities.  Education researchers have measured parents levels of anxiety around their children throughout the school year and have found that anxiety is at its highest around summer time.  Parents feel the full responsibility for providing meaningful activities for their students outside of school and have very little guidance.  Schools, parents and students benefit when a school offers a recommend summer homework resource.

The Saline Area Schools, in Saline, Michigan, have recommended ThinkStretch as the preferred summer learning resource for students and families for the past two years.  Due to financial constraints and a lack of federal Title I funding, Saline is unable to offer ThinkStretch as a comprehensive program to its students.  However, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Steve Laatsch is committed to encouraging and assisting families to maintain school year skills over the summer months.

ThinkStretch worked with Asst. Supt. Laatsch to develop communications, partnerships with Saline school PTOs, and strong support among parents.   Asst. Supt. Laatsch sends a letter to every elementary school parent in the spring asking them to support their student by using the ThinkStretch summer learning program in their home over the summer.  Parents then purchase the grade levels needed for their children directly from the ThinkStretch website.  Last summer hundreds of Saline parents took advantage of the opportunity to have summer learning delivered directly to their doorstep.

Making ThinkStretch Summer Learning a preferred summer resource is as easy as copy and paste!

Simply copy and paste the code found here onto your school and/or PTO’s website, so that parents can easily access the ThinkStretch order form. To make it easy for your school to implement ThinkStretch, we’ve included a letter to send to families of students, telling them about the program. Simply add a link directing parents to the ThinkStretch portion of your website, where they can find additional details and place their order.

Parents and schools benefit when every child returns to school in the fall confident and prepared to learn!

Expanded Parent Guide to Summer 2014!

Expanded Parent Guide to Summer 2014! 1275 1674 admin

ThinkStretch has expanded the Parent Guide to Summer to include the needs of families with pre-schoolers and middle schoolers.  As the ThinkStretch Summer Learning series has expanded, we’ve recognized the need to offer more parent support for our new families.

The Pre-school transition to Kindergarten can be fraught with both fear and excitement.  I remember questioning how I would know if my young one was ready to begin school.  I wondered how I could help him be ready for that first day and prepared for the work ahead.

As I reflected, I realized I had exactly the same feelings about the transition from elementary to middle school.  And that is when I knew that we needed to expand the Parent Guide to Summer. 

For pre-schoolers, we expanded pre-reading activities and enhanced early reading ideas.  For middle schoolers, we created an entirely new set of reading comprehension and reading activities just for them.  The independence of the student as they approach middle school often requires new techniques to keep parents engaged and students reading.

Keeping kids reading over the summer depends on their interest in the book before them.  But once you have run through your own personal all time favorite list, it can be tough to help a child select that “just right” book.  To help, I curated a list of terrific websites that offer age appropriate book suggestion lists for kids of all ages.  The sites specialize in boys, girls and youth reading ideas.  In addition to the internet, the expanded Parent Guide to Summer offers suggestions on how to know if you have found the just right book – and what to do if you haven’t.

Engaging parents with kids over the summer continues to be a keystone of the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program and I am excited to hear your feedback on the new Parent Guide to Summer features and what other topics you would like to see covered in the guide. Feel free to leave us a comment with your thoughts!

ThinkStretch: A Summer Learning Kit for Groups and Parents

ThinkStretch: A Summer Learning Kit for Groups and Parents 231 300 admin

ThinkStretch offers schools and parent groups the opportunity to sell the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program to their parents at a 15% discount.  The ThinkStretch Summer Learning Kit Sale allows schools and parent groups to submit one bulk order to be shipped directly to the school and distributed to students.  A summer learning kit sale offers parents a 15% discount off the regular price of purchasing online.   If purchasing online, the Summer Learning Kit is $20 for a parent, while the same Summer Learning Kit is offered at $17 through schools and parent groups.

Research tells us that summer is a time of high anxiety for parents.  The routine is changed and parents struggle to find meaningful activities for their children to engage in.  Parents crave direction from teachers and schools about the types of academic activities they should encourage over the summer months.

Fortunately, parent groups and schools can offer the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Kit Sale.  Each summer learning kit includes a Parent Guide to Summer and student workbook.  In the fall, when the students return their workbooks, bronze, silver and gold achievement medals are delivered directly to the school for distribution. Students who complete their workbooks return to school confident and prepared to learn new material – a real benefit to students, teachers and the school!

With the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Kit Sale – Coordinator Materials, schools and parent groups can begin today!  ThinkStretch provides free downloadable Coordinator Materials with all of the flyers, forms and information you need.  In four easy steps you can offer every student in your school the opportunity to keep all of their hard earned learning.

  1. Promote the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program
  2. Send home a student order form
  3. Collect order forms and payment
  4. Order and distribute books!

Schools and parent groups receive high praise for offering the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program to parents.  PTO’s have told us that this is one of their most popular parent offerings.  A few PTO/A’s have increased the price of the ThinkStretch books to above $17 to cover administrative costs or to raise fundraising dollars.

Innovative schools and parent groups offer scholarships for families.  The parent order form includes a box asking if the family needs a scholarship to cover the cost of the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program.  In addition, parents are offered the opportunity to purchase an extra kit or simply contribute a few dollars towards the purchase of a summer learning kit for a child in need at their school on every order form.  This allows  your parent group or school to ensure that families who may not be able to afford ThinkStretch books for their children over the summer have the same opportunity to return to school confident and prepared to learn in the fall.

ThinkStretch: A School Wide Summer Learning Program for Every Student

ThinkStretch: A School Wide Summer Learning Program for Every Student 231 300 admin

ThinkStretch is designed to be a school wide summer learning program.  The original and sustaining vision of ThinkStretch is to give every student in an elementary school the opportunity to keep all of the learning they have worked so hard to achieve over the long summer months.

Rooted in research, parent interviews, teacher feedback and kid testing, ThinkStretch benefits every student in a learning community.  When implemented as designed, ThinkStretch maintains reading levels across socio-economic groups and keeps every student practicing math and writing skills.  Administrators appreciate the high quality materials, teachers appreciate the ease of implementation, parents love the guidance from the school, and students like the fun, engaging summer activities.

With its Program Coordinator materials available in hard copy and online, ThinkStretch is quick and easy to implement. Our Program Coordinator materials are tried, tested and improved every year based on your feedback.  Every flyer, presentation, order form and communication you need is included, so bringing ThinkStretch to your school is a snap. An involved parent, teacher or school librarian can bring the program to every student and family in your school in 4 easy steps.

  1. Host a parent education night
  2. Host a student kick off assembly
  3. Distribute books
  4. Optional – Host playground study sessions

Funding for the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program often comes from many sources for a full school program.  Typically, district funds, Title I funds, principal discretionary funds, or a grant from the school’s parent group are used to bring the program into a school.  Many schools use a combination of these funds to reach every student.

With the Parent Education Night, Parent Guide to Summer, and the parent invitation to the fall award ceremony, the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program additionally qualifies for Title I Family Engagement funding.

Using La Guia para los Padres, ThinkStretch is perfect for Spanish language parents and families.  Administrators offering ELL supports or migrant family supports can also use Title III funds for specific students and families.

ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program returns students to school in the fall confident and prepared to learn.  The most important thing about implementing a full school summer learning program is the first week of school.  Building a culture of year round learning, where students maintain their skills over the summer months, can dramatically change a school building.  Students transition into school year routines easily, new material can be introduced at a quicker pace, and students begin the school year with a celebration of academic effort.  Give your students the gift of continuous learning with the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program.

Setting Up A Summer Reading Program

Setting Up A Summer Reading Program 436 275 admin

Most educators are all too familiar with the problem of summer learning loss that occurs each year. A good deal of each fall is spent reviewing old material before teaching anything new is even considered. Summer reading is one of the best ways to minimize such loss and to help students remain active and continual learners.

When setting up a summer reading program, it can be hard to know where to start. Following are some tips for doing this:

  • Get parents involved – You can develop the best program in the world and the most exciting reading list ever but without buy-in of parents, your success rate is likely to be low. Remember that you will not see your students all summer but their parents will. Educate your parents on the importance of summer reading and find creative ways to keep parents engaged. Send weekly emails with summer activities to parents, send a mid-summer postcard, or even send home the library registration form at the end of the school year.
  • Solicit input on reading lists – Don’t put the entire burden for developing reading lists on your shoulders alone. Get input from your colleagues and the local libraries. Asking parents and students for suggestions is a great way to increase participation. A child is far more likely to complete a book that they have chosen from a list of books recommended by people they like.
  • Offer incentives – Let’s face it—rewards work. It typically does not take much to motivate kids to participate, especially the younger crowd. Finding fun rewards can make your job a whole lot easier. Offer a pass to the front of the lunch line for each student who has read at least two books this summer. Or offer 5 extra minutes of recess!

Once you have developed your program, review it each fall to see what worked and what you could change for the next year. Your summer reading program is likely to get better and better each year.

Looking for a turnkey solution? ThinkStretch offers everything for a terrific summer reading program with math, writing and science to complete the summer learning fun!

[cta text=”Download our Program Coordinator Materials to see how quick and easy it is to set up a Summer Learning Program for a group or your school!” link=”https://thinkstretch.com/program-coordinator-materials-download/” color=”orange”] Sign Up [/cta]

NEW! BrainGain Questions Improve Reading Comprehension for 3rd to 5th Graders

NEW! BrainGain Questions Improve Reading Comprehension for 3rd to 5th Graders 375 375 admin

NEW! Weekly BrainGain Questions for 3rd to 5th graders

Improving reading comprehension skills can be a tricky task to tackle over the summer for upper elementary students.  ThinkStretch is innovating in this area with our new BrainGain questions for 3rd to 5th graders. Supported by the Parent Guide to Summer, weekly BrainGain reading comprehension activities are guided by the Common Core State Standards’ emphasis on deep understanding of reading materials.

As children become independent readers and rely less on parents to be present for reading time in the home, parents can become disengaged from their child’s reading experience.  In my home, it was often enough just to set aside a time and place for reading.  Checking off or initialing the reading log was the only parent requirement.

However, as understanding of summer reading loss built over the last several years, it has become clear that while logging reading minutes is crucial, it is the reading comprehension activities that provide the student advantage for the next school year.

As I contemplated the research and the typical family time and structure of a 3rd – 5th grade student, I knew we needed to balance the independence of the reader with the need for continued parent engagement in reading.

When I was developing the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program, many parents let me know that they did not understand what reading comprehension meant.  Their student was reading 20 minutes a day, so of course he must be understanding what he read.  It became clear that parents needed direct, simple activities to engage in with their child to maintain reading comprehension skills over the summer.

ThinkStretch has separated the parent resource, Parent Guide to Summer, from the student summer activity book.  This allows parents to have at their fingertips a number of reading comprehension questions and activities for a range of reading levels.

The next hurdle was tackling reading comprehension from a student perspective.  Kids are not particularly interested in writing book reports over the summer.  They are, however, very willing to share their opinion about the ending of the latest “it” book.  Or to talk about the cool new fact they learned about their favorite basketball player.  Because students are reading books of their own choosing in the ThinkStretch summer review program, the content of their weekly reading is exciting and interesting to them. These student desires align nicely with the requirements of the Common Core State Standards.

The BrainGain feature encourages collaborative conversations, vocabulary building, and practice of reading and writing skills,  all critical aspects of the CCSS for reading and writing.  From a student perspective, however, the BrainGain questions are fun and engaging opportunities to think and write about something they love.

For a 3rd grader heading to 4th grade, a BrainGain question may ask: “Write three new titles for the book you are reading that describe the book better. “  For an older student, Week 5’s BrainGain Question for 5th-6th graders asks “What would happen if your story took place at a different location – Alaska, the ocean, or in an apartment building?”  Other weekly questions focus on prediction, vocabulary building, and making connections.

We are excited to hear from you how this new feature impacts your students and classroom next fall. Have thoughts on BrainGain? Leave us a comment!