The end of the school year is an exciting time as educators feel a well-deserved sense of accomplishment at the progress their students have made throughout the school year. Yet, in just a short while, these students may lose two months or more in grade level math and reading achievement during what is commonly referred to as the “summer slide.” Educators have the important task of equipping both students and parents with tools they can use to keep the learning fresh throughout the summer.

Join the movement: Summer Learning Day is Friday, June 21, 2013! The National Summer Learning Association has a vast supply of resources for promoting community awareness of the importance of summer learning.

We’ve also rounded up some engaging, student-driven online resources that you can provide to both students and parents to support summer learning. You can add these sites to a special summer page on your class website, or print a list of the sites with URLs to give to parents. Think of it as a final parting gift for your students.

• Manga High is a math website that encourages student to work on math skills through interactive lessons and fun games.

• ABCYa offers fun and educational games for  K-5^th grade.

• Sheppard Software has hundreds of educational games, activities, quizzes, articles and more, for kids and everyone to use online.

• Prongo is an educational website for grades K-8. The site offers free games, e-cards, jokes, downloads, brainteasers, and links for most major academic subjects.

• The STACKS from Scholastic offers games, puzzles, and quizzes for grades 2-7.  Be sure to look at the writing games, which help students practice their creative writing skills.

• Math Playground is an action-packed math site for elementary and middle school students featuring games, word problems, worksheets, logic puzzles, and videos.

• The Fourth Annual New York Times Summer Reading Contest – Each week from June 14 to Aug. 16, teenagers 13 to 19 years old are invited to choose any piece from The New York Times and write about why it interested them. A weekly favorite will be chosen and featured.