Review of Summer Vacation 3-Part Learning Collection: Grade 1 Activity Book

My daughter just finished Kindergarten and is already well on her way to being a good reader and writer. Each day, she amazes me with her academic ability. But summer vacation could mean up to 25% learning loss according to the Review of Educational Research. I decided to give her an edge and purchased the Summer Vacation 3-Part Learning Collection (for first grade). The first part of the collection is the Grade 1 activity book. The book is visually appealing with its 3D cover and colorful pages.

The Summer Vacation activity book features an ongoing chapter book about Reggie the Raccoon and Diggs the Dog titled The Party at Laughing Lake. The activity book is broken down into short, daily activities. On Mondays, a new chapter fro the Party at Laughing Lake is presented along with two simple activities. Tuesdays feature word sounds and hidden objects. Wednesday's pages are counting and identifying what doesn't belong in a series. The activities on Thursdays feature measurements and science. Friday brings addition and subtraction and other math related activities. Saturday activities include sounds, mazes and shapes and patterns. The Sunday pages feature more language arts and a drawing activity.

An answer key is located at the back of the book along with a section of stickers. Each day has a different shaped sticker that corresponds to a shape on the actual page. After completing the pages for the day, flip to the back of the activity book, and find the appropriate shaped sticker as a reward.

I like how each day only has two pages, so it doesn't take a great deal of time, maybe five to ten minutes at the most, to complete. This is summer vacation after all. For those "I'm bored" moments that pop up, the back section of the book has additional projects. These adult supervised activities include a popping volcano, funny-face feet, stuffed paper bag owl, a toy organizer and more.

The Summer Vacation Grade 1 Activity Book is 11 weeks long. However my daughter's summer vacation is only 8 weeks long. I plan on letting her continue to the end if she wants to or I may save the additional weeks for Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations.

So far, the activity book is a big hit with my daughter, she looks forward to our special time each morning to work on her first grade education.

According to the publishers of the Summer Vacation Activity Book Series, children (unless they practice) lose more than two and a half months of learning from the previous school year, primarily math skills. This is equivalent to one day of schoolwork for every weekday of vacation. The activity books are designed to help the student retain the skills learned over the previous year and prepare for the next grade. I feel good about the purchase of this fine product.