Workshop aims to help parents keep up with educating students during break

Summer break is coming soon, but Portales teachers are hoping the learning won’t take a break.

Valencia Elementary is hoping to help parents take up the effort with the “Summer Survivor Skill” program.

The “Summer Survivor Skill” is a series of trainings that show parents what they can do throughout the summer to make their kids keep learning and maintain the children’s skill they’ve already learned at school. The first training will be 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Valencia school library. The whole training process will last approximately one hour.

“We are going to focus on reading, writing, spelling, social study, science, and math,” Anna Brock, a teacher at Valencia in charge of the event, said.

Brock said she plans to show daily events as starting points for education. They could, for example, let their kids analyze the headline of an article in a newspaper or count the road signs they see along the road.

“I think it gives the opportunity for the children to continue practicing at home,” Valencia Principal Michael Terry said. “Reading and math are not only at school, but it’s also happening around them.”

Debbie Lang, a mother with two children at Valencia, said she plans to join the program.

“When I was at school, things were taught just a little bit differently, and so much has changed over the years,” Lang said. “So it’s good for refreshing for the kids, but also good for refreshing for parents.”