Maximizing Winter Break for Elementary and Middle School Students
Winter break is a season of possibilities: a chance to pause, recharge, and focus on the new year. If you’re the parent of an elementary or middle school student, this break is also an opportunity to nurture your child’s growth.
In this blog, we’ll cover three ways to accomplish this.
Improving Literacy and Numeracy Skills – Help your child improve literacy and numeracy through engaging activities like family reading time, educational apps, or fun math challenges.
Developing Test Awareness – Introduce test prep to build familiarity with test formats and strategies, boosting your child’s confidence for future assessments.
Setting Goals – Guide your child in thinking about their progress and setting realistic goals for the upcoming semester.
Part 1: Improving Literacy and Numeracy Skills
Start with reading, writing, and math. Skills in these three areas are absolutely essential for long-term academic success, and winter break is an ideal time to reinforce them in fun and engaging ways.
Reading
Make reading a shared family activity whenever possible. First, sit down with your child to pick a mix of books that suit their interests and approximate Lexile Level. ABC ReadingEggs is just one example of a resource aimed at students aged 2-13 that makes learning to read interesting.
As you read together, discuss the plot, characters, and key ideas in order to improve comprehension. Parents seeking extra activities during or after reading can find creative, teacher-designed resources on the TeachersPayTeachers website.
With interests and reading level in mind, parents can also create an account with CommonLit. There are thousands of reading lessons across dozens of genres and Lexile levels, meaning there’s sure to be something that interests every child. Best of all, there’s no need to worry about coming up with meaningful, targeted discussion questions since CommonLit provides these alongside each passage.
Writing
For writing practice, platforms like NoRedInk provide personalized, adaptive exercises that build grammar and writing skills.
Like CommonLit, this resource lets students engage with material that interests them most. It also allows them to practice writing essays using straightforward scaffolding and provides differentiated support when they need it most.
If you want your child to practice screen-free writing instead, encourage them to keep a winter break journal by jotting down daily highlights or stories. This not only strengthens writing, but also nurtures creativity.
Math
There are plenty of varied resources for math as well.
On Prodigy, students can enjoy standards-aligned, game-based learning, and parents can track their child’s progress and set new goals. Apps such as Khan Academy Kids also make learning feel like play.
Most importantly, these tools adapt to your child’s level so that they’re challenged without feeling overwhelmed during what should be a fun winter break.
Incorporating math into daily life can also be fruitful.
Something as simple as grocery shopping can be an excellent opportunity. For example, ask your child to practice rounding by calculating the total cost of items in the cart or figure out how much a discount saves. Alternatively, use time spent cooking together as a way to to practice fractions, measurements, and conversions. You can even ask your child to quickly calculate the distance, estimated travel time, or fuel costs during parts of a family road trip.
By weaving math into everyday activities, you can strengthen your child’s skills, create a sense of accomplishment, and show them that learning isn’t confined to the classroom.
Part 2: Developing Test Awareness
Middle school is often when standardized testing starts to play a larger role in academic journeys.
That’s why winter break can be a good time to introduce and discuss tests like the MAP Growth assessments or the SSAT.
MAP Testing
Millions of students around the world — including those at many international schools — undergo MAP assessments on a regular basis.
These assessments are computer-adaptive, meaning the questions adjust based on a student’s responses. This ensures precise skill evaluation and allows parents to easily identify areas for improvement.
If your child is feeling anxious about MAP testing in the spring term, use the winter break as a chance to review their previous scores in depth and prepare accordingly.
SSAT
The SSAT, or Secondary School Admission Test, is different from the MAP Growth assessments in many ways. Primarily, it is a standardized exam used by many boarding schools as part of their admissions process.
Designed for students in grades 3 through 11, the SSAT measures critical skills in math, reading, and verbal reasoning, providing insight into a student’s academic potential. The test is offered at three levels—Elementary, Middle, and Upper—tailored to match the age and grade of the test-taker.
The test also includes a writing sample, allowing students to demonstrate creativity and communication skills. While the essay isn’t scored, it’s shared with schools as part of the application.
For families who are just starting to explore boarding school options, winter break is an excellent time to introduce the SSAT and start preparing.
Looking Ahead
Regardless of the specific test that is relevant to your child’s current schoolwork and future goals, it’s important to emphasize the idea of practice, not pressure.
If you prefer to focus on less structured practice during winter break, you can engage your child with fun vocabulary-based activities on Quizlet and Magoosh. Math puzzles and brain teasers can also sharpen problem-solving skills while keeping the mood light.
If you’re thinking about including structured support, consider scheduling a free, in-person mock test at Tokyo Academics. Contact us at support@tokyoacademics.com to get started.
Gaining familiarity with the testing experience can be a boon to student confidence, and initial results help set a baseline to measure future progress.
Part 3: Setting Goals
Winter break is also an excellent time to introduce goal-setting to your child. Below are three effective methods that can be applied to a number of different situations.
Reviewing Teacher Feedback
You can start by using teacher feedback from the previous semester to identify areas for growth.
For example, your child’s teacher may have mentioned in the most recent report that they’re excelling in reading comprehension but struggling to apply concepts of probability.
Sit down with your child and review the teacher’s comments. Then together, set a goal to practice for ten minutes daily using apps like the ones discussed above. Pair this with a reward, such as extra time playing their favorite game, to keep them motivated. Busy parents can use an app’s built-in progress reports or notifications (such as the Assignments and All Progress reports in Khan Academy Kids) to regularly check their child’s activity.
Practicing Reflection
Goal-setting doesn’t always have to be exclusively focused on a single subject, though.
For instance, it might be the case that after a challenging semester of school, your child simply feels overwhelmed with the number of assignments they’ve had to juggle.
This is a good opportunity to guide your child to reflect by asking open-ended questions like, “What was the most challenging assignment this semester?” or “What made you feel proud?”
Encourage them to talk through their answers with you. Use these reflections to identify areas for improvement, such as managing time or asking for help when stuck.
Highlighting the Importance of “Mini-Goals”
It’s important for students to understand that reaching long-term goals requires more than just repeated practice. It often involves making intentional progress along the way. That’s why it’s essential for parents to introduce and emphasize the value of setting smaller, more manageable goals first.
If your child is a middle school student, consider purchasing a daily planner as a way to help them work consistently toward long-term goals. At the end of each week, review the planner with them, recognize the completed mini-goals, and if necessary, help adjust their approach to meet any challenges.
If your child isn’t ready to plan independently, there are still several ways you can support them. Discuss why their big goal is important, brainstorm smaller steps to achieve it, and encourage them to list new things they want to try in order to make progress. During these conversations, it’s worthwhile to focus on growth first, not perfection, as a way to help your child maintain a positive, goal-oriented attitude.
Conclusion
In short, winter break offers a unique opportunity to promote structured learning, test awareness, and goal setting for the upcoming term.
So encourage your child to approach winter break with curiosity and excitement. With a little planning and a positive mindset, this break can set the stage for long-term success.
What’s Next?
As winter sets in, it’s the perfect time to embrace learning and growth! Our winter classes and private tutoring lessons offer the support students need to stay on track and build confidence in key subjects. From strengthening skills in English and Math to preparing for upcoming tests, we’ve got everything covered to help students succeed. Explore our Group Class Portal or book a free consultation to find the perfect fit for your student. Let’s make this winter break a season of progress and achievement!
Looking for More International School Guidance?
Visit our Resource Center and gain access to recorded webinars, podcast episodes, school profiles, and more.