🏔️ Welcome to the McKinley Summer Summit

Summer is here! It is time for sleeping in, swimming pools, and family vacations. But just like a soccer player needs to practice in the off-season to stay sharp, our brains need a little bit of exercise to stay strong for the next school year.

We are thrilled to invite your family to join the McKinley Summer Summit—a self-guided adventure designed to keep your child curious, connected, and ready for school in the fall.

What is the Summer Summit?

We know parents are busy. We didn't want to send home a thick packet of worksheets that ends up in the recycling bin.

Instead, we built an 8-Week Adventure.

• Weekly Themes: From "Space Explorers" to "Dino Detectives."

• Low Stress: It takes just 15–20 minutes a week.

• No Screens Needed: Once you download the weekly PDF, the activities are done offline—talking, building, and exploring outdoors.

🎯 Our Goals for Your Child

We created this program with four simple goals in mind:

1. Beat the "Summer Slide" Research shows that students can lose up to two months of reading and math skills over the summer. By engaging with just one short story and activity a week, we keep those "brain muscles" active and ready for August.

2. Spark Meaningful Conversation Sometimes it’s hard to get more than a "Good" when you ask "How was your day?" Our weekly "Talk About It" prompts are designed to spark fun, interesting dinner-table conversations about history, science, and the future.

3. Connect Learning to Our World Textbooks are great, but the real world is better. We have tailored these lessons specifically to Utah. Your child will learn why our mountains look the way they do, why the Great Salt Lake matters, and the history of the ground they walk on.

4. Stay Connected as a Community Whether you are an incoming Kindergartener or a rising 5th Grader, you are a McKinley Cougar. This program reminds every student that they are part of a school family that loves them and wants them to succeed.

🥾 How It Works

Every Monday, click on your child’s Grade Level tab at the top of this site. You will find:

1. The Read: A short, interesting story about the week's theme.

2. Vocabulary: 3 power words to learn.

3. Talk About It: Questions to ask your child.

4. The Challenge: A fun, hands-on activity (like building a fort or doing a science experiment).

Are you ready to climb? Click your grade level above to start the journey!