Deanne Shoyer looks at how summer can be an opportunity for kids to boost their academic achievement by reading books.
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The Summer-long vacation from school is well underway for those of us in the northern hemisphere and many of us may be wondering if we need to worry about whether a long absence from school will result in learning deficits for our children. Here’s some ideas to consider when planning a summer of continued growth.
Is the “summer slide” real?
Research summarized by the Rand Corporation provides us with data that confirms the reality of the summer slide. The key points are:
- By the end of the summer, on average, students perform one month behind where they left off
- Summer learning loss accumulates over time
- Children from low-income families lose more ground than their peers, especially in reading
Does this mean we need to recreate a school environment and summer curriculum for our kids?
No! In fact a study recently published outlined how important unstructured free time is for children’s development. Kids learn and develop important life skills when we don’t over program their lives and if we let them get bored, something it’s crucial to remember when it’s back to school time.
Reading is the best method of halting the summer slide:
So what should we do if we want to prevent summer learning loss? The most important thing to encourage is reading. That Rand study I mentioned earlier? It found that high quality summer reading programs could not only halt the summer slide but also boost long term academic achievement with effects that lasted for at least two years after the child participated in the program.
If you’re not sure where to start, the National Summer Learning Association has some great, printable resources on its website including tips for parents, ideas for low-cost and home-based activities and more.
What books to read:
If you have no clue what books to suggest to your child there are heaps of resources you can draw on for ideas:
- Most local libraries have summer reading programs
- The American Library Association has compiled reading lists for children by grade level – from K to 8th Grade
- Scholastic also has a summer reading challenge with reading lists that include both fiction and non-fiction, categorized by age. They also have a legend so you can easily spot which books are great for reading aloud, reluctant readers and which books you can easily find in ebook format.
If all else fails, go to the library with your child and look for books together – especially books that are in line with your kids interests.
Ideas to encourage reluctant readers:
Not all children gravitate to books and some children positively hate reading. Make this summer one where you help reluctant readers kick-start a lifelong love of reading:
- Be a role model. Don’t tell your kids about the importance of reading, show them by reading books yourself.
- If your children love their iDevices, try putting some book apps on their tablet. Cupcake Digital provides book app titles that are terrific at encouraging reluctant readers by featuring their favorite characters from TV and film.
- Take books with you everywhere. Summer’s a time to enjoy the outside – show your children that books are the original form of portable entertainment.
- Listen to the topics your children talk and ask questions about. Watch the kinds of TV shows, toys and activities they gravitate to and then search for books at the library that tap into those interests or ask a librarian for recommendations.
- Children’s author Lisa Graff recently compiled a list of ten books guaranteed to pique the interest of even the most reluctant readers.
This recent article in The Atlantic contains some great tips for parents to ensure books are always available in places where their children might be bored. I actively encourage my children to read at bedtime – they have cuddly nightlights and a basket of books beside their bed. We usually read 3 or 4 stories together but I never stop them from reading more on their own.
I hope everyone has a safe, happy and book-filled Summer and feel free to share your ideas or resources for summer learning in comments!
Originally appeared at Cupcake Digital.com
Photo: KOMUNews/Flickr
Kids need a break … summer is for fun and building childhood memories. My suggestion is that we take away the electronics and get them out of the house to have fun.
I’m going to disagree with a little here Tom. I think the war on electronics is pointless and counter-productive. If kids love tech (and mine do), the most effective thing to do in my experience is to use it to either pique or reinforce their interest in the outdoors.
I agree in that I didn’t mean taking every electronic away for the entire summer but instead limit the time and reason it’s used. And I should also add the same expectation to the adults. I remember seeing a recent commercial for some game program which showed kids around the campfire playing videos on their individual handheld devices. Campfire should = telling stories (scarier the better), singing dumb songs, roasting wieners, s’mores or just burning sticks. Heck,I remember wrapping up the marshmallow wrapper around the end of a stick and watch it drip very cool blue flames into the fire.… Read more »
Yes, I agree. One thing may give you encouragement on this front – a recent survey asked children about their favourite vacation activities and found that tech didn’t even feature in the top ten. You can find more detail here: http://babyworld.co.uk/2014/04/whats-on-your-kids-bucket-and-spade-list/
I do still caution people to not reflexively criticize kids using tech, even outdoors. My children are both autistic and for them tech is not a “luxury” but a necessity. Owen is non-speaking and uses an iPad Mini to communicate so takes it everywhere. For both boys tech helps them manage transitions, cope with anxiety, keep organized and more.
My almost 14 yo son and I are reading “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein, which is a terrific and moving book…it’s told from the point of view of a dog who thinks he will be reincarnated as a man in the next life….the dog is kinda more perceptive than everyone else in the story in some situations, which is kinda hilarious and rather poignant at times…my husband listens along sometimes as we read through it…some portions are pretty racy (a bit cringe-worthy to be reading with my son…but whatever…) Great book that I probably never… Read more »
That’s awesome. I think reading *with* my children is one of the most rewarding things I do every day. Excited to hear you and your teen are still doing this.
I saw the damage that too much school does when I lived in China. The adults there were far less mature than adults in the US. Even if you account for the fact that there’s a very different culture over there, the skills that adults require to function weren’t being permitted to develop. One of the only reasons that the US has high school is to permit children to have some time to develop into adults. Around here a relatively large number of students skip the later half of high school in lieu of college. I did that, and the… Read more »
I agree with you. In fact the key point I tried to articulate in my post is that we can best help our kids by encouraging a love of learning, by showing them that there are things we can do every day to stretch our brains and continue to grow – and one of the simplest and most effective ones is to pick up a book!