Keeping Reading Skills Sharp is as Easy as A, B, C

Many of us have heard the research about the famous “summer slide.” While children from middle class families can actually gain skills over the summer, children from working class families can lose several months of learning in the few weeks we are out of school. These effects are amplified for children who may not speak English at home and can quickly lose the speaking and listening skills they have gained as well. Providing your students with a summer activity book or guide can help chase away any summer boredom and keep skills and knowledge fresh in children’s minds.

There are many places you can track down discount new or gently used books. Scholastic’s book order forms always have several $.99 books each month and lots of reading warehouses online sell paperbacks for even cheaper than that. A trusty favorite is always local yard sales or second-hand stores, such as Goodwill - often you can find brand new books for pennies. Sending students home with several books over the summer is no guarantee they will read, of course, but just providing the books presents the opportunity and reading only six books may help with the summer slide effects.

You can also provide students with the materials and resources to support their writing development. Young children can use chalk or a paintbrush and water to practice writing their letters, simple words or short sentences on pavement or a sidewalk. At the end of the year I publish a directory of each child’s name, their phone number, and their address in the summer book (with parent permission of course). Then I send home paper and envelopes and encourage the child to write letters to their friends, just like they did in the post office center during the year. I also send a letter to each child to guarantee they have at least one piece of mail with their name on it.

If kids have access to a computer and internet, share with parents some free, quality websites such as Starfall.com or PBS’ Kids which has videos, stories, games, and tons of other activities to keep kids minds’ moving. In addition to books and materials, I photocopy sets of letters, high frequency word lists, simple early literacy games, and other materials to put in a summer activity bag for students to take on the last day of school. Inside are directions for parents about the activities and a short explanation about why it is important to continue learning even once school is out for the year. Parents are often looking for ways to keep their kids busy so hopefully in those moments they will grab the bag and get to work!