Keep Kids Reading To Prevent Summer Slide
(StatePoint) Summer is a time for kids to relax, but all that free time can have a serious downside. Children suffer learning losses over the summer simply by being out of school, an effect known as the “summer slide.”
Kids can beat “learning loss” by reading four or more books each summer. Photo Credit: Scholastic.
These losses can create even wider gaps between more and less proficient readers. And the challenge of maintaining skills gets greater after age eight when, studies show, reading frequency drops dramatically and continues to decline through the teen years.
But kids can combat the “summer slide” by reading four or more age-appropriate books each summer. Research indicates kids who do so fare better on reading-comprehension tests when they return to school than those who read one or no books.
Best of all, summer reading is inexpensive. Five books cost the same as a tank of gas, or you can get them free at the library.
“Encouraging a love of reading is one of the easiest things parents can do to keep kids ahead of the curve, and it’s a perfect, low-cost summer activity,” said Francie Alexander, Chief Academic Officer of Scholastic. “You can take books anywhere: on car rides or airplanes, or if you’re not traveling this summer, take a trip through books!”
* Get Started and Carded: Just like planning a vacation is part of the fun, get kids thinking about books to read over the summer. Visit the library and get a library card, as kids like “official” documents with their names on them.
* Start a Series – Bet You Can’t Read Just One: If you match the right child to the right book in a series, the reading habit will grow. Teachers, librarians or booksellers can advise you on the best series.
* Books to Go: Audio books are great for getting kids to experience more books through listening. They also make car trips more bearable and “are we there yet” is heard less often.
* Start a Summer Book Collection: Just like collecting rocks or seashells, collect books with summer themes. Put them in a fun box or container and take them out to celebrate summer.
* Tech It Up: Look for reading opportunities when your child is using the computer. Find books tied to Web sites, such as The 39 Clues, or visit Scholastic’s Summer Challenge site to read and earn points.
Scholastic, together with The National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University and Save the Children, is launching the Scholastic Summer Challenge, a free Web site that gets kids excited about summer reading. Kids can visit the Web site to join the challenge and other kids to record their minutes spent reading, earn points for their team, play games and read for a cause, with donations going to Save the Children’s U.S. programs.
Parents can explore the site to get advice from education experts and find summer book lists and articles in English and Spanish.
Check out these great books to get kids reading this summer:
Ages 5-7
* Funny Farm by Mark Teague
* Too Many Toys by David Shannon
* Go, Go America by Dan Yaccarino
Ages 8-10
* The 39 Clues series by various authors
* Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls series by Meg Cabot
* Goosebumps Horrorland series by R.L. Stine Young Adults
* The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
* The Season by Sarah MacLean
* What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
On the Web:
