Summer Slide
While we all agree that children need down time from the rigors of school life during the summer, that isn’t something that parents have to go to great lengths to provide. Summer itself will do it. There is something that all families of elementary school aged children should make a priority – preventing summer slide. Summer slide is the well documented loss of learned skills, particularly in reading and math, that occur when children stop practicing those skills. School-age children can lose three months of reading skills in just one summer. It occurs with all children at all levels, the effects are serious and cumulative, but they are also entirely preventable. Prevention is not difficult and doesn’t take much time. Best of all, many of the necessary actions can be fun. …show more content…
Just six books read over the summer, and that is easy to accomplish if you get some reading in every day. Make sure that all or most of the six are “just right” books, not too easy or too hard. If a busy day comes up and you or your child can’t get to a book, make sure that your child reads to you anyway; the weather report, the restaurant menu, signs on the street or highway. Words are everywhere! Vary the way daily reading is accomplished which will help keep your child interested and accountable. In addition to having your child read silently on his or her own, change it up from time to time. Your child can read aloud to you or another child, or maybe even the family dog! Important for a great many reasons, no matter how old your child is, be sure to read aloud to him or her sometimes too. You can find support for meeting goals by enrolling your child in a summer reading program. Every library will offer one and some book stores do too. The programs provide incentives that help motivate children. A weekly trip to the library can be a fun family
While we all agree that children need down time from the rigors of school life during the summer, that isn’t something that parents have to go to great lengths to provide. Summer itself will do it. There is something that all families of elementary school aged children should make a priority – preventing summer slide. Summer slide is the well documented loss of learned skills, particularly in reading and math, that occur when children stop practicing those skills. School-age children can lose three months of reading skills in just one summer. It occurs with all children at all levels, the effects are serious and cumulative, but they are also entirely preventable. Prevention is not difficult and doesn’t take much time. Best of all, many of the necessary actions can be fun. …show more content…
Just six books read over the summer, and that is easy to accomplish if you get some reading in every day. Make sure that all or most of the six are “just right” books, not too easy or too hard. If a busy day comes up and you or your child can’t get to a book, make sure that your child reads to you anyway; the weather report, the restaurant menu, signs on the street or highway. Words are everywhere! Vary the way daily reading is accomplished which will help keep your child interested and accountable. In addition to having your child read silently on his or her own, change it up from time to time. Your child can read aloud to you or another child, or maybe even the family dog! Important for a great many reasons, no matter how old your child is, be sure to read aloud to him or her sometimes too. You can find support for meeting goals by enrolling your child in a summer reading program. Every library will offer one and some book stores do too. The programs provide incentives that help motivate children. A weekly trip to the library can be a fun family