We parents often spend quite a bit of time planning our summer vacation with our families, especially now as we come out of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is very important that we spend time as well planning what our children will be reading during this time.
Experts agree that reading should continue during summer vacation. Why is this so critical to our children’s success as they start the new school year? There is what is known as the “summer slide” and almost one-half of parents are not aware of it. It is the loss of academic skills when children are not in school, which is attributed primarily to a lack of reading. Unfortunately, the trend of children not reading has increased dramatically, almost doubling for certain age groups.
The benefits of summer reading include children maintaining and even improving their reading skills and being better prepared for the new school year. Experts recommend children reading at least 5 books to maintain their skills. If you think about that, it is about 1 book every 2 weeks. Surely your children can read that amount!
What can parents do to encourage summer reading? Experts recommend the following:
Lead by example – If you demonstrate a love of reading, more than likely your children will follow in your footsteps. My parents mentored the love of reading for me and my sisters and we all grew up with a love of books.
Have lots of reading material available – Children usually enjoy reading a variety of books so be sure to have books, magazines, comic books, joke books, etc., easily and quickly available for them.
Take your children on regular trips to the library. My parents did that for me and my sisters when we were growing up. At least once a week, we were all at the library and then came home with armfuls of books.
Set aside at least 15 minutes a day to read to and with your children. Think about that – just 15 minutes out of your 24-hour day!
Ask your children questions about each book that they read - before, during and after they have finished reading. These questions can include: Why did you select that book? Who are the main characters? What is the main subject of the book? What was your favorite part of the story? What did you learn? Asking questions helps them to reflect on what they are reading and develop good verbal skills.
To learn more, please visit:
https://www.scholastic.com/readingreport/summer.html
https://readingpartners.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/SummerAtHomeOnePagerFinal.pdf