After such a long and unpredictable school year, the last thing many students, teachers, and event parents, want to think about is anything remotely related to summer school. While it’s very tempting to let the kids relax, there’s a genuine possibility of losing the valuable skills they learned the past school year. A recent study from MAP NWEA showed that students, on average, lose about 20 percent of their school-year reading gains during Summer Break. This is the dreaded phenomenon known as the ‘Summer Slide’ when students can slide backyards academically while on Summer Break. Here are 4 easy ways to implement Summer Reading and avoid the Slide for nearly any age group.
Have Your Students Read a Topic a Day
Because Kids Discover is with you all year long, we are so excited to debut a new ‘Topic a Day’ approach to summer reading for your students. Especially during the summertime, getting your students to read is easier said than done. This task is made exponentially easier when they have control of what they are reading. By spending 10-15 minutes a day on one of our Kids Discover Online topics, they can stay academically engaged and thinking cognitively. That’s it! Your students can pick something from our diverse Science and Social Studies library that genuinely interests them. We will even be providing a Reading Log to help them stay accountable and give you feedback on what they are reading each day.
Take a Trip to the Library
Are you noticing a trend in what your children are reading on Kids Discover? Expand on that by making a trip to the public library. Encourage them to thoroughly research a topic that is genuinely interesting to them and allow them to present what they learned in a way that makes sense to them. Do they want to dress up and present as a Historical Figure? Do they want to create and explain a diorama about Physical Science? For some students, summer is all about freedom, and this is an opportunity to make that freedom more academic.
Give Your Student a Diary
The one thing more challenging than getting students to read may just be getting students to write. Having them keep a Reading Log is a great first step, but you may want to go even further. At the beginning of the summer, give your students a journal and encourage them to write in it daily, as their private diary. This will also help them develop social-emotional skills as they learn to express their emotions and feelings in a safe space. The end result is fun documentation of what they did over the summer.
Let Them Bake and Cook With You
Skills used in the kitchen check off all of the boxes. They have to read a recipe, use math while mixing the ingredients, and experience science firsthand while cooking or baking. If you choose a region-specific dish, your students can even learn about a new culture. Will it get a little messy? Probably, but you’re also going to be creating fun, lifelong memories. Plus, you get to enjoy your handiwork afterward.
