Avoid Summer Slide
Summer Slide
The term "summer slide" refers to the regression in academic proficiency that many students experience during summer break. This regression can hinder student progress when they return to school in the fall. While summer activities like waterslides and park slides are fun, it's crucial for children to avoid the academic summer slide. School may be out, but learning must continue. The summer months offer an ideal opportunity for a different type of learning that can be both fun and educational. This issue has become more pronounced due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.
Summer Slide Facts
Research shows that students who do not engage in reading over the summer can face significant challenges when they return to school. On average, students lose about two months of reading skills during the summer break.
Teachers often need to spend a significant amount of time at the beginning of the new school year reviewing old material before they can introduce new concepts. This can slow down overall academic progress.
Encouragingly, children who read at least six books over the summer tend to maintain or even improve their reading skills. This holds true across all socioeconomic groups.
Preventing Summer Slide
Read at least 20 minutes a day and let children choose their own reading material, even if it's below their grade level - being successful readers will give them a boost in confidence
Create a reading challenge with your child or have a reading contest with family and friends to see who reads the most books (check with libraries, churches, and business organizations for reading challenges)
Start a book club in your community or your local library
Read signs throughout the community
Read recipes and discuss the various ingredients and the significance of each
Sing songs, read nursery rhymes, and practice making up rhyming words
For older children, listen to child friendly webinars and podcasts on various topics and discuss them afterwards
Explore nature and look for and identify different animals, houses, buildings, structures, trees, rocks, insects, clouds, birds, flowers, etc.
Conduct an in-depth study of a person, place, or event in history – or select an author and reading several books by the author (author study)
While on a trip or vacation, have your child research where you are going, things to do, and the history of the place. Encourage your child to write and send postcards.
Create a photo album and/or keep a journal of experiences and findings whether big or small throughout the summer months
Play board and card games, put together jigsaw puzzles, and do word puzzles
Reduce screen time (i.e. television, electronic video games, social media, iPads, etc.)
In the end…..
Keep your child reading. Children will not gain as much from summer reading if they are not enjoying it, so let them read what they want and where they want like a lounge chair, in the yard, on a bed, on the beach, on the floor, in the car, or on the grass. Take your child to the library as often as possible to explore all the activities offered. Participate in one-on-one reading time with your child. Read the same book as your child and talk about it as you read it.
Get out of the house and find new experiences with your child to stimulate the brain and promote learning. Visit a historic site in your community, a local museum, the park, or an aquarium. Find engaging and hands on fun opportunities for your child over the summer so that summer learning does not feel like punishment. A small amount of summer learning can go a long way in the fall. It doesn’t have to be formal and forced. Let your child enjoy the summer and fire up their brains at the same time.
By integrating learning into everyday activities and making it enjoyable, children can maintain and even enhance their academic skills during the summer months. This proactive approach ensures they return to school ready to learn and succeed.