Preventing the Summer Slide
Are you looking for ways to motivate your students to read over the summer?
Well, you are not alone! People might think that a teacher's job is done the last week of school. However, teachers know that we have one final important lesson to teach. That is, the lifelong lesson that reading and writing are good habits to have ALL of the time, not just while school is in session. You have all heard of the phrase "summer slide": when students experience a decline in their reading level because they have not been practicing reading all summer long.
Teachers worry about their students leaving school in June, and then perhaps not practicing reading at all over the summer. Teachers know that "the most powerful predictor of reading success is reading volume." Harvey, S 'Three Principles for Supporting Striving Readers This Summer', Heinemann Blog. In that case, if students are not reading enough during the summer, they may experience learning loss. It can take months of practice to build those reading skills back up again. Here are some tips for teachers to help students prevent the summer slide and support their literacy skills.
To begin with, teachers can work on a summer reading plan with students during the last week of school. To build up to this event, students can prepare book reviews featuring their favorite reads to share with the class. They can use Flipgrid, Twitter, Google Slides, Padlet, blogs, or other forms of media to share their favorites and spread the love of books. Before the presentation begins, share this form with students, and prepare your class to present their favorite books to one another. During the presentation, students can make a list of books on the form that they are interested in reading as the class presents their favorable book reviews. To add on to their list, you can invite your school librarian or local librarians to come in and speak to your class about popular kids books they could find at the library to read over the summer. By the end of the week, students should have a very full list of books to read. The hope is that their enthusiasm for reading will grow as the size of their list increases!
Teachers can also send information home to their students' families that will inform and encourage summer reading. For example, teachers can send a list of activities home in Padlet form like the example below with suggested activities, books, and resources for parents to read. You can also include a link to the town library to make it convenient for students and parents to join summer reading programs and try out e-books.
The following activities can also be added to the blog to encourage literacy in fun ways that encourage togetherness over the summer:
- Read aloud stories together as a family
- Read directions and recipes
- Read songs and poems
- Read and write lists for shopping or things to do when going places
- Write thank you notes to friends and family
- Read the same book as your child and have fun discussing favorite parts of the book together
- Copy a calendar, or teach your child to use an online calendar and keep track of daily reading and amount of books read. This can build motivation to read more as the # of books read increases.
- Help your child find a "just right" book- not too hard, not too easy. (Just Right Book video)
- Integrate media and literacy, for example, let your child take photos when you travel and write about each photo. Creat a scrapbook with photos and writing.
- Set limits on screen time
- Start a book club with friends and family
- Head to your local library and join the book club with friends.
Laura you did a great job with your blog. The summer slide is so real and it's also real for the teachers too! I think your suggestions of activities and summer reading activities are definitely effective ways to get students excited to do it! I remember when I was in elementary school and before school was over we were give HUGE work packets to complete. To get us to read, we were given a "Summer Reading Log" which was just a simple chart printed out and you got rewarded with something if you read a certain amount of books. Everyone always dreaded the summer reading log because we knew none of the teachers were actually excited about it and also we didn't have a lot of choices. I like how in you blog you talk about different reading activities such as Read directions and recipes, read songs and poems, read and write lists for shopping or things to do when going places , write thank you notes to friends and family, etc. I think it's great that we are redefining "reading" and its not just reading books. I would definitely send out a reading blog for parents and students over the summer to help encourage reading and getting rid of the Summer slide! I would also definitely ask the librarian to come in and talk to my students about books I think thats a great way to get kids excited to read. Thank you for sharing! Perfect timing too, definitely going to use some of your suggestions for the end of the year!
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI'm so gald that this blog was helpful to you in thinking about what you want to do to prevent the "summer slide." The book review presentations using some type of video presentations are also very effective in getting kids excited about books that their peers have read. If you try this with your students, you will be surprised that they will get so motivated to read every book their classmates are suggesting to them! Glad the suggestions were helpful! Laura A
Hi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the helpful suggestions on how to prevent the "summer slide". At the school I used to teach at, this "summer slide" was a huge problem for most students, especially our English language learners. Students would come back to school in the fall reading multiple levels lower than where they were at in the spring. Like most schools, the only thing we did to try to prevent this loss of progress was assign a summer math packet and a reading challenge to students. The problem with these assignments was that they were not engaging, so the majority of students never completed them.
I like how you suggested that teachers use the last week or so of school to begin working on a summer reading plan with students. Using Flipgrid or a class Padlet would be such a fun way to encourage reading throughout the summer, and it would also give students a way to stay connected with their former classmates over the summer months!
-Colleen Konkol
*I meant Laura**!
DeleteHi Colleen,
DeleteYes, I agree with you! If you use Flipgrid, the students can go on during the summer and comment on their classmates videos after reading the book themselves! If you create a padlet, the students can keep going back to that during the summer to find books, and comment on their summer reading with teachers and students. It makes the motivation so much greater because the kids feel like they can keep reading and stay connected during the summer! I'm glad that you like these ideas!! Laura A
Hi Laura! This was such a helpful blog as an upcoming first year teacher, as it's something that I haven't been thinking about as I don't have my own classroom yet, but is something I will need to prepare for! You gave so many useful ways to incorporate practicing reading over the summer besides books themselves such as with ways to do it through every day things. This would not only make it more exciting for them to complete but different ways to look forward to reading even beyond the summer. Preparing them at the end of school year in ways to get ready for practicing and continuing reading is also another aspect that I feel I will use with my own students, much like modeling and setting expecations with any task throughout the year so that they can be successful - thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie,
DeleteI'm so glad this blog was helpful to you! You have done so much work this year as a first year teacher. Now that it's coming to a close, I'm glad that you are thinking of how to influence your students to keep going! So, don't relax yet, you still have some very important work to do! If you do take the time to try the padlet and keep your students reading, your parents will absolutely love you for it, and your students will greatly benefit from it. It's a win win all around! Laura A
Hi Laura! This article is perfectly timed! It is such an important issue to address at this time of year that I was not even thinking about. Students do so much work and make so much progress over the school year, it is a shame to lose it. Thank you for providing us with helpful tips and ways to prevent it. I am already thinking about how I can implement these in my classroom. I am now planning on spending our literacy sessions for our last full week together writing about and sharing our favorite books. I tried to access your form for this activity and had to request access. I suggest that you change the link to a copy link. Anyone who clicks the link will automatically be prompted to make a copy for their own use. People with the link can keep, edit, and share their own copy without any changes being made to yours. This post has encouraged me to take action in my classroom! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Kate,
DeleteThank you for letting me know about the link. I will certainly work on that! I want you to be able to use the form. Thanks for the suggestion!! Laura A
Hi Laura- Great job on your blog post! I was talking to a colleague today about our End of Year assessments, and how great our students have progressed. But we then discussed the never ending cycle of students going from Red (significantly below) in the Beginning of the Year, to Yellow (below) in the Middle of the year to *hopefully* Green (at grade level) at the end of the year. I think that these points you outlined are fantastic, and the resources are user friendly so parents feel confident enough to practice at home! I will definitely be using them before my students leave for summer vacation!
ReplyDeleteHi Caitlin,
DeleteI'm so glad to hear that this blog was informative for you! I definitely hear your concerns for your students. You work so hard all year long to carry them through the year, and just when they make such wonderful progress, they leave you for the summer. Just like you I worry about my students, and I want to do all that I can to motivate them to keep going! This is the first year I will be trying my own class blog, so I am definitely hoping that this could be the year that my students are very motivated to keep going! I definitely think that the technology piece is key in keeping the kids motivated. Look how much it motivates us! I think that we can't go wrong if we try!! Best of luck! Laura A
Laura - I love this!! When I was a student, my parents & grandparents always motivated and pushed me to continue to read. We were a part of all the summer reading programs through the library and I definitely think that it why I have such a love for reading still. I definitely know summer can be busy, but I think it is so important to continue to encourage and support reading and keeping up with what students have learned. More specifically, my grandma used to make us read every single day for 20 minutes and while I may have fought it at first, I'm super grateful for that now. I definitely will use these creative ideas to encourage my students to keep up their reading over the summer when I have my own classroom.
ReplyDeleteHi Lauren,
DeleteI'm so glad that you enjoyed this blog! You are living proof that summer reading makes a difference! What a gift your parents and grandparents gave to you! As a parent myself, I found it challenging to get my kids to read over the summer because the video games were becoming more and more popular. I always insisted on reading before video games. However, now I think that it's even more challenging for young parents to help their kids use tech forms are not for just entertainment, they are for learning and thinking ( Read the World chapter 2 p.35).
Laura- this is such an important topic to talk about. You're right, so many people assume teachers have summers "off," there is so such thing as down time as a teacher. As a first year, I just recently heard this term being used a lot. I knew it existed but I was not aware of how seriously teachers took it.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you mentioned the importance of getting families involved. I think forming a relationship between the teacher-family-child will reinforce the importance and message that we try to get across. Reading, writing, math etc. is not just something you do in school, it's a lifelong skill that will help you grow in many ways.
It almost feels like an awkward topic to talk about with students but they need to know why it's important and what can happen. They work way to hard for it to slip away over just two quick months. Thanks for sharing these ideas...I am going to include this in one of my upcoming morning meetings, and in a newsletter to parents!
Hi Amanda,
DeleteYes, I agree that at first the kids are not excited about the idea at ALL! That's why it's a good idea to start mentioning it now so that by the time the next 4 weeks pass by they are already sold on the idea of reading over the summer. Start with getting them excited about the book reviews. If the students make a Flipgrid video about a book they are recommending to their peers, then they get their friends motivated. They will walk away with a long list of books they will want to read once the videos are presented. Then the padlet will keep them coming to the site all summer long to keep the enthusiasm going. Glad that you want to give this a try!! Laura A
Laura, I loved all your ideas for preventing the summer slide. I am definitely going to try that last week of school idea to compile lists of favorite books to build enthusiasm. I thought that was very creative! I also like the idea of creating a Padlet or even a Google Classroom that parents can access as well as kids with helpful tips, games, and book suggestions to keep reading fresh and exciting. I am sure parents will appreciate the additional information! Using these technology platforms as tools for learning over the summer will support their understanding of how to use them as tools for learning during the school year. Thanks for all the great ideas!
ReplyDeleteHi Laura!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you are going to give this a try! I know how hard you work with your 3rd graders, and you want to keep the momentum going. I know that it requires a bit of work, but honestly once you introduce the book reviews the kids just take over! I am glad that you think the ideas are "fresh and exciting." I never think my ideas are fresh and exciting, so thank you for that encouragement! Keep up the good work! Great working with you again! Laura A
Lauren, thank you so much for choosing this topic - the timing is perfect. We get so busy with end of year assessments, report cards, final data points, etc. that all of a sudden, the school year is over. It's easy to get overwhelmed with so many "To Do" lists and deadlines this time of year which makes it too easy to forget about creating a purposeful summer reading plan for our students. I really liked your ideas on how to set up a meaningful plan to send our students off for summer vacation with. I will be using some of your ideas such as the Padlet example and the "Just Right" book video. I think parents, teachers and students would benefit from all the resources you provided us with. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Laura!
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the title of your post I was so excited to read it because it is so relevant to what I'm seeing in my placement right now. As someone who is very new to the teaching profession this isn't something I'm really equipped to deal with or something I've thought too much in depth about. I think the ideas you shared are very realistic and easy to implement. I think Flip Grid would be great to keep up with summer reading and writing! So much more motivating that a book report or reading log. I'm definitely going to come back to this blog post for reference. You did a great job, thank you!
-Grace
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteThis was a great blog post addressing the "summer slide". While summer is definitely a time to relax and celebrate the amazing learning that went on during the year, that does not mean we need to abandon our good reading habits. I think developing a reading plan is a fantastic way to set a structure and excite students about fun reading opportunities. I was an avid reader as a kid, and the summer was no exception. My mom signed me and my sister up for the reading challenge at our local library every year, and I am very grateful because just as your blog post mentioned, this gave me a goal to read toward even when there was no classroom to report back to. I hope to use these strategies when I am a teacher, to help prevent the "summer slide". Great job!
-Shawna Zeisner