8 Tips to Prevent the Summer Reading Slide

Have you heard the term “summer reading slide”? During the summer, many students experience a loss of skills and material learned over the school year. If they don’t “use it” then they “lose it”.

The good news is that we can prevent the summer slide. There are lots of literacy activities that we can do over the summer with our kids to help them practice (in a fun way!) all the things they have learned.

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Summer Reading Slide Prevention Tips

Read

The single most important thing we can do is to have our kids read. Read with our kids. Read to our kids. And, have kids read independently. Do this every day! The great thing about the summer is that we can read what we are interested in reading. Generally, we don’t have required books to read over the summer. So, go to the library and explore. Find books on topics that are of interest to your kids right now. Need some themed book list ideas, I have a whole list on the blog. Or, you can check out my Pinterest board, “There’s a Book About That”. There are over 400 lists featured.

Get Cooking

Get cooking with the kids. Cooking together requires reading a recipe and following directions. In addition to literacy skill development, cooking and baking also develops math and science skills. Here are some of our favorite cookbooks for kids.

Chalk and Paint Words

Review spelling words, sight words or vocabulary words with fun activities. Use sidewalk chalk or a bucket of water and a paint brush to “paint” words on the concrete or brick. Then watch them disappear.

Summer Word of the Day

Each morning have a new vocabulary word written on a card and place it at the breakfast table. Together, talk about the word and define it in kid friendly terms. See how many times throughout the day everyone in the family can use the word.

Secret Code

Each day develop a secret code and prepare a message to the kids. For example A=1, B=2, C=3 and so forth. It’s a fun way to leave them a reminder, announce a fun activity or review a word or concept.

3 in a Row

This is a tic-tac-toe game, but instead of using x’s and o’s, each player uses a word they need to practice spelling. For example, player A may use the word “when” and player B may use “slow”. On a players turn, they write their work in a space on the tic-tac-toe board. Get three in a row and you win! Play another round with a new word each child needs to practice spelling.

Lemonade Stand

Let the kids create a lemonade stand. To up the literacy skill practice, have them make signs to advertise the sale. They could also design and create bookmarks filled with book suggestions to hand out with each cup of lemonade sold.

Read and Create

There are so many books on the market that encourage kids to read and then create something. Here are a few of my favorites from Klutz.

Make Clay Charms

Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes

So don’t let those literacy skills experience a summer slide. Try one or more of these ideas each day and your kids will be even stronger readers by the end of the summer!

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