When most people hear the term summer slide, their heads probably fill with images of water parks or lazy days at the playground. The term conjures up far more stressful images if you’re a teacher or a parent. To them, it refers to the “backslide” in a student’s retained knowledge. This often happens when students stop receiving practice with their academic skills. Find out how to develop a well-rounded plan and discover a HUGE LIST OF EASY WAYS TO AVOID THE SUMMER SLIDE!

SHOULD CHILDREN PRACTICE ACADEMICS IN THE SUMMER?

A study published by the American Education Research Journal showed that of their pool of students (studied for five summers), 52% of students lost an average of 39% of their total yearly gains during the summer months. So yes, the summer slide is a big deal, and likely to impact at least some of your students. 

To combat this, students need meaningful practice during the summer break to retain their knowledge and prevent learning loss. Let’s learn how:

DEVELOP A WELL-ROUNDED PLAN!

  1. SET GOALS: Start by setting goals for the summer. Kids may feel disengaged from learning over the summer, but they love the intrinsic sense of small victories, especially when they are rewarded in an extrinsic way! There are two ways to do this. Offer a reward when they return to school for completing a summer packet, or explain to parents that they can reward them throughout the summer for completing different activities. It can be as simple as a popsicle or a day playing under the sprinkler.
  2. CREATE SUMMER PACKETS:  Print off a packet of activities for students to complete over the summer. Give them a variety of reading, writing, math, social studies, science, and fun activities, such as book reports and brainteasers!

GRAB SOME IDEAS BELOW!

READING

There are many ways to practice reading over the summer. Below you will find summer-related passages, fun choice activities, reading response resources, book reports, and vocabulary suggestions.

Did you know that schools and public libraries around the country offer summer reading initiatives? Some schools even have book vans that come to your neighborhood! Find out what resources are available and inform your parents!

1. SUMMER-RELATED READING AND WRITING

These passages have questions and writing prompts related to summer! Each grade level covers all reading and writing standards and high-interest passages perfect for summer practice to prevent students from going down the summer slide!

2. CHOICE ACTIVITIES

Choice empowers children and helps them take ownership of their learning.

  1. Bingo:  Try choice boards that involve reading a variety of genres. It is just like a bingo card. Once they get a full row going across, down, or diagonal, they win a prize! These reader choice boards come in a ten-pack. If reading picture books, you can use one for each week. If reading novels or a combination of novels and picture books, decide how many you want to do for summer reading ahead of time.
  2. Scavenger Hunt:  Students have many choices (it is editable if you want to change it). Read in a tent, read to a neighbor, read out loud like you are a pirate, etc. Allow them to work on it throughout the summer and check off the items they completed. Then offer different awards for the gold, silver, and bronze categories! They will love the challenge! 

3. READING RESPONSE

In addition to reading, it is important that they engage with the text in some way. Each week, wherever they are in their reading, they should respond to what they’ve read that week. Use the main reading skills like summarizing, story elements, point of view, connections, character traits, vocabulary, etc., as a guide to their responses.

  1. WEEKLY READING LOG:  It not only tracks the minutes spent reading but also provides a space for students to respond to the text using the main reading skills. There are 9 weeks of pages responding to both fiction and nonfiction texts to get them through a summer of reading!
  2. READING RESPONSE ORGANIZERS: Pick a skill and use the organizer with the book they are reading.

You can check out this resource here:

3. BOOK REPORTS 

Another way to encourage children to respond to text is with book reports. Book reports will help students develop a deeper understanding of the text and are an excellent way to get your kiddos engaged in their reading. You can get creative with Paper Bag Book Reports, Mystery Pizza Reports, or Cereal Box Biographies. It covers a variety of genres. There is something for everyone! Assign one book report every two to three weeks or as they finish a book!

4. GREEK AND LATIN ROOTS AND AFFIXES

Vocabulary is an essential tool for reading, and this is fun for the summer! When students learn a variety of words, they better understand what they are reading. One surefire way to help children learn about words is through Greek and Latin roots and affixes. When students understand roots and affixes, they will be able to break down difficult words and better comprehend what they read! 

Learn more about this resource in this blog post: 

WRITING

Writing is such an important skill needed for all subjects. Whether your children have to write an essay, a book report, a research report in science, a summary of events in Social Studies, or explain a word problem in math, good writing skills are crucial! Students lose their writing skills over the summer, so keep them writing! 

This series of blog posts will help:

WRITING PROMPTS

Practice, practice, practice! What better way to practice writing than through writing prompts! Guided and summer prompts are readily available in these resources!

LEARN ABOUT STEP-BY-STEP WRITING INSTRUCTION:

step by step writing workshop, writing program and writing curriculum.

MATH

More and more schools include Summer Math packets as well as Summer Reading assignments. For one thing, different subjects are processed in different areas of the brain. Research shows that our brain geography can be changed by our actions, just like our bodies can be changed by our diet and exercise routines. Imagine if you ONLY did one-arm bicep curls. While one arm would begin to look toned and muscular, the other would stay weak and undefined. The same can be said of asking students to read only during the summer, without adding components in writing, math, science, and social studies. Grab some summer math problems!

SOCIAL STUDIES AND SCIENCE

To incorporate social studies, encourage your readers to read historical fiction, biographies of historical figures, and nonfiction books about important historical events. Create timelines and dioramas. 

For science, encourage reading about scientific topics in both nonfiction and realistic fiction. After reading about topics and themes that evoke questions from your student, help them complete scientific inquiry projects and research about the topics that spark their curiosity. You will see some animal studies below!

You don’t have to spend hours researching resources that will prevent the summer slide; we’ve done all the work for you! Your student will be ready to shine in their classrooms next year! 

Keep rockin’!

Pam

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