Avoiding the Summer Slide

As summer approaches we all have visions of floating in the lake, taking road trips, and slurping up melting creemees. Amidst all of that summertime fun I have encouraged all of my students to set summer reading goals for themselves to avoid what I call the "summer slide" in their literacy skills.

On the last day of school your child will be coming home with a summer reading calendar that they have already been logging into everyday in the month of June. They are encouraged to continue logging the minutes that they read each day. At the end of the month they can add up the minutes and then at the end of the summer bring their reading calendar back to school with the total number of minutes that they've spent reading. Everyone who participates and returns a calendar will earn a small prize and the five readers who accumulate the most minutes will earn an extra prize. The minutes that they record can be from independent reading, being read to, or even listening to an audio book.

I will also be sending home a handwriting packet for your child and a handy letter formation guide for you to help them to practice their letter formation over the summer. Research shows that by mastering proper letter formation students are able to write with greater ease and in turn produce writing pieces of greater quality.

Lastly, I encourage students to practice fact fluency for addition and subtraction in any way that they find fun. This could be on a website, adding dice together, making flashcards or playing card games.

I would also like to provide you with a few resources about reading that you may find interesting and helpful over the summer. I hope that amidst the business of this time of year you all find some time to curl up in a hammock and enjoy some summer reading yourselves.

Reading Resources
Summer Reading Tips for Parents of Second Graders
2011 Summer Reading Lists
Top Ten Summer Reading Resources

See you in August!