To succeed in school and life, children and young adults need ongoing opportunities to learn and practice essential skills. This is especially true during the summer months.

• All young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. Research spanning 100 years shows that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer (White, 1906; Heyns, 1978; Entwisle & Alexander 1992; Cooper, 1996; Downey et al, 2004).

• Most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Low-income students also lose more than two months in reading achievement, despite the fact that their middle-class peers make slight gains (Cooper, 1996). 

• Parents consistently cite summer as the most difficult time to ensure that their children have productive things to do (Duffett et al, 2004).

However enriching these activities may be, children also need specific activities to boost their reading comprehension and prevent the "summer slide" so when they return to school in August they feel confident in their abilities as a reader.

We have heard from many parents for the need of a "reading program" over the summer months to help them help their children in retaining the skills they learned over the school year. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a tailored program where parents received weekly updates with specific activities for their child to do?

If this is a question you have asked yourself and would like to receive weekly reading activities and suggestions throughout the summer months, and you are a parent of a current 3rd or 4th grader, please send an email to Jennifer Johnson before May 25th.  Laura Hanson and I will tailor activities based on your child's grade level/reading level (as taken from the most recent MAP test/lexile) to help them keep up with comprehension skills over the summer months through reading fiction, non-fiction, and current event selections. These updates will include other activities that you can do with your child while reading to them every day and will be sent to you in convenient weekly email updates throughout the summer.

Normandale Learning Specialist - Reading and Math