Your students are about to trade in their backpacks for summer vacation and in their minds, they’re totally checking out of learning mode. While it’s okay to celebrate the end of another school year and catch up on extra rest and fun activities, it’s critical for children to have multiple forms of academic engagement throughout the summer to prevent the summer slide and maintain the levels of intellect that they’ve worked so hard for all school year!
I’ve put together 7 simple ways you can prevent the summer slide in your students and keep them excited about learning and reading. At the end of this post I’ve also included FREE printables that you can provide to your students’ parents of all these different activity ideas so they, too, can do their part to prevent the summer slide. 🙂
What is the Summer Slide?
The summer slide is a decline in academic skills that occurs over the course of the summer months when children aren’t typically in school. Numerous studies have been completed that prove this to be true. The Northwest Evaluation Association recently conducted a study showing that the average student loses 20 percent of their reading progress they achieved over the school year and 27 percent of their math progress. As teachers, I know we don’t need to be convinced of the summer slide – we see the evidence firsthand when the students return back to us in the fall!
Parents Need to Play Their Part
Just as parent involvement during the school year is extremely important, it’s even more important throughout the summer months. Teachers aren’t available to work with their students during the summer, leaving parents to play a crucial role in helping kids maintain their intellectual abilities. Or as you could say – so they don’t “undo” the progress that’s been made!
Parents are busy, though. Many parents’ work schedules don’t change during the summer months at all, which means they need easy solutions to help their kids. Here are some ways you can help them help their kids:
- 15 Minutes of Daily Independent Reading (or more if they want to!)
There are so many ways to get your hands on books these days. You can go to your local library and check out books, use an online reading program such as Starfall, Raz-Kids, or Epic Books which can be of no cost to parents at all! Kids also love to explore multiple forms of print such as magazines, comic books, or newspapers. If your child is motivated by tasks, give them certain sight words to circle in the magazines and newspapers. They’ll love the challenge and it’s such an easy way to maintain the vocabulary they’ve built!
If the child has a hard time staying focused or isn’t a self-motivated reader, parents can try setting a timer for 15 minutes so they know they’re finished once it goes off. It may help eliminate the frequent, “Am I almost done?!” questions. 🙂
- Include Them in Daily Household Chores and Duties
It’s really important that kids continue to have responsibilities during the summer. Cooking and cleaning are simple ways to keep children using their brains at home. You can talk with your child as you work together, as it can really increase their oral capabilities. If there are multiple children in the home, making a chore chart that assigns individual tasks each day is a great way to teach responsibility, as well as teamwork.
- Listen to Audiobooks in the Car
I think most parents can testify that they spend a lot of time driving during the summer whether it be for vacation or all the activities their children are involved in. Use that car time wisely! Audiobooks are such fun ways for both you and your child to enjoy literature together. Pick some books that are of interest to your child and frequently ask questions to test their comprehension. If you’re in need of good comprehension questions, just do a Google search for your specific book! There are tons of websites that provide free comprehension questions for each chapter, as well as extension activities to try!
- Read a Story to Your Child Every Day
Even if they’re at the age where they’re completely capable of reading themselves, it’s still so important that kids are read aloud to. I highly recommend parents read to their children right before bed, as it’s a great bedtime routine, but any time of day is perfect. Reading as they eat is great, too! I have found that mealtimes are much more focused when kids are concentrating on listening. 🙂 I always suggest letting the child choose the book, but this would be a great opportunity to try a little more challenging chapter book since the parent will be reading!
- Have a Meaningful Conversation with Your Child Every Day
Ask your child open-ended questions to continually develop communication skills. We all know if you give some kids a Yes/No question, that’s exactly what you’re going to get as a response. It can be as simple as, “What’s your favorite toy in your bedroom, and why is it your favorite?” Eventually, the child will really look forward to the question of the day! Here are a few other prompts for you. Always be sure to ask them why after you give them the question!
- If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
- What is your favorite thing about yourself?
- What’s the best gift you’ve ever gotten?
- If you could ask anyone one question, and they had to answer, who and what would you ask?
- Would you rather spend a day in the ocean or outer space?
- Find a New Hobby to Do Together
Parents can come up with a new hobby together, or even include them in ones that they already do. Kids love to feel involved and their presence be valued. Gardening, walking, riding bicycles, sewing, and cooking are all great hobbies to do together – And some even provide simple ways to incorporate math! 🙂
- Play Language Games
Playing any board game is definitely good for kids’ brains, but if learning can be incorporated, especially language, that’s even better. A few great language games are Boggle, Apples to Apples, Scrabble, Bananagrams, I Spy, and Scattergories Junior.
Setting Parents and Students Up for Success
I think a lot of parents get overwhelmed at the idea of being solely in charge of their child’s learning during the summer, but these simple activity ideas can help take the stress off of them. If you found these 7 ways to prevent the summer slide helpful and would like to share them with all of your students’ parents, you can snag my FREE printables of all the ideas I’ve included! Just fill out the form below to download them!
Enjoy! Happy Summer!
