Posts
All teachers in early elementary think about this topic and the end of each school year. Will my students read throughout the summer? Many students do not read and experience the summer slide (students fall back in reading levels).
There are several ways to help the summer slide. The school that I currently teach at has an option for students to take home 15 books and then trade the books at the book mobile two times over the summer. The book mobile is located near their neighborhood and moves around to neighborhoods on a scheduled day. In the article The Summer Slide in English Language Arts by Edutopia it suggests sending students home with books, magazines or things that students are willing and able to read.
There are several other ideas that can be put in place for students to be engaged in over the summer. Edutopia suggests creating a blog for students to discuss books. They could also join a blog that interests them like sports, music, technology or even discuss video games. I think these are great ideas to get students reading and writing without them realizing they are preventing the summer slide.
The summer slide is a big topic amongst our staff. We try to encourage students and parents to do some reading over the summer. It is so important for our students and they probably wouldn't mind reading if it was presented to them in ways that is fun for them.
Stopping the Summer Slide in English Language Arts (2014, June 5) Edutopia Retrieved June 9, 2014 from www.edutopia.org/blog/summer-slide-english-language-arts-terry-heick
We send home a math packet with our students over the summer, but we don't have anything mandatory for reading. Our Parent Booster group does a Reading Challenge over the summer though, where students keep a reading log on a calendar. They then turn the calendar in at the end of the summer to earn gift cards to Scholastic. It's a really great incentive and we have a lot of participants, but it doesn't really work for those students that don't already have books at home. I like the idea of sending them home with books!
ReplyDeleteThere is a summer reading program and countless tutoring opportunities within my school district. Above all, kids really need to be reading at least 20 minutes every night at home. I think sending kids home with books could be a great way to help. There should also be some sort of incentive for the kids as well!
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting to me. There are very few teachers in our (high) school that encourage summer reading/education. I feel that as teachers, each one of us should encourage students to read a little, give them a book list, or have them do something that keeps their minds sharp. It would be nice to set up a classroom blog or twitter with interesting science articles that students might see if they "followed" the class during the summer. Even if everyone didn't access it, at least there might be a few students that benefit from a little educational post here and there. I currently don't have a classroom blog or Twitter (I am working on this for next year) so I'm going to set a goal to do this for next summer! I'm glad you brought up this topic!
ReplyDeleteI see the summer slide in college students when they return and much of their technical ability is lost. They ask questions that they would not have at the end of the previous semester. It is frustrating to know that they are not remembering. To help reduce this we have set up a review for the students before returning including answering the typical questions that were asked of the instructors. We also have the student keep their resource materials with them in the clinic so they have access.
ReplyDelete