Summer Reading: The Good, the Bad and Our Plan at Lincoln

The Good: Research shows the number of books read during the summer consistently relates to academic gains regardless of the student's family income level. Children who read six or more books over the summer show an increase in reading achievement compared to children who did not participate in summer reading. According to the National Summer Reading Association, summer reading programs need to have three critical components summarized by ABC. A being Access to books. B is Books matching students' readability and interest levels. C stands for Comprehension monitored by an adult who can ask children questions about what they are reading. Lincoln was awarded a grant for $1500 from the Rochester Public School foundation to purchase books along with $350 from Wilbooks. Your child will be receiving 5-8 books to read over the summer.

The Bad: Learning Today Inc. reveals some unfortunate facts regarding the effects of being out of school in the summer and academic achievement. In general, children from lower-income families tend to show a drop of nearly three months of grade level equivalency each year during the summer, when compared to a one-month loss by middle-income students. What is even more disheartening is that these summer losses in achievement can add up year after year and may be the major cause as to why the achievement gap between low- and high-income students continues to grow throughout the elementary school years. In the elementary grades a summer loss of three months each year will eventually accumulate to become a gap of 18 months by the end of the 6th grade! By middle school, this can produce a cumulative lag of two or more years in reading achievement, even when effective instruction during the school year is available. Our data has shown that some children at Lincoln have regressed almost a half year over the summer! We have all worked too hard to let that happen!

Our Plan at Lincoln: We have set a goal for ALL children at Lincoln to take part in the summer reading program. This reading program called "A Smarter Summer with Reading Bingo," consists of a bag of summer books for your child to read along with a bingo game. It is our strong intention to close the gap by offering a fun summer reading program. The program strives to motivate each child to read at least six appropriately leveled books while encouraging comprehension strategies, parent involvement and community literacy partnerships. This program was designed with the precise components of a successful summer reading program shown by research. A "Smarter Summer with Reading Bingo" strives to eliminate the 1-3 month regression of reading skills. Lincoln students, be prepared to have fun becoming "Smarter this Summer with Reading Bingo!" Bingo and the summer books will come home in a Ziploc bag the last week of school.