Why Every Child Needs to Read Over the Summer

By Katie Schafer, Reading Specialist at Lincoln

How could a child who could add (36+57) before Kindergarten still have so much difficulty decoding words in first grade? I told my son’s first grade classroom teacher, “For the amount of reading we’ve done at home, he should be reading Shakespeare!” (I wasn’t kidding.) He left first grade as he did Kindergarten--just barely at grade level in reading.

Knowing the research, I was determined to not let his skills regress over the summer. We made it a priority to read thirty minutes each day as we did the summer before. During times I read to him, he would have 5 books piled up eager to listen. He loved listening to books, but the grumbling began when it was his turn to read. I would answer his negative comments with things like, “Reading is a skill you’re going to need your entire life, and besides it’s fun. You learn stuff. It makes you laugh. Dad and I read all the time.” Practice continued and summer ended. I was proud of his hard work and couldn’t wait to see his fall scores. He was given his first reading assessment at “Meet the Teacher” day--where we found out that Dylan had lost 4 words per minute over the summer. I couldn’t believe it. He regressed? I was disappointed. It was a very small regression, but I was hoping for at least some sort of gain. We had worked so hard!
So we started the 2nd grade year with our same home reading routines as the year before, including the complaining. Then, one night I noticed him reading a book on the couch for FUN. He started telling me, “Mom, did you know that frogs…” followed with a similar question, and another, and another. He made me laugh with all his questions. I was so happy to see him experiencing a reader’s joy and knowledge on his OWN. His quarter 3 scores rolled in, and I was ecstatic to find out that his scores were above grade level expectations. Our hard work (including a hefty fine for overdue books at the library from summer) finally paid off.

What about the upcoming summer? You got it. We’ll be reading again. While Dylan didn’t make enormous gains last summer, he also didn’t experience very much regression. Research states that children who don’t read over summer suffer a 2-6 month loss in skills. This is known as the summer slide and can accumulate up to a 2 year gap by eighth grade! Regression can happen to ANY child regardless of reading ability, socio-economic status, gender, grade, etc. when reading does not take place over summer. Regression is happening to our children at Lincoln. In fact, when looking at a sample of Lincoln‘s population, only 9% maintained or increased reading skills over summer. When I looked at our data, here’s a sample of what I saw this past September:

Lincoln Student - - Before Summer Score - - After Summer Score
Third Grader - - - - - - -128 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -99 (Lost a years growth in fluency over summer!)
Third Grader - - - - - - - 142 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 103 (Lost almost 2 years growth in fluency)
Third Grader - - - - - - - 71 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -41 (Lost 8 mos. growth in fluency over summer!)
Second Grader - - - - - -92 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -62 (Lost 7 months)
Second Grader - - - - - -63 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -27 (Lost a year)
Second Grader - - - - - -37 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 22 (Lost 4 months)

There are many other students with similar data. If you are interested in your child’s previous summer loss or gains, I can look it up in our shared drive. E-mail me at http://www.blogger.com/kaschafer@rochester.k12.mn.us. More importantly, start thinking now about a plan to incorporate reading into your child(ren)’s routine. Stay tuned for the next post where we discuss how to make summer reading extra special.

Book Swap is a Success

Thank you very much to those families who graciously donated Ziploc bags and books to the Lincoln Book Swap- or as one child called it "The Book Swamp." Indeed, several tables were "swamped" with fun books for children to choose from. One or two books from the book swap will be coming home in a Ziploc bag toward the end of the school year. The bags will also contain a bingo game and other new books received from grant money. In future years, we hope to continue sending home books for summer reading. Therefore, it would be greatly appreciated if you would send all the books back in the same Ziploc bag at the end of the summer. However, if you are in need of books or your child falls in love with them, you may keep them. Thanks again for your generous donations! The students were excited about their books.

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.