Summer Climb, Not Summer Slide

I know every teacher gets concerned about the Summer Slide for students who do not read over the summer.  

For my young students, they still need the guidance of parents to help be sure they read.  Not all my students have that support at home.  And for those that do, they may not have appropriate books for them to read.  

Our school helps with this by having summer school.  Just being in an educational environment is a huge boost!  But I am fortunate to also get to provide students with reading classes during summer school.  This hopefully will help students climb higher with their reading skills and not slide backwards and lose the gains they worked so hard for.

Then at the end of summer school, I like to send home Summer Reading Folders for students to have materials AT home for July and part of August.   Volume of reading is huge for students and their reading skills so I try to provide materials for them to read.  

In these Summer Reading Folders, I include several items.  I print books from Reading A-Z that are in the student's interests and put those together.  

I also like to let parents know about the app Epic.  Epic usually has a discount during the summer to keep ebooks in the hands of students.  I appreciate that!

Besides books, I want students to have a copy of a reading strategy bookmark.  It is a good reminder for them as they read and a great visual help for parents.  Parents usually are grateful for guidance on how to help their child when they have difficulty.  And the help needs to be beyond saying "sound it out".  

I forgot to include in the picture, but sight word baggies are another easy thing to send home in the folder.  If the student is still working on mastering sight words, this is something easy for them to practice on at home.  

Last, I include a calendar to provide a bit of structure for parents and students. Some days say to read for 15 minutes.  Other days say build a blanket fort!  It's all about balance and having fun.  

You can grab the calendar and reading strategies bookmark here if they will help you.  They are included in our Free Resources Library.   Sign up for these exclusives!