Supporting Reading Skills in the Summer and Beyond
The research is clear: reading over the summer prevents learning loss and increases overall student achievement. It’s also clear that getting kids to read over the summer can feel difficult. I’ve got some ideas, tips, and tricks to help parents support reading at home. Let’s start with the basics, then we’ll dive deeper into encouraging reading, followed by how to support skillful reading.
Reading at Home
Now, it’s all well and good for educators to tell parents to do those things, but what we often miss is the HOW. I’ve got that for you as well, broken down into some of the most frequently asked questions I see from parents.
Encouraging Reading At Home
Ok! So we’ve got a book we like, we’ve got time in the schedule…but it seems like our children are struggling to do the actual ACT of reading. What do we do now?
Supporting Skillful Reading
If you feel as though your child is struggling to sound out the words, here’s what you can do to help build the skills they need to decode:
If you feel as though your child can read most of the words, but is struggling to understand the plot, here’s what you can do to help build vocabulary and comprehension:
For more in-depth information, here’s some research on summer reading and reading at home.
References
Allington, R. L., McGill-Franzen, Α., Camilli, G., Williams, L., Graff, J., Zeig, J., & Nowak, R. (2010). Addressing summer reading setback among economically disad vantaged elementary students. Reading Psychology, 31, 411-427. doi:l0.1080/027 02711.2010.505165
Chin, T., & Phillips, M. (2004). Social reproduction and child-rearing practices: Social class, children's agency, and the summer activity gap. Sociology of Education, 77, 185-210. doi: 10.1177/003804070407700301
Cooper, H., Nye, B., Charlton, K., Lindsay, J., & Greathouse, S. (1996). The effects of summer vacation on achievement test scores: A narrative and meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research, 66, 227-268. doi: 10.3102/0034654
Elish-Piper, L. (2019). Parent Involvement in Reading: Summer Reading Ideas for Families. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 47(3), 34–37. https://doi.org/10.33600/IRCJ.47.3.2019.34
Senechal, M., & Young, L. (2008). The effect of family literacy interventions on chil dren's acquisition of reading from Kindergarten to Grade 3: A meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research, 78, 880-907. doi:10.3102/00346543083
U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, What Works Clearinghouse.