Boosting Reading Over The Summer - Books and Beyond!

Summer is here!  After a year of hard work, students (and families!) deserve a break.  But keeping kids reading over the summer can help them retain the gains they made during the school year and prepare them for the next grade level.  Even more importantly - it can help foster a lifelong enjoyment of reading just for fun!

It is not uncommon for students to slide back or lose some of their reading skills over the summer.  Just reading for pleasure each day can help prevent this “summer slide.”  Visiting the local library, or downloading books for free on the Libby App using your phone or tablet, is a great way to keep kids engaged in discovering what books and authors they like.  

But - not all kids like to read for fun!  And that’s ok.  Keep reading for some ideas beyond reading books that can boost summer reading skills. 

If your elementary student is still learning how to read, check out this amazing website - UFLI.education.ufl.edu and go to the “toolbox.”  Here you will find PDF and printable “roll and read” dice word games, as well as one page decodable stories, with a spot to illustrate their own picture.  Reading passages and practicing word patterns at their level can build students’ confidence and reading abilities.    

Lessons 1 - 41 target kindergarten skills, lessons 35 - 88 target first grade skills, and lessons 89 - 128 target 2nd and 3rd grade skills. 

If you have an older student that wants to improve their reading skills, you can get one on one FREE virtual tutoring with your library card.  Sign up here with your library card, or go here to get a digital library card.  

Other ways beyond just reading to boost reading skills with your kids this summer:

• Play wordle as a family each day to build spelling and vocabulary skills.

• Or check out this lower elementary version of wordle! Or try a crossword.

• Get the App: Laugh-Out-Loud Jokes for Kids by Rob Elliott and ask your student to read you the daily joke. 

• Ask your middle schooler to find an interesting article on freep.com and tell you about it. 

• Going on a trip?  Ask your student to look up your destination and tell you what they learned, or to google some fun things to do while you’re there! 

• Writing is reading!  Ask your student to journal about their summer.

• Or write a letter to a family member and send it in the mail, or even consider an international penpal. 

Thank you for all that you do, families! Enjoy your summer, we can’t wait to see you soon!