Most of us are excited to begin summer activities that involve being outside and going on vacations. Physical outside activity is crucial for a child’s development; however, it is important to identify additional activities that will keep your son or daughter learning.
There are numerous scientific-based studies that demonstrate that children who have access to books and whose parents read to them show gains over the summer. Dr. James Kim, Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, investigated the role of summer reading on children’s reading progress. For the 2,000-plus fourth- and sixth-grade students, Dr. Kim found that those who read the most did better when they returned to school in the fall.
What other factors contribute to improved summer learning? Dr. Kim conducted another study to determine if the gains were solely due to reading more books or to other factors. He found that those who made the greatest gains not only read more, but the reading material matched the student’s reading ability and his/her interests. In addition, adults used an interactive approach and assisted with comprehension (White & Kim, 2008, pg. 124).
How will you or your son or daughter know when a book is at the correct reading level? While teachers use more complex methods to select books that a student can read independently, Dr. Kim suggests that parents use a simpler method -- the “five-finger” rule. In this method, the child is asked to read 100 words from the book. Each time he/she has difficulty reading a word, the child holds up one finger. If the child has five fingers held up at the end of the 100-word passage, the book is too difficult to be read independently.
What is an interactive approach to reading? Using an interactive approach means that an adult interacts with the child by applying comprehension strategies. Dr. Kim used the following five strategies to help students understand what they had read (White & Kim, 2008, pg. 119):
What other activities can parents implement over summer break to help their children continue learning? To continue learning and avoid the summer slide, Borman (2000) stresses the importance of repeated exposure of literacy-rich experiences. Below are a few experiences:
Remember, that just as the marathon runner doesn’t take three months off from training because it’s summer, students must also remain in training by continuing to read, solving math problems, participating in literacy-rich experiences, building social relations, and exploring the great outdoors.
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