DOES IT REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE
IF THEY READ THIS SUMMER?
S
Let Me Count the Ways
By Jan Pierce, M.Ed.
ummertime has come and the kids need a break.
They need to run and play and swim. They need to
forget about homework.
You’re right, they do. But what they don’t need is
several months without any reading practice. Teachers
know that kids who don’t read over the entire summer
take giant steps backward in their abilities. They forget
sight words and sounds. They can’t remember what to
do when they get stuck and, even worse, they fail to
hang on to the fluency they gained over the past
school year.
Reading is so key to all of learning that it’s the single
most important skill to practice regularly. And it doesn’t
have to be only independent reading, it can also be
family read alouds, listening to good books, writing and
reading their own stories and attending library
story hours.
There are not enough “shoulds” to convey how
important it is for your child to practice reading over the
summer holidays. And here’s why:
Emergent Readers
Emergent readers are kindergarten through second
or third grade readers who are still learning the basics
of all those squiggles and shapes. They sound words
carefully and often get stuck. They are ready for simple
sentences, but they may forget the sound of the letter
y or w. They use their finger to follow along and need
reminders to re-read or try again when they make a
mistake. They’ve got a lot of reading skills in place, but
they’re not there yet. Their skills are fragile.
These little readers will forget much of what they’ve
learned if they don’t practice during the summer break.
They’ll probably go back to school in the fall and
need to begin from scratch. The difficult truth about
emergent readers is they can easily lose confidence.
Don’t let that happen. Ten to fifteen minutes of daily
oral reading practice plus some fun story times together
will do the trick. Not only will they keep their hard-won
skills in place, they’ll continue to grow and be ready for
further challenges next fall.
Average Readers
These kiddos have made good progress throughout the
school year, but they are not yet independent readers.
Their fluency is up and down. They may need reminders
to ask themselves questions as they read to maintain
the meaning of the words. They’ll tend to focus word
by word rather than read smoothly through sentences.
They have limited vocabulary, but they are able to read
easy books independently.
These kids need to read books they know well for
fluency and also tackle some harder books that are
high in interest. They’ll benefit from both independent
practice and some side by side help to encourage good
reading strategies such as rereading for meaning, trying
something else if the words don’t make sense, and
thinking about such story elements as beginning, middle
and end, characters and plot.
These readers will definitely lose ground if they don’t
read during the summer. But with just fifteen to twenty
minutes of daily reading, they’ll keep the skills they’ve
already learned and may even make some progress on
their own.
10 | F L A G L E R parent M A G A Z I N E