Reading is a skill like anything else. Students who continue to read continue to grow their skills.
If not, like during the summer break, skills come to a standstill, or worse... begin to slide.
Evidence suggests three months of learning is lost for the average student who doesn't read during the summer.
The bad news is that the summer slide is virtually inevitable unless steps are taken to prevent it. The good news is that your child doesn't have to read mountains of books to keep his or her skills sharp. Younger readers (third grade and below) should aim for 15 minutes of reading a day during the summer. Older students should read five or more books during summer vacation to keep from losing ground.
This summer, I have a great idea...
Let's all read BOMB by Steve Sheinkin. It will help us all beat the Summer Slide and have fun in the process.
We'll read a few chapters each week, discuss what we read in 'comments', watch a few cool videos (posted on the blog), learn some new vocabulary, and read some related articles on spies, the Manhattan Project, and atomic chemistry.
If you're game for this, enter your email address in the 'Follow by Email' box on this blog... this way you'll know what we're up to and you won't miss a thing. Then, read the Prologue and Part I by June 14th.
Good Luck! And, have a great - slide free - summer.