Many students have summer reading lists to complete during their summer break from school. Sometimes it is difficult to get them to even open up a book during the summer. After all, school is out. They don’t want to think about books, teachers, papers, or assignments. However, during those months or weeks off from school, students lose much of what they learned during the school year. Just like with any activity or learning process, we must practice to stay current and retain information.
I teach at an early childhood learning center that offers summer camp for school-agers. I often ask those students if they have been working on their summer reading assignments. While some of them will say yes, most of the answers are no. Reading is not one of their fun activities of the summer. They would much rather be running through the sprinkler or climbing on the playground.
At one summer camp where I worked, we had three 15-minute silent reading periods set aside in our daily schedule for the students to read. They could either read books provided by the school or they could bring their own books, preferably books on their summer reading lists. These reading times started off well at the beginning of summer camp but slowly lost their appeal as summer went on.
As an early childhood teacher of 3-4 year olds, I set aside reading times each day for the students. At this young age, obviously, there isn’t much reading going on, but they are encouraged to choose books from the bookshelf and look at the pictures. This time serves as down time between high energy activities as well as time to introduce books related to the theme of the week.
I sit down with the students and either read the books to them or have them tell me what they think is happening in the stories from the pictures. This activity encourages respect for books, a love for reading, and opens their imaginations to adventures occurring in the stories. It is important to switch books out and replace books on the bookshelves every week or every two weeks to prevent boredom.
Click on this link for a study completed on students and summer reading. Interesting!
