June 21, 2013
Dear Hood School Parents,
Summer vacation immediately
sparks visions of beaches and barbeques. But, while your children are creating
precious memories through fun and games, they could be losing the reading gains
that they acquired during the previous school year if they do not continue to
read throughout the summer.
Preventing the “summer slide” is
a concern of all educators as we move into the summer months. I cannot encourage you enough to establish
smart summer reading habits for your children when you consider the compelling
reading research that overwhelming supports the importance of every child
reading on a daily basis over the summer.
One study revealed that children could lose up to three months of the
reading gains that they acquired during the school year if they do not read or
have someone read to them over the summer.
Another study found that reading just five to ten books over the summer
can prevent reading loss! Perhaps the
most alarming research found that struggling readers lose more ground over the
summer than proficient readers if they do not engage in summer reading
practices, and those losses create a wider gap between proficient readers and
struggling readers. By the time these
struggling readers reach middle school, summer reading loss can accumulate to a
two-year lag in reading achievement!
By immersing
your entire family in activities that involve reading, parents can create
enthusiastic readers. Providing a print rich environment, being a reading role
model for your children, and promoting a love of reading will lessen the
“summer reading slide”, as well as ease the transition back to school in the
fall.
Here are just a few of the many ways parents can “nurture
and nudge” their children into rewarding reading habits this upcoming summer.
* Enroll your children in the Flint Memorial
Library’s free summer reading program, “Dig Into Reading!” This theme kicks-off on Monday, June 24th
with the making of a mural to hang in the library. A special reading incentive offered by the
library again this year involves reading 10 hours by August 9th
. Children who read the required number
of minutes between June 24th and August 9th earn a free admission
ticket to the 2013 Topsfield Fair with a free entrance pass, 2 rides, and a hot
dog and drink. At the end of the summer the library will be celebrating summer
reading with an ice cream social, so be sure to check out that impending date
at the library.
* Visit the Hood School’s website for suggested
summer reading books. The town’s three
elementary reading specialists and the children’s town librarian worked
together to compile these titles for you to read to your child, with your
child, or for your child to read on their own.
* Enroll
your child in the Red Sox Summer Reading Game sponsored by the Massachusetts
Teacher’s Association to promote literacy.
Massachusetts’ children, from kindergarten through grade 8, who pledge
to read nine books and then submit their pledge cards, will be entered into a
drawing to win a family pack of 4 tickets to a Red Sox game at Fenway
Park. Entries must be postmarked by July 12, 2013 to be entered into the
drawing. (Pledge cards were available in
the Hood School’s lobby during Open House and are still available for pick-up
on the bench in the lobby.)
* Another summer freebie to take advantage of is to
sign your children up for “Barnes & Noble Annual Summer Reading Program: Imagination’s Destination” where they can
read their way to a free book by reading and recording eight books on Barnes
& Noble’s reading journal. For
further details visit www.bn.com/summerreading
. This Barnes & Noble website
includes book recommendations, their summer reading journal, and a summer
reading kit.
* Visit www.salemstate.edu/education/mcba/
for a comprehensive recommended list of recommended reading. This website includes all the winners of the
Massachusetts Children’s Book Awards for 2012 which were voted on by all
Massachusetts’ fourth graders.
* Start a summer book club with your children and
their friends and parents. Forming a
book club is a fun, social way to encourage summer reading with follow-up
discussions for parents and children alike.
* Create book baskets for the whole family and have
them readily available around the house or ready to travel. Make it fun and include newspapers, comic
books, children’s magazines, and crossword puzzles.
Remember, your primary goal is to keep your children
reading throughout the summer. Look for
fun ways to celebrate your family reading as you continue to promote a love of
reading.
Last, but not least, I will be looking forward once
again to Hood School families sending in their favorite candid summer photo(s)
of your children and/or family reading.
These photos will be showcased on the Hood School’s “Celebration of
Summer Reading” bulletin board in the lobby when your children return to school
in September. Please drop off a hard
copy of your photo(s) at the Hood during the month of August or mail it to the
school any time in August. Please
remember to include your child’s name, new grade level, and new classroom
teacher with your photo. It would be
greatly appreciated if all photos could be mailed, or dropped off to the Hood
School office, by August 16th so that the bulletin board is
completed to welcome everybody back to school in September.
Happy Reading!
Susan
B. Hegarty
Susan B. Hegarty, M.Ed.
Reading Specialist
J. T. Hood School
