Away from school, over the long summer holidays, some teens spend less time reading. Often, it's those who can least afford to lose their year’s reading gains who fall the furthest behind. The 'summer slide' can also be seen in other curriculum areas such as math's, social sciences, also on levels of a student's confidence.
A number of studies into student’s reading loss over the long summer break have shown that:
- Teachers spend weeks, if not a term or more, helping students catch up to the reading levels they achieved the previous year/term
- The results of not reading over summer are long-lasting, often having a powerful influence on reading levels throughout high-school and beyond
- Finding a safe place to read is important. Libraries are a fun place for teens with free wifi, books and plenty of support for students to get books, relax and read
- Students who have access to books and holiday learning experiences such as travel, museum visits, or other similar experiences are not as affected by the lack of reading than those whose summer has no new challenges or experiences
- It's harder to close the gap once it has opened, so the earlier the intervention the better.
Summer reading is about reading for pleasure — allowing students to choose what they want to read, with the focus being relaxation and enjoyment and no 'work', such as writing book reviews.
Remember reading for pleasure is hopefully not just on a phone or device but includes manga comics, graphic novels, magazines, and books
It is a great advantage to your student if you are a good reading role model and they see you reading for pleasure, remember to take time out in the summer break and read something yourself.
This is a good NZ website with tips for parents to keep their students reading over the summer: https://www.summerreadingprog.nz/reading-tips.html