The holidays are almost upon us and the students are about to embark on seven weeks of school free days.

Although this is a great time for students to relax, unwind and prepare for the next year, I want you to consider what that actually means for our young men. It means no more classroom learning and structured academic tasks. Day to day, in class, be it Food Technology, Mathematics or Social Studies, students have demands that require various types of reading. This reading might include interpreting text or researching to gain knowledge, it might be reading instructions, questions, or reading over their own work. They might be skim reading for answers, it might be searching the internet for evidence to support their points, or it could be deep reading of a question to ensure they know exactly what it requires of them. Regardless of the medium or reason, the point here is that students are constantly reading whilst at school. This is a good thing, after all reading is a skill that can be improved with acquiring techniques and practice. However, when the holidays hit these structured demands on their reading disappear and students are at risk of their reading skills not merely stagnating, but actually backsliding during the long break.

This phenomenon is not unique to our boys, it is global, and has been given the title “The Summer Slide”. Research has shown that students can lose as much as two full grades in their reading level over this time. Worse still, the slide gets more significant in the high school setting where students are not making the same amount of gains as they were in primary school. By the summer after Y8, students lose on average 36 percent of their school-year gains in reading. In other words, summer learning loss increases with age through elementary and middle school (Khufeld, 2018). This impacts all students regardless of reading ability. However, readers in our community that have made the biggest gains throughout the year are likely vulnerable to lose the most over the break if they are not practising. See the graphs below from a North American study that illustrates this slide. Remember that Y9 is equivalent to 8th Grade. The blue column indicates where the long summer break falls and the numbers show reading progression.   

Average school year gains and summer learning loss based on the 2015 MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) Growth Norms Study

So what to do? The answer is clear, we need to have our men reading over the long Christmas holiday. The more they read the greater the chance they experience no back sliding in their reading ability. It matters little exactly what they are reading, just the hours they stack reading.

I have given advice previously for encouraging young men to read (see video here), but the key is to get them reading material that appeals to them. It might be a book, but equally it may be a graphic novel, a hunting magazine, sports articles on Stuff or an instruction manual for how to take a car engine apart. You know your young men, find something that appeals to them and strongly encourage they get into it. Perhaps you could set times during the week where everyone in your household reads, even just two or three 15-30min slots per week will add up. Ideally this reading would not be done on their phone, either paper or, if they need to read info on the internet, a computer would be more suitable than a phone. In last weeks newsletter our great librarian Chrissie posted the most popular books of 2021 with our students, perhaps one of these might be of interest for your young man (see the list here). The week before she also shared a short article that outlined the Holiday Reading Challenges that CHCH City Libraries hold in Christmas break. These challenges come with some pretty good prizes (see article here). Further to this, in regards to assisting our young men over the holiday from home, I attach some notes from research conducted by Mraz, Padak, & Baycich (2002). I wish you a restful and joyful Christmas break.

· The value of modelling reading for children needs to be reiterated to families. All too often families unwittingly send the message to children that reading is a chore…it is important to remind families of the need to create a positive climate for reading so that children look forward to reading. Encourage parents or caregivers to show their children how family members use reading to extend their own interests and acquire information. Let children see family members reading and talking together about what they have read.

• Talk to your child about what he or she is reading. Ask open-ended questions such as "What do you think about that story?" "What would you have done if you were that character?"

· Make reading and writing a regular part of your daily home activities. Let your child see you using reading and writing for real purposes.

· Visit the public library. Help your child to get his or her own library card.

· Listen to your child read. Use strategies to help your child with tricky words. For example, when your child comes to an unfamiliar word, you might say, "Skip it and read to the end of the sentence. Now try again – what makes sense and looks like the word that you see?"

· Praise your child's efforts at reading.

· Play word games such as thinking of different words to describe the same things.

· Set reasonable limits for television viewing.

Video – Why Summer Reading is so Important

Video – Summer Reading PSA by Dav Pilkey