Here’s How to Set Your Students Up For Summer Reading Success
If you’ve done the hard work of building a reading community, you don’t want it to all fall apart for your students over summer break. Here are some simple tips to wrap up a year of reading and send your students into summer ready to read.
First, do what you can to get families onboard.
Without classroom reading accountability systems at work, it will be important for student's' families to be as involved as possible.
Below is a sample email you might send to families:
Subject: Summer Reading Matters!
Dear [Parent/Guardian Name],
What a wonderful year it has been! Your child has been exploring fantastic books throughout the school year, and as summer approaches, I want to help keep that momentum alive.
Research consistently shows that students who read over the summer are better prepared for the year ahead. Here are a few statistics that might surprise you:
Reading just 20 minutes a day exposes students to nearly 1.8 million words per year, significantly boosting vocabulary and comprehension.
Students who read consistently over the summer are more likely to maintain or improve their reading level by fall.
Students who don’t read at all over summer break can experience a loss of some reading skills, known as the “summer slide.”
Summer is a great opportunity to let your child explore genres and topics they love, whether that looks like sports novels, graphic novels, mysteries, or dystopian stories! I encourage you to visit your local library, explore our summer reading program, or even start a family book club. A little reading each day goes a long way.
Happy summer reading!
[Teacher Name]
Next, I recommend sending students into summer with a fun bookmark. It’s the perfect way to encourage reading and give students a tangible reminder of the reading community you built together this year.
This is a fun end-of-year bookmark activity that allows students to reflect on the reading they did and growth they made. It also makes a special end-of-year gift.
If you don’t have time to make individualized bookmarks, this hand-drawn printable summer bookmark is quick and easy! Print in color or allow students to personalize their own with markers or colored pencils. It’s part of a fun seasonal pack.
The most important preparation you can do is stocking students with a list of great books!
I created this Genre Quiz and two (grade level specific) book lists to help. You can either print the genre quiz and have students take it independently, or you can make a slideshow of the questions, go through them as a whole class, and have students record their answers on a piece of paper. Depending on their answers, students will be recommended a particular genre and a list of books to choose from.
The biggest challenge of summer reading is that students are not particularly good at choosing books by themselves. This will remove that barrier because every book on the list is a highly engaging title that I have personally vetted.
The genre quiz resource also contains two book trackers, a PDF on how to choose the right book, and fun printable bookmarks.
These simple tips will give your students the best shot at maintaining their reading momentum this summer!
