This past week, Alison Kistner and I traveled to the Southbury Public Library where I presented on the topic “Preventing the Summer Slide.”  The talk focused on ways parents can help their children stay cognitively acute during the long, summer break.  Studies are consistent – children have the potential to lose two months of overall reading skills and one month of overall learning during the summer.  These numbers tend to be lower in higher income households, but there still is a negative impact.

Parents have a myriad of choices to help their child’s brain stay active during the summer.  Below are some of the options I shared in Southbury:

• Become educated. Know your child’s developmental benchmarks before planning his or her summer learning.  Books like Chip Woods’ Yardsticks provides a summary of the cognitive, social, and emotional milestones children generally go through during certain times in their lives.
• Make it fun! Children work hard at school.  Engage their interest and work in partnership with your children on fun ways to keep their brains active! 
• Explore your local library. Many libraries even have free summer programs and offer online books. The American Library Association has great tips to make the most of your student’s trip to the library.
• Encourage your student to read at least four to six books over the summer break. Research shows that reading just six books during the summer may keep a struggling reader from regressing. Make sure the material is age appropriate and matches the child’s interest and abilities.  Libraries often run summer reading programs that motivate kids to read, so find out what’s available in your area.
• Read daily. Encourage your child to read something every day. Parents can help identify opportunities such as the newspaper, a magazine, recipes, an arts and crafts book, read to a sibling or friend, share a comic strip, while out in the car select a billboard or ad, and even a license plate. You don’t have to search far. The opportunities to read are endless.
• Talk with your child’s teacher. Teachers can provide suggestions of grade level books and resources.
• Read to your child. Reading aloud benefits all children (even in Middle School). Listening will help a child build listening comprehension skills with grade-level and above books. This will expand their experiences with text and will help them when reading alone.
• Math websites. If you’re looking for a fun, web-based game for students, Calculation Nation from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is a wonderful resource. This is just one example; there are tons of awesome games. Also, check out Funbrain Math Arcade from Pearson, 10 Best Math Apps for Kids from Parents.com, and Cool Math.
• Do science home experiments. The internet is filled with great websites to help parents plan easy and fun science experiments at home.  The local library and book store also should have wonderful books that provide step by step instructions on fantastic science experiments!  Some good ones are: The Everything Kids Science Experiments Book, Awesome Science Experiments for Kids, and Janice VanCleave’s 201 Awesome, Magical, Bizarre, and Incredible Science Experiments.

Summer is a wonderful opportunity for children to move at a different cognitive pace, but it doesn’t mean they should become disengaged.  Keeping their brains active and fresh will not only prevent the “summer slide” but will also keep learning alive and fun!