Little
Mariam had made much progress in her reading. She went from sounding each word
out to reading fluently when the summer holidays suddenly interrupted her
improvements. When she started the new school year, she returned to sounding
out each word again. A conversation with her mum revealed that she hadn’t
touched a single book during the break.
This is
typical of most children. The summer holidays to most families is a time when
books are put away to make room for outings and relaxation. But it comes with a
cost as learning slows down or comes to a stop and even, in the case of
reading, regresses. Have you noticed how your child did really well in reading
at the end of the school year but when she started a new year she seemed to
have forgotten most of what she’s learnt?
This is what
is known as the summer slump or slide. The first time I encountered this as a
teacher, I was shocked. With my own children, in the holidays, they followed a
relaxed program of Qur’an recitation and memorisation, reading, writing and
math. All this took them about an hour to do in the morning before they go off
and do their own thing. So it came as a shock to me after I had spent all the
effort to teach my kindergardners to read only to have them lose their fluency
when they returned to school the following year.
Don’t let
this happen to your child this summer. What can you as a parent do to help your
child maintain her reading skills or even improve on them?
1. Enrol your child into a summer
reading program at the library.
Most local
libraries will have a summer reading program. My local one has incentives throughout
the program such as enrolment packs, competitions, prizes and certificates for
everyone who participates.
One year,
they had a drawing competition based on the book that you’re reading. My son
entered it and won a book voucher at a local bookstore. It was a brilliant idea
as it got children who loved to draw but might otherwise not love to read to
actually read and the prize got the child to buy more books to read!
2. Have a requirement that your child
reads at least 1 book a week.
Research has
found that if your child reads at least six books over the summer it will help
to maintain the level of reading. If your child reads more then it will help
her to actually make gains in reading. Remember, the more children read, the
better their fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
My own minimum
requirement for my children is that they read a chapter a day and they need to
be reading books that are within their level not lower. Sometimes they become
so involved with the story that they will read more chapters.
If you don’t
have access to a library to borrow books then go online. There are a few good
free sites such as the ones below.
3. Provide activities to go with the
books.
To motivate
your child to read books, prepare activities to accompany them. You can have
your child do a response to the book using an art form that she prefers or
write an alternative ending. Do a search online for any activities that may
already be available for the more popular books.
Other
activities can have something to do with the subject of the book to provide
background knowledge for your child. This will help her to understand what
she’s reading and hold her interest. An example of this type of activity could
be if your child’s reading ‘Black Beauty’, then you can have activities where
she can read or research about horses.
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