Simple ways to keep on reading and writing this summer!

Build regular practice into your summer routine, and help keep ‘summer slump’ away. Celebrate your family’s passions and find strengths and interests to build upon. Try to make reading enjoyable at home — read together daily, and use technology like Hoopla and Bookshare to help! 

Seize opportunities for your student to read out loud and write by hand 

These two practices strengthen the “reading circuit” in the brain and improve automaticity and fluency. So: 

• Read street signs! Menus! Google Maps directions. 

• Write a card to an elderly neighbor. 

• Write a grocery list. 

• Write a list of birthday present ideas.

Students get better at reading and writing by reading and writing. Writing by hand builds neural circuitry much more effectively than typing or texting.

Build strong decoding skills 

Take a few minutes to read aloud together every day. Use a notecard, ruler, or other straight edge below a line of text to help a student focus on only the words being read. When a word is challenging, help them to read one syllable (chunk) at a time, building the word step by step. Encourage reading every sound, not just guessing based on the first letter or few letters.

Build vocabulary and knowledge

Find out what your student is interested in and go deep. Find books in the library about the subject. Embrace their interests and use it as an avenue for building deep knowledge and advanced vocabulary. Talk about the books you read, and what you’ve learned as a family.