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Teaching Tip: Ways to Keep Kids Reading During Summer Vacation

Here in New England, the school year is winding down, and many students are about to head off for a summer away from the classroom. As teachers well know, students who read during their time away from school are much more likely to hold on to those crucial reading skills. Fortunately, there are tons of simple ways to encourage students and families to read over the summer. Here are a few:

Camping Fun book
  • Create free personalized books from BookBuilder Online. Just add your student's name, plus the names of important people in the student’s life, then print out the story. Books can be easily assembled and taken home for the summer. You can even point parents to the site for new books if their child is looking for more challenges after a few weeks.
  • Join the summer reading program at your local library. Kids can borrow a wide range of books for free and maybe even try a subject or genre that’s new to them. Many programs also host creative hands-on learning experiences. One of our local libraries invites kids to practice reading aloud to the librarian’s dog! See what yours has to offer.
  • Encourage students to keep track of what they read over the summer in a reading log. Download our log or create one with students during those final school days.
  • Provide students with a special set of books to read and work with over the summer. You can select your own from your book closet or check out our nine super Summer Reading Sets. The eight-book sets feature carefully chosen titles for Levels A/1 through N/21 and include a convenient take-home book bag. They're perfect for long rides in the car or toting on vacation.
Summer Reading Set 6

These activities can make a big difference for students when they return to new classrooms and teachers in the fall, but there are many others. What summer reading ideas are your favorites for students?