Just Read This: #Literacy and #Reading News: June 2020

monthly literacy reading newsletter

Hope everyone is having a great July! Wow. We’re one week down already.

Welcome new readers to Just Read This, our (almost) monthly recap of what’s being published in the areas of family reading and literacy. Our goal is to pull out ONLY the content with application for everyday life. You’re already busy, and helping kids on their literacy journey takes time. We hope this makes it a little easier. Just Read This is short and sweet. We will …

  • Answer a topical question.
  • Share research and best practices.
  • Offer reading and book suggestions.

Sometimes these items overlap and point you to areas of the Reading Tub where we have new information and resources.


What is Summer Slide?

summer slideReading is a foundational skill, and all other learning is built on the ability to read. Decades of studies have shown that without access to books and reading students across all grades lose between 25-30 percent over summer.


News to Use

Headline: What We Know About Summer Learning Loss: An Update -The Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (BCTR), Cornell University published in Psychology Today

If families and educators encourage kids to stay engaged in learning throughout the summer, students may not only maintain, but improve their knowledge.

The article includes links to several recent studies that learning is a cumulative gap that keeps widening not just summer after summer, but during the regular school year, too. Does that mean you need to treat summer like a “regular” school day? No way! Learning comes in all forms, may not come from a book, and be so much fun everyone forgets the “educational value.” Consider these types of activities when engaging children and teens:

  • Cooperative tasks or projects that require communication and teamwork, not competition.
  • Require use of the 5 senses.
  • Problem-solving and analytical skills.
  • Sequential thinking, and/or forecasting (i.e., what do you think will happen).

Hands-on activities, in particular, offer a boost for learning retention.


Ready. Set. Summer!

Don’t get us wrong, keeping kids reading during the summer is really, really important. Especially this year, when COVID-19 obliterated the routines we had for school and continued learning. Life is stressful enough right now, so just be alert for “pop-up opportunities.” They usually come in the form of a question and look like curiosity. Let that be the starting point of something really interesting and fun. 

Screen-Free Activities
Digital Activities
Book-ish Getaways