by Aimee Schrader

Created on: February 05, 2009

"Schools out, time to shout! No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks!" As the last bell for the school year rings, children sing with glee at the opportunity to sleep late and avoid the drudgery of everyday school for those few precious summer months. And in all actuality, teachers breathe a large sigh of relief as those last few students run out the door to enjoy their freedom. No matter how much both teachers and students enjoy that free summer time, though, it is no secret that students lose a large amount of knowledge while soaking up the summer sun. Parents and teachers alike have pondered what can be done to keep that skill and knowledge loss at a minimum, and though it seems trivial, there is one key component that will help to maintain your student's knowledge base. What could that simple component be? Reading.

It has been scientifically shown, and as a reading teacher I have my own classroom data to prove the results, that children who were active readers throughout the summer months lost less than those children who read little to nothing during the break. During my years as a reading teacher, I tested students reading abilities throughout the year using DIBELS, or the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. I then was head teacher for a reading program that occurred during the summer. Students who participated in the summer reading program (and were able to come close to, meet, or surpass their individual reading goals) maintained or increased their ability when I started DIBELS testing again in the fall. Those who did not participate, or were not reading during the summer, often showed a decrease in skills when fall testing began again.

Many would say that's fine for reading skills, but what about math, science, etc? Other testing showed a correlation with the summer readers abilities to maintain math and other skills. But why? Reading is an active skill. Neurons in your brain fire rapidly as you read, inducing a person's thoughts and feelings on the subjects being read. Memories from a person's own life experience can be recalled, and pictures form in your mind. This then maintains the ability for the brain to recall information in many other subject areas.

There are tons of other ways for kids' brains to be stimulated. Video games and sports, however, just don't seem to be able to maintain the brain activity that reading a good book does. Not only that, it is a simple and relatively cheap way to ensure that your kids will start out the new year with a bang!

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