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 |  | What could be better for a student's literacy skills than a summer filled with reading of all kinds? As Cathy Beck et. al explain, "With the time pressures of a regular school year behind us and the new year not quite a reality, we can dust off the books that have waited patiently to give us pleasure and without guilt, immerse ourselves in one of life’s greatest pleasures—reading" (Books for Summer Reading, p. 321). Summer reading programs urge students to read during their summer vacations, developing and maintaining a lifelong habit of reading for pleasure. Further, such programs help students retain and sharpen literacy skills during the months that they are out of the classroom. |
Teaching Strategies
What Happened Today?
|  The ReadWriteThink calendar is one rich source of summer learning opportunities. Information on the national spelling bee, the birthdays of poets Gwendolyn Brooks and Nikki Giovanni, the history of the dragon boat festival in China, all with accompanying activities and reading, are just a few of the resources.
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Summer Program Assists At-Risk High School Students
|  A summer job with a high school literacy project for at-risk students helped Katherine Barr teach content reading and writing strategies, strategies that she intends to combine, next time, with reading and writing workshop. From English Journal, July 2001.
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Bilingual Playwriting in a Summer School Program
|  A summer program presented the possibility of transforming Eurocentric curriculum into one centered on the familial, social, cultural, and linguistic cultures of students, in this article from May 2001 Language Arts.
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Authentic Persuasive Writing to Promote Summer Reading
| Devote time during the last weeks of school to promote summer reading by inviting students to create brochures and flyers that suggest books and genres to explore during the summer. Student involvement in the promotion increases their engagement. The lesson can be customized for summer school or another time of year.
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Professional Readings
Bold Books for Teenagers
|  This article from the May 2007 issue of English Journal highlights literature for young adolescents.
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Leaving No Reader Behind
|  This article from May 2007 Voices from the Middle discusses tips for reluctant adolescent readers.
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Books for Summer Reading
|  This article from the April 1998 issue of Language Arts describes what fifth-grade students read in the summer and why and includes descriptions of forty books.
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Fostering Family Support of Summer Reading
|  This September 2000 Language Arts article describes a workshop for parents of "struggling readers" enrolled in a four-week summer reading program, and argues that parents need continuous support as they shift their thinking about reading.
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Sweet, Sweet Summertime Reading (The Council Chronicle, May 10, 2005)
| Reading throughout the summer is important. In fact, it’s probably best for students to read at least four to five books over the summer to keep their reading skills sharp. |
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Related Resources
ReadWriteThink Summer Activities
|  Visit ReadWriteThink's Summer Activities: Learning Beyond the Classroom site. Children and teens can stay immersed in learning by reading and writing all summer long through engaging activities and fun online games and tools. Listen to podcasts of booktalks and watch video demonstrations of learning activities to make the most of summer reading and writing opportunities. |
Read Together: Parents and Educators Working Together for Literacy
|  From the NCTE Reading Commission and available both as a position statement and as a poster w/ accompanying brochures. Provides valuable information for anyone who reads with young children, including book lists for different developmental reading levels.
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2007 Orbis Pictus Award Winners
| Quest for the Tree Kangaroo by Sy Montgomery, photos by Nic Bishop (Houghton Mifflin) plus a list of the 2007 award winning nonfiction titles. |
Notable Books for 2007
| The Children's Literature Assembly has announced their notable books for 2007.
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Teachers' Summer Learning
| From processing student evaluations to seminars held on ocean liners, teachers share the summer learning that rejuvenates their energy for fall in this July 2001 English Journal article.
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