Newsletters / Oct 20, 2020
ClassTag Gazette: October 2020
Happy October! Fall breeze, autumn leaves! Or is it stressed, blessed and pumpkin-obsessed? Either way, grab…
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Summer reading is a great opportunity to both teach important lessons and encourage future parental engagement. If parents are involved in their child’s school work while they are not in school, there will be a much greater chance that they will continue to be involved when school begins. Despite what some may believe, summer reading doesn’t have to be limited to book lists and reading calendars.
Here are our five best summer reading tips that will not only motivate students, but will also motivate parents!
1 – Create a summer reading challenge
Summer reading challenges are a great way to motivate students to read, and to help parents track summer reading progress. Scholastic has a great summer reading challenge program, which can all be done online. This allows you to see how students are doing as well.
2 – Encourage parents to read to their children about activities before they do them
Summertime is full of activities, be it a trip to the beach, a family camping trip, or a visit to an amusement park. Set aside books that are related to summer activities that parents can read to their children before they embark on their vacations. Even if the students are not able to read the books themselves, it encourages parent involvement and helps students discuss their experiences when they come back to school!
3 – Make a list of books that have movies related to them
Who doesn’t love a book that has been turned into a movie? For students who are just beginning to read, this is a great way to help them ease into more difficult books. Place the movies on hold at a local library or send out links to YouTube videos so that students can view the movies at home with their families.
4 – Have a theme for each week of summer reading
Incorporate different lessons into each week of summer reading. Send out a list of books with a different message for each week, and have students reflect on them with their parents through conversation or different worksheets. You will then have a great way to begin the school year, with a discussion on the different lessons of each week!
5 – Promote writing as well as reading- give students a way to write to you about their summer
Before school ends, give each student an addressed post card with a stamp, and encourage them to write to you at some point during the summer. Send home a worksheet with different topics for writing, from their summer vacation to their favorite summer activity, be it big or small! This will help students maintain their writing over the summer, and is a great way for parents to get involved in helping their students with writing.
Bring on the summer!
Summer reading can be a great opportunity for teachers to gain parental support and involvement. Students, parents, and teachers all gain from the successful completion of summer reading, especially when it is used in a creative way. We hope that you can incorporate these summer reading tips into your planning!
The ClassTag team hopes you have a fantastic end to the school year. Don’t forget to share the classtag blog with your colleagues to help them with their classroom’s summer reading.
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