Literacy: Summer Reading & Library Challenge
As we approach the end of the school year, it’s time to think about avoiding the ‘summer reading slide’.
Like many skills we acquire in our lives, if we don’t use them on a regular basis, we lose them. This holds true with reading, including important skills in decoding, comprehension, visualisation, thinking and language ability.
Over the summer, it’s important to keep up a reading routine with your children that is easy to manage and enjoyable. Here are some tips to instil the love of reading and literature into your family routines:
- Read together and discuss the information you’ve read
- Set an example - during downtime, pick up a book yourself
- Let your children read what they want for enjoyment - tap into their interests, which could include cookbooks and graphic novels as well
- Read signs and packaging in shops, traffic signs, signs posted on hiking trails, etc
- Create a summer scrapbook to record events and fun outings (also helpful for those with ‘Holiday Recount Writer’s Block’ at the start of the school year)
- Celebrate finishing a book - draw the character, make cookies or treats around the theme of the book, act out a favourite scene or create it with Lego
- Write letters - have your child write letters to family or friends
- Schedule a daily reading time
- Subscribe to magazines
- Make your own book about a family trip, or an event in your daily life
- Visit the library
You can also make use of the following programs:
- Reading Eggs: Reading Eggs is a literacy-based app/website that focuses on reading curriculum, phonics and sight words using skills and strategies essential for sustained reading success. There are lots of different reading games in the app and lots of books to read. All students at St Mary’s have an account this year, please contact your child’s teacher for their login information if you don’t have it already.
- SPELD Phonics book series: This complements the teaching of reading and writing using a structured synthetic phonics approach. There are online decodable readers able to be accessed online via the following link. SPELD SA Phonic Books – SPELDSA
- Once again this year, Hobsons Bay Libraries are running a BIG SUMMER READ Challenge. Children can sign up to track their reading over the Summer and are entered into a draw to win prizes! Find out more here: BIG Summer Read - Hobsons Bay
Happy reading!
Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage