Help kids avoid ‘summer slide’

By Doug Griesenauer

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As parents, you are the first teacher in your child's life and are best suited to help their learning throughout the year. While the school year has ended, there's no ‘break' in learning. Learning is year-round.

When the final school bell rings, it's important to become aware of something called the “summer slide.” Decades of research from around the world shows that over the summer, children fall behind and aren't prepared when school resumes.

Summer loss of reading is especially critical for young students because for the first few years of school, children are learning to read, but after fourth grade, as all subjects begin to require some level of reading, they transition to reading to learn.

Families with less access to resources can have a much harder time paying for camps and trips that keep children engaged. Last year, only 61 percent of our low-income fourth-graders were proficient in reading in our area, while 84 percent of non-low-income students were proficient. Research from James Kim at the Harvard Graduate School of Education shows that this gap actually widens over the summer.

STEM PROGRAM

United Way offers opportunities to continue lifelong education for all children in our community. Through the partnerships with the Cedar Rapids Community School District, Kirkwood's Workplace Learning Connection, and Iowa State University Extension, we launched the STEM (science, technology, engineer, math) Academy at McKinley Middle School last year. This is a free summer science program designed for students who show aptitude in science and math and otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity for this type of interactive extra learning in the summer. AmeriCorps members are the facilitators and the program is packed with hands-on learning activities and field trips to local businesses including Rockwell Collins and Alliant Energy.

RED Ahead

Another opportunity provided by United Way, with the support of HACAP, is the RED Ahead program - Read Every Day in order to get Ahead. Low-income families in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) receive books and are given tips on how they can help their children learn through reading. The program educates families on how to work on their child's language development and pre-reading skills so they are ready for kindergarten.

One way all families can prevent summer slide is to encourage reading to your children. Find books that focus around what your child enjoys and that are tailored to his or her reading level. Provide incentives for reading summer books and take advantage of programs at the local library. The Cedar Rapids Public Library has great activities to engage children and teens of all ages.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Here is a list of recent recommended books and resources from United Way and RED Ahead for your infant, toddler or school-aged children K-3rd grade: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst; Caps for Sale, by Esphyr Slobodkina; The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein.

Middle School: The Bad Beginning, by Lemony Snicket; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl; Holes, by Louis Sachar.

High School: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain; Alive, by Piers Paul Read; Dracula, by Bram Stoker.

Additional reading resources can be found on United Way's website at http://unitedwayofeastcentraliowa.org/education-tips-from-united-way/

Other United Way partners that offer summer activities for children are The Salvation Army, Boys and Girls Clubs, the Community Corrections Improvement Association, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Jane Boyd Community House, Waypoint Services and the YMCA.

I encourage you to make reading a priority this summer to help your children while they are on break from school because there's no “break” in learning. Learning is year-round.

Doug Griesenauer is the Community Building Manager in the education Area at United Way of East Central Iowa and specializes by connecting resources and research to United Way partners and members of the community. Comments: http://unitedwayofeastcentraliowa.org/contact-us/