Our school, like many others, is out for the summer.  But our teachers, like teachers everywhere, worry about the "summer slide".  No--I'm not talking about a waterslide or a slide at the park, although THOSE kinds of slides are fun during the summer.  No--I'm talking about a different kind of slide.  Now, if you're in education, you know the "summer slide" of which I am speaking.  It's the slide that begins somewhere around the first day of summer vacation and lasts until the first day of the new school year in August.  It's the slide that makes beginning readers forget reading strategies and revert back to sounding words out inefficiently, letter by letter.  So--what do we do about it?

Last spring, in a meeting about literacy, our team was brainstorming ways we could help slow down the "summer slide".  The usual things were mentioned--remind parents that kids need to read all summer long, remind kids to go to the library and check out books, send newsletters home that give information about various reading "events", etc.  We decided that, although these ideas were valuable, we needed something more.  After all, we knew that most at-risk kids would probably not visit the public library, and we realized that it is not always easy for parents to have access to leveled readers that beginning readers are used to reading.  So--even with very little time left in the school year to plan, we made the decision to open the library at our school for 1 hour each week, starting the first week after school was out and continuing until the week before school began in August.  The teachers were asked to commit to just one night during the summer to work at the library, listening to children read and talking to parents about good reading strategies to use at home.  I'm not sure how EXCITED everyone was about coming to school during their summer off, but I think after being there and investing in the lives of those kids for just one hour during the summer, everyone felt hopeful that maybe we could make a small impact on the effects of the "summer slide".  And, with all my heart, I believe it DID make a difference in the lives of those kids (and parents) who came every week, or nearly every week, during the summer.  If nothing else, hopefully it made them see how much we, as teachers, valued reading.  Hopefully, it made them see that we thought reading was so important that we were willing to give up some of our cherished summer vacation to come and read with them.  Hopefully, it made them want to read more and helped grow their love of reading, their love of books, and their love of learning!  Did we see every child from our school?  No.  Did we see every at-risk child come and embrace reading and grow by leaps and bounds? No.  But at least we were reaching out and making the library, and ourselves, available.

So--we decided to do it again this summer.  We did a little more planning this year and invited the students in second and third grades to also participate at the centrally located Primary School library.  We recruited more teachers to work.  We expanded the time open from one hour to two hours.  We came up with reading incentives and talked to the students about setting reading goals--to read for at least 15 minutes each day.  We added technology in the form of iPads and the computer lab.

We had the first library time of the summer tonight.  Over 50 kids and their families came to read with us tonight!  Every child was able to read at least one book on his or her level to a teacher, principal, or librarian. We checked out over 150 leveled readers and 150 library books.  It was a crazy, busy two hours, but at the end of the day, if it makes a difference in the life of just one child and his or her love of reading, then it was well worth any time and effort that we put into it!