Congrats on approaching the end of another school year! Your students have worked hard to accelerate their progress in reading this year, and avoiding the summer slide is more important than ever.

There are many things students can do at home this summer to not only maintain their current reading level, but to boost it. Read Naturally offers several solutions that are well-suited for at-home use. Equipping students and parents with the tools they need to be successful this summer is the best thing you can do to help them avoid the summer slide. 

Before summer break, we encourage you to share the following information with parents:

  • One Minute Reader is an award-winning system that uses the Read Naturally Strategy and is backed by the Science of Reading. Parents can try this program free for one week and then purchase it for $8/month--only $24 for a full summer of reading! The stories are interesting, the strategy is motivating, and students make significant progress. Please encourage parents to check it out. Here is a flyer with more information about One Minute Reader and the Summer Slide.

  • Students in Read Live can use One Minute Reader Live for free over the summer. Read this blog post for all the information you need to set it up. We also have a free webinar recording about this topic.

  • Our article on the five components of reading can help parents understand how to help their children develop the skills they need to become proficient readers.

  • Parents can download our fun Splat-O-Nym iPad app for $4.99, which allows students to independently play a vocabulary word game that includes over 8,000 questions teaching synonyms, antonyms, and words in context. 

  • Check out this blog post, which links to a bunch of additional free resources to help with vocabulary, spelling, and more.

Additionally, here are some ideas to help parents boost their children’s interest in reading:

  • Provide parents with some popular reading suggestions. Which books flew off your bookshelf this year? What are your colleagues, the school librarian, and the local booksellers noticing? If students say they don't want to read, a new and interesting book will often solve the problem.

  • Remind parents to make connections between reading and their child’s other interests. For example, a child who loves baseball can boost literacy skills by writing a letter to a favorite player. An avid gamer could be encouraged to read a book about their favorite game. A competitive kid might love the facts in the Guinness Book of World Records. An aspiring top chef might enjoy reading a cookbook. Opportunities for building literacy are everywhere. 

  • Show parents their child's reading progress from this year, and encourage them to give their child a confidence boost going into the summer. The gains students made this year were due to their own hard work and persistence. They have what it takes to keep going!

We are aware of the serious challenges facing students, educators, and parents today. However, by utilizing these resources, we believe your students can do more than just prevent a summer slide in the coming months. We believe they can make significant progress toward their goals.

We are always here to lend our support. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if we can help in any way.