Summer is a time for fun, relaxation, and making memories. It’s also a wonderful chance to keep kids engaged with learning in relaxed and enjoyable ways while out of school. For busy parents and teachers looking to help their kids avoid the “summer slide”, United to Learn’s literacy team has compiled a list of go-to strategies and free resources to empower families.

Understanding the Summer Slide

What is often referred to as the “summer slide” is a loss of the academic gains made during the school year. It disproportionately affects students from underserved communities, but it can affect any child during the summer months. Factors like cost and limited access to camps or transportation can contribute to this challenge. Students can lose up to three months of learning over the summer, and when this loss accumulates over elementary school years, it can be equivalent to a year and a half of lost learning.

Interestingly, while low-income students may lose about three months of reading proficiency, middle-income students often gain some proficiency during the same period. This highlights that access and opportunity are key factors in preventing summer learning loss. Students with access to print-rich environments and home libraries are better equipped to maintain and even improve their skills. Our goal is to help bridge that gap by making resources available to everyone.

Easy, High-Impact Tips for Parents

Combating the summer slide doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Many effective strategies are low lift but have a very high impact. Here are some simple tips you can integrate into your daily routine:

• Read Daily: The most impactful action is to read daily, aiming for at least 20 minutes a day. Research indicates a significant “word gap” between children who are read to daily and those who are not; by age five, children read to daily may have been exposed to hundreds of thousands more words. 
• Find High-Interest Books: Help your children find books, magazines, or comics about topics they love. Whether they’re into cats, Minecraft, or space, letting them choose materials that excite them encourages them to read. Visit the library and find those cat books or graphic novels!
• Encourage a Love of Reading: We want children to see reading as more than a school requirement or something associated with tests. Foster a genuine love for reading outside of academic pressure.
• Lead by Example: Let your children see you reading. If your child is reluctant, offer to read aloud to them. Getting started together can make a difference.
• Listening is Reading! Listening to audiobooks or stories is a form of reading. When listening, children process information, dissect characters, and engage critical thinking skills, just as they do with physical text. Kids can often comprehend text at a higher level when listening than when reading it themselves, which exposes them to richer vocabulary.
• Integrate Reading into Daily Life: Reading opportunities are everywhere. Read signs at the grocery store, ingredients, recipe instructions while cooking together, or lists for chores. Talk about what you’re doing or seeing, introducing concepts like cause and effect. Highlight that different texts look different (recipes vs. storybooks vs. poems) to build familiarity before encountering them in school. Developing vocabulary through everyday conversation is also a key part of reading comprehension

Free and Accessible Resources in Dallas

Access is key, and fortunately, Dallas offers many free and easily accessible resources for families.

• Dallas Public Library: This is a premier resource for free books. Create an account and get a library card, which provides access to digital resources. Explore branch locations across the city. The library hosts free story times almost every day during the summer, often with special guests and themes. Some branches even offer hands-on activities.
• Libby App: With a library card, you can access Libby, which offers free audiobooks. This is a fantastic way to utilize the “listening is reading” strategy and expose children to higher-level vocabulary.
• Digital Resources: Look for free e-books from various sources like Barnes and Noble and online read-alouds like Storylineonline.net.
• Educational Apps: Many free or partially free apps can supplement reading practice, including ABC Mouse (a foundational reading program),  PBS- Word World, IXL (reading comprehension), PBS Kids, and Starfall. Download these apps on devices your kids already use.

United to Learn’s Commitment

United to Learn is actively working to combat the summer slide. Our interns will be working with us over the summer to support research on the reasons behind summer learning loss and to compile additional resources. By mid-to-end July, they plan to complete a one-page flyer with resources for families to help mediate learning loss over the summer. We look forward to sharing their findings and resources with you!

By incorporating simple daily activities and utilizing the many free resources available, we can help ensure that summer is a time of continued growth and discovery for our children, preventing the summer slide and setting them up for success in the next school year.

About our experts, Natalie Gomez and Maya Gray are part of the United to Learn’s literacy team led by Marisol Rodriguez. During the school year, they are instrumental in sharing literacy resources and programs with students and educators at more than 100 Dallas ISD elementary schools.