Fighting summer slide

Have you heard of summer slide? It’s a term that refers to the loss of learning over the summer months when children are out of school. Summer slide is a pretty serious issue. Studies show that there is an income divide in how damaging summer slide is for students, and that summer slide has long-lasting negative effects on student achievement.

There are ways to prevent summer slide - namely, making sure that children and teens spend time in the summer reading and learning, which is easier than you might think. According to the Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report, 76 per cent of children ages 6-17 enjoy reading over the summer. 

At Regina Public Library, we take summer slide seriously, in that we offer fun ways for children to keep learning and reading over the summer.  Here’s our top five tips for combatting summer slide:

1. Register in Level Up! at Regina Public Library, where children keep track of time spent in learning and reading activities over the summer months and enter to win great prizes.   
2. Take part in the many programs happening in July and August at Regina Public Library. We have STEAM programming, entertainers, puppet shows, storytimes and more to keep children excited and engaged over the summer months. 
3. If you are going on a road trip, use your driving time to share stories as a family. We have a booklist to help you find an audiobook to please everyone.
4. Visit museums, art galleries and educational sites, whether you go on the road or stay in Regina. And remember – the time spent visiting these places counts toward Level Up! at Regina Public Library.
5. Find activities and games to keep them engaged in fun ways using Brainfuse, our online homework help service. Brainfuse has a Summer Camp feature with some great options.
6. Visit the library, and let your children sign out the books that appeal to them. Find out why we advocate for letting children choose their next read here.

This summer, we hope that families in Regina remember that there’s lots of fun learning opportunities to be had, and that they see the benefits when September comes around.

Jessica - Collections