While research shows that children who do not read in the summer months can lose two to three months of reading development, those who do read tend to gain a month of reading proficiency. (1) Although we don't see that much of a decline following a 2 week winter break, if elementary students disengage from learning activities such as reading or math facts we do see drops in student performance and some slowing of their education progress. I've personally seen it take a week or week and a half for students to get "back into the swing of things"! Teachers at Cedarhome Elementary encourage their students to continue their nightly reading requirement and gather parent signatures on their reading calendars. We also encourage them to continue practicing math facts, be it addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.
Within two weeks upon their return from winter break students will be given winter benchmark assessments to determine if their academic progress is on track. These benchmark assessments are also used to determine if a student could possibly need additional academic support through the LAP program or within their classroom. So please, make sure your child(ren) continue reading throughout your holiday! We would like their assessment results to show their true academic growth so far. Thank you!
(1) Richard Allington & Anne McGill-Franzen. The Impact of Summer Setback on the Reading Achivement Gap. The Phi DeltaKappan. Vol. 85, o.1 (Sept. 2003), pp. 68-75
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