Summer reading programs for kids

Over the next few weeks, schools across the nation will be letting students out for summer vacation. But for many of those students, summer learning loss will mean relearning important concepts next fall with the beginning of the school year.

Since we’re highlighting literacy resources for your children throughout the summer, I decided to start off by sharing with you some of the great summer reading programs that are about to launch. Each one is designed to motivate your child to read over the next few months and maintain those valuable literacy skills.

The Scholastic Summer Challenge
Perhaps my favorite summer reading program, the Scholastic Summer Challenge allows students to log their reading minutes on the SSC website in order to break the world record. Last year, students around the world logged 64,213,141 reading minutes! Teachers, parents, and kids can also find a ton of resources on their site, including booklists, print activity sheets, reading certificates, free apps, and more. Parents can even download the Family Participation Guide, which helps them discover ways to use the Summer Challenge at home. The guide include pledge cards, reading logs, a certificate of achievement, various Word Girl activity sheets, and more. You can even sign up to receive weekly emails about your child’s reading success. A Spanish website is also available for bilingual or Spanish-speaking families.

Soar With Reading
A collaboration between PBS KIDS and JetBlue Airways, the Soar With Reading website offers online resources for parents and kids. Students can create a postcard with the popular PBS character, Hooper, watch videos, and download literacy-based activity booklets. Libraries across the country will also be hosting special Soar With Reading events with JetBlue crewmembers reading to children, as well as appearances and readings from famous authors and performances by PBS KIDS host Mr. Steve.

The BOOK IT! Summer Break Reading Challenge
During the school year, Pizza Hut has a reading incentive program called BOOK IT! that provides free personal pan pizzas for students who accomplish their reading goals. In their summer reading program students in K-6th who read 5 books between June 15th and August 15th are eligible to enter to win a “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” summer fun prize package. Their super fun website includes games, calendars, and even recipes for young readers.

iVillage PBS KIDS Summer Reading Community Challenge
Back for a third year, this program offers free literacy-building resources - for parents and children - designed by the experts at PBS Parents and PBS KIDS. Parents/kids receive daily activity assignments, delivered via email. The assignments are put together by the Challenge Coaches Angela Santomero, creator, executive producer and head writer of SUPER WHY!, and Jessica Wollman, vice president, Editorial Products & Digital Programming at Scholastic. You can learn more and sign up here.

These reading programs have tried to make reading easy for kids and families by providing interactive websites and incentive materials. So all you need to do now is get your kids to your local library or bookstore, and let them pick out a few books to get started.

Happy reading!

Monica Olivera Hazelton is the founder and publisher of MommyMaestra.com, a site for Latino families that homeschool, as well as families with children in a traditional school setting who want to take a more active role in their children’s education. She is the 2011 winner of the “Best Latina Education Blogger” award by LATISM.