Cove teachers hold reading camp to prevent summer learning loss

Special to Leader-Press

 

All young people experience learning losses when they don't engage in educational activities during the summer. Research shows that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of summer vacation. 

 

CCISD elementary teachers decided to stay in the classroom this summer and work to prevent that learning loss in reading comprehension.  Teachers Holly Prax, Stacie Golden, Amy Carlson are teaching a free summer reading camp on the campus of Fairview/Miss Jewell Elementary School. During the first week, second graders read the book Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds.  

 

“After reading the book, we did a whole group procedural writing activity by creating our recipe for salsa. We then followed the recipe to make our own salsa,” Carlson said.

 

Students got to enjoy tasting their creation with some tortilla chips. Second grader Aubrey Mikeska knew exactly what she liked most about the book and the activitiy.

 

“My favorite part was when the animals went to the garden and all the vegetables were gone,” Aubrey said. “And, I liked making salsa afterwards.”  

 

Low-income children and youth experience greater summer learning losses than their higher-income peers. On average, middle-income students experience slight gains in reading performance over the summer months. Low-income students experience an average summer learning loss in reading achievement of more than two months. 

 

Summer learning loss contributes to the achievement gap in reading performance between lower- and higher-income children and youth. While student achievement for both middle- and lower-income students improves at similar rates during the school year, low-income students experience cumulative summer learning losses over the elementary school grades.  Carlson said they try to make the camp fun while the students are learning.

 

“We started out making salsa and will also be making pizza and strawberry shortcake to reinforce procedural reading skills through the recipes,” she said. “We are reinforcing text reading by reading the books themselves.”

 

For second grader Madison Wilson, it is the fun aspect that makes learning enjoyable.

 

“My favorite part of the book Chicks and Salsa was when they were having the fiesta,” she said.  “I liked having our own fiesta making salsa.”

 

Reading skill levels are not the only ones affected over the summer. On average, students lose approximately 2.6 months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Studies reveal that the greatest areas of summer loss for all students, regardless of socioeconomic status, are in factual or procedural knowledge.