Summer Reading: Program and Evidence

Get kids hooked on books!

“Summer Reading is a timely look at the power of reading in the development of student literacy.  It delivers a potent message to administrators, classroom teachers, reading specialists, and librarians to design summer reading programs based on a balanced view of reading instruction.” 

—Sheila Bostrom, Brush Schools, Colorado

Inspired by school-established summer reading camps designed to help struggling readers, Dr. Fay Shin and Dr. Stephen Krashen have built a research-based plan to guide schools in replicating this successful strategy. Written in a friendly style by two top scholars in literacy and ESL, Summer Reading: Program and Evidence provides a framework rooted in scientific data supporting how these programs succeed. By including standardized test scores as well as personal reflections from teachers and students on building effective summer reading camps, the authors motivate teachers to help students excel beyond the traditional classroom, promoting success from one year to the next.

Why Summer Reading Matters

• Helps children become confident and competent readers.
• Encourages students to read books they enjoy and can access.
• Fosters teacher-student relationships and promotes students’ motivation to engage with reading.

Reviews

Click here to Download a review from the December 2007 issue of Language Magazine.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE: What happens over the summer?

A Startling Finding
       Barbara Heyn’s study
       The cumulative effect
       What causes the difference over the summer? READING
Other Research on Reading
       Hooked on Books
       Warwick Elley: The Fiji Island Study
       Beniko Mason: Osaka, Japan
Why Some Children Read More: Access to Books
       Poor children have very little access to books
       The Watts/Beverly Hills study
       Neuman and Celano
       Di Loreto and Tse: Santa Fe Springs
More Access to Books Results in More Reading
       Better libraries means better reading!
       Access to books during the summer
Putting It All Together


CHAPTER TWO: Goosebumps Summer
    
Some Predictions
The Students
The Teachers
The Program
    Library time
    What they read
    Time for recreational reading
    Conferencing   
    Literature based instruction
       Project qctivities
       Read-qlouds
       Book-sharing
The Comparison Group
The Tests
The Testing Results: Some Preliminaries
     The pretest results
    The post-test results
What the Tachers Said
    The conferences
Students’ Reactions: Interviews
Students’ Reactions: Written
Book Circulation
The Spill-Over
Interviews with the “Top Readers”
A Quick Summary 

CHAPTER THREE: What we learned

Tanesha
A Book a Day
When Does Encouragement Work?
Returning to Library Latch-Key Children
Lowering our Standards
Joining the Literacy Club
One More Summer Reading Study
Some Final Observations
    A limitation
    More than summertime

Appendix:  Individual Conferences and Reading Logs
Appendix:  Checklist for a Successful Independent Reading Program