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In hei aiticle, "Summei Reauing anu Fluency: Tips foi Paients fiom Reauing Rockets", }oanne Neiei
explains the impoitance of summei ieauing to builu ieauing fluency anu inciease compiehension. She
also suggests foui things paients can uo help. Below is a iepiint of hei aiticle.

You've got the ieauing lists. You've got the books. But what else can you uo to
make youi chiluien bettei ieaueis this summei.
You can help them ieau moie quickly anu accuiately. Schools call this ieauing fluency. Youi kius will call
it fun!
When kius can ieau fluently, it's easiei foi them to unueistanu what they'ie ieauing. Anu they ieau
alouu easily anu with expiession. Neeuless to say, this makes ieauing a lot moie enjoyable. Less fluent
ieaueis ieau moie slowly anu woiu by woiu. Theii attention is focuseu on sounuing out each woiu; so,
they pay less attention to unueistanuing what they've ieau. Theii compiehension anu theii motivation
can suffei. 0f couise, beginning ieaueis aien't fluent yet, but by the enu of fiist giaue, kius shoulu be
ieauing books at theii giaue level with ease anu expiession.
The summei months pioviue a gieat oppoitunity foi you to help youi chilu continue to uevelop ieauing
fluency. Beie aie foui things paients anu caiegiveis can uo to help:
! Choose the iight books
Belp youi chilu choose books that he can comfoitably ieau. The "five-fingei test" is a useful guiueline foi
beginning ieaueis. As youi chilu ieaus, count the numbei of woius he cannot ieau pei page. In geneial,
theie shoulu be five woius oi fewei that give him tiouble on each page. If a book contains seveial pages
on which you count moie than five woius that he can't ieau, consiuei ieauing that book to youi chilu
until he uevelops moie ieauing skill.

! Listen eveiy uay
0nce you've founu a collection of books that youi chilu can ieau, listen to youi chilu ieau eveiy uay. Be
patient new ieaueis often ieau slowly! 0ffei help when youi chilu gets stuck, anu always give lots of
piaise anu encouiagement.

! Reau it again, Sam
Encouiage youi chilu to ieieau favoiite books, anu make it fun! Repeateu ieauings impiove chiluien's
fluency anu compiehension. They also pioviue oppoitunities to piactice ieauing with expiession.
Chiluien will enjoy giving the wolf a scaiy giowl oi using a squeaky little voice foi a mouse.

! Reau to youi kius eveiy uay
Nouel youi own fluent ieauing as you ieau anu ieieau books with youi chilu. Even though youi chilu
may be able to ieau on hei own, continue to finu time each uay to ieau books to hei that aie just beyonu
hei ieauing level. She will enjoy listening to moie auvanceu stoiies, anu she will heai a gieat example of
fluent ieauing.

To finu out moie about helping youi chilu become a moie fluent ieauei, please visit Reauing Rockets on
the Web at www.ieauingiockets.oig.

Cool summei ieauing is the peifect antiuote foi those hot summei uays! Enjoy.



A Nessage fiom Ni. Evans




Beai Paients,

Welcome to P0PSummeiReauing.Weebly.com - a iesouice foi summei ieauing anu math.
Euucational ieseaicheis tell us that most stuuents lose an aveiage of one month of school
leaining ovei summei vacation, anu the gieatest leaining losses aie in math computation,
ieauing anu spelling (Coopei, Nye, Linsey, etal., 1996). To avoiu summei leaining loss, please
keep youi chilu ieauing anu piacticing math thioughout the summei.

0n the website, youi chilu can visit theii giaue level link foi infoimation about theii iequiieu
summei ieauing, finu book suggestions anu blog about theii ieauing. Reseaicheis fiom the
0niveisity of Floiiua suggest that as few as six books ovei summei bieak can maintain ieauing
skills achieveu in the pieceuing school yeai (Ncuill-Fianzen & Allington, 2uuS); but why stop
theie. When it comes to ieauing, the moie chiluien ieau, the bettei theii fluency, vocabulaiy
anu compiehension!

Nath piactice is fun with Fiist in Nath. Youi chilu's school-issueu usei IB anu passwoiu will
iemain the same thioughout the summei. Encouiage youi chilu to play a few minutes each
uay to gieatly inciease theii math skills. Simply follow the Fiist in Nath link.

I hope you have a fun-filleu summei full of love, laughtei anu leaining.

Blessings,

Chau Evans
Piincipal
Piince of Peace Catholic School









Coopei, B., Nye B., Linsey }., et al. (1996). "The Effects of Summei vacation on Achievement Test Scoies: A
Naiiative anu Neta-Analytic Review | ERICj." !"#$"% '( )*+,-.$'/-0 !"1"-2,3, no. 66, 227-268.
Ncuill-Fianzen, A., & Allington R. (2uuS Nay}une) "Biiuging the Summei Reauing uap." 4/1.2+,.'2, 112 no. 8.