Literacy tips for early readers

• Point out print in the child’s environment: on cereal boxes, food labels, toys, restaurants and traffic signs.
• Sing songs, say short poems or nursery rhymes and play rhyming words games with your child.
• Tell stories to your child.
• Read aloud to your child. Point to the words on the page as you read.
• Read a short passage several times to your child until your child can read it with you. Then encourage your child to read the passage to you.
• Encourage older children to read with younger children.
• Encourage your child to read (or pretend to read) to you.
• Make this reading enjoyable. Don’t worry if your child does not read all of the words correctly; instead, applaud your child’s efforts to read.
• Go to the library together.
• Have books, magazines and newspapers around the house. Let your child see you reading.
• Encourage your child to write things such as grocery lists, to-do lists, postcards or short messages to family members or friends. Don’t worry about conventional spelling at this point; instead, encourage your child’s first efforts at authorship.
• When watching television, have the captioning feature enabled so that the children view the words while hearing them performed aloud.

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Rasinski and Mraz's "Summer Reading Loss" article

Literacy tips for children (pdf)

Rasinski's CV

While children and parents alike relish the lackadaisical activities that hazy summer days bring, parents may not be as enthusiastic to learn that the reading skills gained by their child during the previous school year are all too easily lost during the break.

Dr. Timothy Rasinski, professor of literacy education in the College and Graduate School of Education, Health and Human Services, says that the research shows that elementary school-age children can lose an upward of three months' worth of reading progress during summer break, which can mean, for this age group, a loss of one-and-a-half years of reading achievement through the sixth grade.

"But the opposite can also happen," Rasinski notes. "With the correct support, children can reverse this and can increase reading achievement significantly by one-and-a- half years. For a struggling student, helping them during this time can result in remarkably positive changes."

Summer reading loss — which refers to the decline in children's reading development that can occur during summer vacation times when children are not in the classroom and are not participating in formal literacy programs — affects students' reading achievement, according to "Summer Reading Loss," an article published in the journal The Reading Teacher.

"Summer Reading Loss" was co-authored by Rasinski, editor of the "Issues and Trends in Literacy" column in The Reading Teacher and Dr. Maryann Mraz, '02, associate professor of reading and elementary education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. 

When reviewing the reading achievement research, Rasinski says that there are studies that support the connection between students' socioeconomic status and their reading ability.

"Children of families that have a low socioeconomic status appear to be more likely to have difficulty with reading because the kids often don't have as easy access to reading materials or because the parents are holding down two jobs," he says. "Economic factors may or may not make reading a priority, which is a concern."

In terms of summer reading loss statistics for high-income versus low-income students, questions still remain about the extent to which summer reading loss contributes to this proficiency gap and what parents and educators can do to lessen its impact.

In "Summer Reading Loss," Rasinski and Mraz call attention to a study — representing approximately 40,000 students — which found, on average, the reading proficiency levels of students from low-income families declined over the summer months while the reading proficiency levels of students from middle-income families improved modestly. 

The study also discusses the reading achievement gains of Title I reading programs and found that reading gains were significantly higher from fall to spring, when students were enrolled in school reading classes, but that they were lower from spring to fall, when the summer months, in which students were not participating in school reading programs, were considered.

Access to reading materials has been consistently identified as a vital element in enhancing the reading development of children, the study explains. And it goes on to explain that of all the extracurricular activities in which children engage, time spent reading is the best predictor of reading achievement — the more students read, the better readers they become.

Summer Reading Solutions

"And in lower socioeconomic areas, schools should conduct greater outreach to families less likely to come to the library so that they feel more welcome," he says.

The support of additional community agencies, including utilizing churches or city recreation departments to bring reading materials to children, can also increase literacy efforts, Rasinski says.

At Kent State, Rasinski leads a group of graduate students annually in conducting a six-week literacy program, which allows his students to work with area elementary school-aged children six hours per week for six weeks, with the goal of improving reading skills and advancing their reading level.

Local elementary teachers recommend students for the program and it becomes a win-win situation, Rasinski says, with the school receiving additional help for students in need, and teachers receiving extra training in the areas of reading and literacy.

The program also includes a home component, with parents encouraged to work with their children on reading skills, even if it's only to follow up for 15 minutes a day, he says.

"Too many students have neither of these during the summer months," he adds.