You don't want your children going down this slide...

Photo credit: clover_1 on flickr

Use it or lose it!  Children who do not read during the summer are at risk of losing the skills and knowledge they worked so hard to obtain during the course of the school year. Researchers refer to this as the "summer slide". It is estimated that school summer breaks will cause the average student to lose up to one month of instruction.  Consider the following research, presented by the National Summer Learning Association. :

• All young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. Research spanning 100 years 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 the summer (White, 1906; Heyns, 1978; Entwisle & Alexander 1992; Cooper, 1996; Downey et al, 2004).
• Most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Low-income students also lose more than two months in reading achievement, despite the fact that their middle-class peers make slight gains (Cooper, 1996).
• More than half of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities. As a result, low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college (Alexander et al, 2007).
• Parents consistently cite summer as the most difficult time to ensure that their children have productive things to do (Duffett et al, 2004).

Learn more about the importance of summer reading here.

Participating in the Dig into Reading program at the library is a great way to keep your children reading, active and engaged - and prevent them from going down the Summer Slide!

Summer reading scoop...

The school year is winding down, which means we here at the library are gearing up for the Summer Reading Club.  This year’s theme is Dig Into Reading, and we are ready to dig into some serious fun for all ages!  Read on for a preview of what we've got planned - registration for all of our programs begins on Monday, June 24.

First off, be sure to have your children sign up for one of our reading clubs – we’re offering the Independent Readers Club for school-aged children, and the Read-to-Me Club for those too young to read alone.  Children receive a reading log to track each day that they read or are read to and earn fun prizes as they go.  Reading logs will be available beginning on June 24 at the Main or LaSalle libraries.

“I’m borrrrrrrrred!” The library would like to help parents and caregivers hear that most overused of childhood exclamations as little as possible this summer.  We also want to keep young minds active and engaged – so we’re offering lots of free "fun-u-cational" events for children through age 12.  Click on the links to the right for complete listings.  As noted above, registration for these programs begins on Monday, June 24.  (Note: The library will also be offering summer programs for teenagers, planned by our fabulous new Teen Librarian, Carly Spatar.)


Be sure to check back to this page often during the summer – we’ll be posting event photos, book suggestions, interesting information, cool links and more.