6 Easy Ways to Keep Your Kids Reading and Writing This Summer

This summer, build upon the valuable reading and writing skills your child has learned so far! According to findings from the Scholastic?Kids & Family Reading Report?: 7th Edition, kids know that reading provides benefits that extend well beyond the summer months: Seventy-seven percent agree that reading over the summer will help them with schoolwork.?

One of the best ways to keep kids reading this summer is to join your school's Scholastic Book Fair! When you shop the?Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza Virtual Book Fair, your school will get 25% in rewards with every purchase if it's participating in the fair. Link your?Scholastic account to your school, then sign in and shop at?The Scholastic Store?to start earning your school rewards!

Through?Home Base, kids can also make new friends, earn virtual rewards, and help unlock book donations for kids with limited or no access to books by starting and keeping Reading Streaks? when they read every day over the summer.?

Here are six more fun and simple ideas to keep kids reading and writing this summer.??

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1. Let Them Explore New Subjects

During the school year, kids are busy with assigned reading. Over the summer, encourage them to find books about subjects they love, or challenge them to explore a brand new genre. When we give children a choice, they feel in control and are more willing to pick up a book and read.

And they enjoy it! Research from the Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report?shows that about six in 10 kids say they love or like reading books for fun a lot.?

2. Use Great Summer Workbooks

It can be challenging to keep up with all of the skills your kids need to practice for each specific grade in school. Luckily, the?Weekly Reader: Summer Express Workbook series?is designed to be a?grab-and-go resource filled with daily literacy and math practice for a wide range of ages and grades.?

Another great option is the Reading & Math Jumbo Workbook series, which is available for grades Pre-K through 4. In these workbooks, your little one will practice skills needed to excel in the school year ahead, such as phonics, handwriting and cursive, spelling, numbers, and shapes.

For practice with reading comprehension specifically, the Scholastic Success with Reading Comprehension series helps kids in first grade,?second grade, third grade, fourth grade, or fifth grade practice skills like distinguishing between fact and opinion, making inferences, and drawing conclusions.?

3. Write Letters

Your kids can practice their handwriting, grammar, and vocabulary skills by writing letters to friends (nearby or far away), family members, or even their?favorite?authors. They might even get a letter back in the mail to read!

Keep a stack of?colored?paper and stickers on hand to allow kids to create their own stationery. Add a few fun pens, and your kids will be eager to start writing. You can also offer them the opportunity to type letters and send them through email.

4. Enjoy Read-Alouds

When we read to our kids, we are modeling fluent reading, building listening vocabulary, and showing that we value reading. This is an incredibly important part of helping them grow as readers. Here are popular read-alouds the whole family will love.?

5. Give Personalized Writing Prompts

A blank notebook can be a powerful learning and bonding tool for you and your kids. Take turns with your child writing back and forth in a journal. Start with a question such as, "What are you most looking forward to doing with the family this weekend?"

Your child then can have the rest of the day to write a response and leave it for you in a designated spot. Continue this back-and-forth journaling all summer to foster writing skills and creativity.?

6. Make Lists

This is one of the least overwhelming —?and often fun! —?writing tasks. Your kids can make a list of things they want to do each day, books they want to read over the summer, favorite?TV shows right now, and so on. List-making encourages your kids' spelling and categorization skills as they brainstorm which words fit specific categories.