Summer Reading Packet



|Summer Reading Packet |

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|Resources, Ideas and Websites to Help Parents |

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Summer is a time for fun and family. As the summertime rolls, sometimes kids can lose what they have learned in school. This packet is designed to give you information, resources and booklists you can use with your children to keep them reading and writing this summer and prevent summer brain drain. These resources are from many areas on the internet and this packet is designed to help save you time searching and evaluating resources alone. I hope you find them enjoyable and they help your family learn together!

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Table of Contents

Providing a Literacy-Rich Home Environment 3

Use Summer Fun to Build Background Knowledge 5

Booklists to Keep Your Kids in a Good Book 6

Activities with Kids 7

Healthy Media Use Pact 9

Providing a Literacy-Rich Home Environment

Literacy development is a continuous process that begins in infancy when babies are first exposed to language, books, and stories. Its roots are in the home, with branches extending to other environments.

Books are the key ingredient to creating a literacy-rich home environment. Families can support language and literacy learning by creating a home atmosphere in which reading, writing, talking, and listening are a natural part of daily life.

Literacy-rich homes and families:

• Establish a regular time and place for daily read-aloud sessions, such as before bed or during bath time. Balance time devoted to sports, television, and other activities.

• Keep on hand a variety of reading materials: picture books, chapter books, atlases, dictionaries, magazines, and newspapers. Some kids, especially boys, prefer nonfiction books. Also get library cards for everyone and use them often.

• Share their love of books and reading. Parents may say to children, "This was my favorite book when I was your age" or "I can't wait to start my new book."

• Talk about what they read and encourage children to think, solve problems, and make predictions. Parents may discuss the books a child is reading, then ask questions such as, "Did you ever...?" or "How would you feel if that happened to you?"

• Have plenty of paper and writing tools.

• Store books and writing materials in places children can reach.

• Have frequent conversations with each child, as well as with the family as a whole. Parents should encourage everyone to express their ideas, opinions, and feelings.

• Reinforce language and literacy skills by doing puzzles and playing games that reinforce literacy, such as Lotto, Candy Land, Old Maid, Concentration, Scrabble, and Trivial Pursuit.

• Model reading and writing for pleasure and for specific uses, such as making a shopping list. Ask your child to help you write out the grocery list, a thank you note to Grandma, or to keep a journal of special things that happen at home. When writing, encourage your child to use the letter and sound patterns he is learning at school.

• Respond positively to children's reading and writing efforts. Remind him or her that writing involves several steps. No one does it perfectly the first time.

• Show your child how to summarize a story in a few sentences or how to make predictions about what might happen next. Both strategies help a child comprehend and remember.

• Talk about everyday activities to build your child's background knowledge, which is crucial to listening and reading comprehension. Keep up a running patter, for example, while cooking together, visiting somewhere new, or after watching a TV show.

• Let your child see you use a dictionary. Say, "Hmm, I'm not sure what that word means... I think I'll look it up." Explain how related words have similar spellings and meanings. Show how a word like knowledge, for example, relates to a word like know.

• Take turns adding to a story the two of you make up while riding in a car or bus. Try making the story funny or spooky.

• Encourage your child to re-read favorite books and poems. Re-reading helps kids read more quickly and accurately.

These strategies tell children reading and writing are important lifelong activities that are fun and useful. Families can also show children how much they value reading and writing by building partnerships with child development programs and schools.

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Use Summer Fun to Build Background Knowledge

You don’t need to have a book in hand to help your child become a better reader. Interesting experiences give kids a broader framework for new information they might encounter in books. When kids have lots of experiences to draw on, they have a better chance of making a connection with what they read! How can you help build background knowledge this summer?

Step 1: Take summer field trips

Go to the park, the zoo, the aquarium, a sports event, a historical landmark, or a children’s museum. Go on a hike or to a natural attraction in your area. When you’re indoors, watch a TV program about volcanoes or the rainforest or marsupials, or use the web to take a virtual field trip to a faraway place.

Step 2: Talk about it

Talk about the plants and animals you see, or the rules of a game, or the history of your town, or the new things you learned. Ask questions that get your child to talk, like “If you could be one of those animals we saw today, which one would you be?” or “Why do you think those boulders were shaped like that?”

Step 3: Follow up with a book

Find out what interests your child, and visit the library to get more information. Check out books about butterflies or basketball players or whatever caught your child’s attention. Encourage their learning with comments like, “That was cool to see the inside of a computer at the museum today. Let’s learn more about that.

”You could even have your children create their own book, with photos or illustrations of your activity and their own commentary. This is great writing practice and makes a wonderful summer memory book. Building background knowledge isn’t just fun, it’s also a great way to spend your summer!

For more ideas to help kids learn over the summer, visit:



Booklists to Keep Your Kids in a Good Book

If you check on the internet there are booklists galore but what will help keep your child reading over the summer? When you are helping your children look for books help them keep in mind interest and reading level. The important thing is your child is reading and using the skills they have learned through the school year.

Take your child’s cue when it comes to interest. Allow them to pick out books. Have them scan the front and back cover and flip to a random page and have them read it. This will help them check if it is a book they would enjoy and is on their reading level. If they are not interested in the book or they are stumbling over words move on, it is not a good selection for now. Don’t be concerned with reading on grade level but rather your child’s individual level. Remember it’s summer and they should read for enjoyment.

Here are websites to get your family started on the search for the right summer books.

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This site offers a list of books by certain themes. Great for if you are looking for books about a particular subject.

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Although there are a ton of book lists on the internet (I found many making this packet.) I really liked this one because each grade level is a PDF file with a little information about the book. If you believe your child is reading above or below grade level look at those lists as well.

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Don’t forget the non-fiction! Did you know that kids use different reading skills when they read non-fiction? These sites give booklists for non-fiction texts. These books are written for children and will help them continue to learn about other topics while they practice their non-fiction reading.

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Remember children learn by example. They need to hear good readers read. That can be you, a family member, or story time at the local library. Thanks to technology it can also be on a recording! Here is a list of audiobooks for children.

Activities with Kids

Online and Offline Activities

Some students enjoy doing worksheets while others get very excited about puzzle books and word scrambles. Teacher Planet offers loads of links to summer-themed printable activity sheets and Harper Collins Children's Books has literature quizzes, games, and pintables in their Games & Contests section. has many games and activities you can do on their own or use it with a book your child is using. There are links below for individual grade level bands.

Here are a list of websites for online and offline reading activities for kids.

• Teacher Planet:

• Harper Collins Children’s Books:

• Grades 1-2 Activities:

• Grades 3-4 Activities:

• Grades 5-6 Activities:

Check Out the Summer Reading Club at Your Local Library

Check with your local public library to sign kids up for summer reading.  Ask the librarian about summer activities, educational videos, and audio books at the library. Don’t forget to sign up for a card while you are there!

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Other Summer Reading Activities

Check out free summer reading incentive programs. The Scholastic Summer Challenge encourages kids to log the minutes they spend reading and map their accomplishments. Kids can participate in weekly challenges, earn digital rewards, and enter to win prizes. The iVillage PBS Kids Summer Reading Community Challenge runs from June 6 to July 15 and will feature free literacy-building resources for parents and children. Guest "coaches" include cast members and characters from PBS Kids shows. The Barnes & Noble Imagination Destination challenge gives your child the ability to earn a free book after reading eight books and keeping track of them in a reading log.

Here are the links to check out these programs:

• Scholastic Summer Challenge:

• iVillage PBS Kids Summer Reading Community Challenge:

• Barnes & Noble Imagination Destination Challenge:

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Healthy Media Use Pact

Technology is wonderful but they can sometimes take the place of other activities such as reading. The following brochure gives your family ideas for teaching your children about healthy media use and includes a pact that you and your children can complete to promise to use media responsibly.

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