Page 8 - 2019 May BPS news

By: Caron Partridge, Vice President, Communications, United Way of Brevard County
Summer is just around the corner. Your kids won’t see
the inside of a classroom for a couple of months. While you may be looking forward to that break, you should know how important it is for your child to read over
the summer. Studies show that children can lose one to three months of learning over the summer. It’s called the ‘summer slide’ and it’s what happen when young minds sit idle over the summer. Many parents are not even aware of the negative impact of summer learning loss. That’s why United Way of Brevard and Brevard Public Schools have launched an aggressive awareness campaign to help parents understand the devastating effect of summer learning loss.
The awareness campaign has two goals. The first goal is to ensure parents especially those of elementary aged students understand why it is so critical to keep kids reading over the summer. The second goal, which is just as important, is to encourage kids to keep reading over the summer.
Campaign elements include a brochure that is distributed
through Brevard Public Schools to all VPK – 5th grade students that includes simple activities to keep kids interested in reading as well as tips and resources for helping kids become readers. Keep a lookout in your child’s backpack the last week of school. Not only is it
a great resource, but you can hang it on the fridge as a reminder to read. It also has a log to track your reading, because United Way sponsors a contest to keep kids motivated over the summer. Brevard Public School students who read 8 to 10 books depending on their grade level and turn in results to their school earn an ice cream party in the fall paid for by United Way of Brevard.
This is where we need you! When the partnership first began, only 179 students returned documentation that they read over the summer. Last summer that number jumped to nearly 5,000 students. So parents, prevent the summer slide! Keep your child reading this summer! With your help we can minimize the loss of learning over the summer break.
Avoiding the Summer Slide
There are a variety resources available to help parents encourage reading over the summer:
• BPS Summer Reads website https://sites.google. com/a/share.brevardschools.org/librarymedia/ summer-reading
• Space Coast Early Learning Coalition has provided several links to help families beat the summer slide https://www.elcbrevard.org/p/254/prevent-the- summer-slide, including resources for the Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Challenge and the Brevard Public Library system. All Brevard libraries have downloadable audiobooks available as well as traditional hard copies of books.
• Just Read, Florida has developed a resource center called Just Take 20 to support families in supporting literacy growth at home. JT20 provides a knowledge base of age-appropriate activities and habits that will ensure highly skilled readers, motivated to read and write in school, workplace and life. The Just Take 20 site has a wide array of resources & activities linked for learners of all ages. http://www.fldoe. org/academics/standards/just-read-fl/just-take-20/ families/
• Just Read, Florida has resources for supporting literacy development. http://www.fldoe.org/ academics/standards/just-read-fl/families/
• BPS Family Engagement – Prevent Summer Slide - https://www.brevardschools.org/Page/3749