Summer Read-Aloud outlines

It's summertime! The temperatures are heating up and kids are antsy for summer vacation to arrive. Kids think about freedom from the classroom and time to spend outdoors and with friends. Adults think of ways to entertain their kids and how to prevent them from losing everything they learned during the school year.

We think about that a lot at The Reading Connection too. Studies have shown that kids can lose two to three months of math and reading skills and at-risk kids, like the ones who come to Read-Alouds, can lose even more. These studies have shown that two of the biggest factors in preventing summer learning loss are enriching experiences and time spent reading. Read-Alouds present an opportunity to achieve both.

Our volunteer seminar on June 3 presented ways to teach kids new concepts and vocabulary in the context of a Read-Aloud. We showed ways to bring real-world experiences into your Read-Alouds by making your activity a hands-on experience. We'll be sharing these ideas with you over the next couple of blog posts and throughout the summer.

 At the seminar, we presented six Read-Alouds that focus on typical summer experiences that kids at Read-Aloud sites might not get to have because of their current economic or living situations. But, have no fear, the kids will still get to experience camping and air travel. You'll be the ones bringing it to them through at Read-Aloud! 


Click on the following Read-Aloud titles for an outline with books, activities and conversation starters.

Camping Read-Aloud - Set up a tent and read inside. Make a pretend campfire, read by flashlight and then tell ghost stories or sing camp songs. Make s'mores in the microwave.

Air travel Read-Aloud - Make the whole Read-Aloud an air travel adventure. Set carpet squares or chairs in rows like airplane seats. Give kids boarding passes, check them in and make them clear security before reading.

Museum Read-Aloud - Create your own museum of the kid's art and let the kids be the museum docent. Imagine you come from the future and think about how you'd interpret everyday items.

Rainy day Read-Aloud - If it's too wet to play outside, how can we entertain ourselves indoors? Think about forts and old fashioned games like pick-up-sticks, while reading The Cat in the Hat and Jumanji.

Beach Read-Aloud - Lay out beach towels instead of carpet squares and engage all the senses with items you might find at the beach.

Extreme weather Read-Aloud - We've already experienced tornadoes and hurricanes this summer. Read about how they're formed and what kind of damage they can do then make your own tornado with water bottles or a hurricane out of cotton balls.

We encourage you to use these Read-Alouds with the kids at your site. With the planning mostly done, your team can focus on implementation, and the kids will love the hands-on activities and will hopefully learn something new in the process. We'll be posting more Read-Aloud outlines later in the summer for you to use, so stay tuned.

To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.