Summer Reading is Important! Read that again!

I googled the average amount of books children read over the summer and I found this great breakdown by Scholastic called “The Summer Reading Imperative”.

According to this source during the summer kids ages 6-8 read approximately nineteen books. That number drops to 9 for 9-11 year olds and continues to decline as children get older. It does say one variable could be that the texts they read get longer and more involved as they progress in age, ability and skill. 

 It also addressed some problems that kids can have in school when they don’t practice any skills over the summer.  One thing that strikes me is that the average number STARTS at 19 for kids who are just developing their reading skills at ages 6-8. A picture book or two a day during the summer is not unreasonable and there are approximately 80-100 days depending on the length of your summer vacation. 

Books have ALWAYS been important in our home. We used to call ourselves “The Golden Book Pirates” because while I was pregnant with our first son we visited many garage sales and thrift stores. We’d buy every Golden Book on the shelf or table. Our babies had a sizable library before they were born and it has only continued to grow! We are always looking for books that they would find interesting and encourage them to choose books for themselves. Reading is a great way for families to spend quality time together. While I am trying to encourage a habit of independent reading, we also read books as a family. Currently – there are about 3 books floating around that we’ve been reading to the kids; Fablehaven, Redwall and The Knight in the Castle.

I’m not concerned as much as I’d like to keep them in the habit and make sure they know they have some expectations for the summer. The pandemic thing has turned them into screen monkeys. I’d also like to start establishing routines and practices that might work for us if we decide to home school. There are hundreds of different reading charts and logs online so I took what I liked from each of them and made some franken-logs. I’ve customized them to account for the kids’ different reading levels and needs.

I’ve created summer reading logs with TITLE, AUTHOR, RATING ON BOOK SPINES for my little going into Grade 2 and TITLE, AUTHOR, RATING, SUMMARY W/ BOOK SPINE COVER SHEET for my big going into Grade 6.

I’ve decided to have my 11 yr old read at least 10 books – he likes reading and I think this goal is manageable for him. We talked about it and I asked him to challenge himself – he agreed to limit the amount of books that seem a little easy for him like the I Survived…series. I like this series and it definitely holds his interest but the kid also reads 500 page fantasy epics.  

A hidden goal/benefit of this activity is that it will help him practice writing skills. He has trouble with his handwriting and developing his ideas while writing.  The log I developed asks him to write a paragraph summarizing the book he read. 

We are discussing possible rewards for completion and the possibility of completing more than one log. One idea is a “pizza party” which sounds feasible. It would also give him an opportunity to plan a dinner/write a shopping list/or place an order…more sneaky learning.

My youngest has been a little slow to pick reading up – but he is gaining confidence and I think he is surprising himself! I made a simpler version of the log consisting of the title, author and his rating. Earlier, I discussed how the average number of books for a 6-8 year old is around 19 books. I am not setting him a number because I think he would find the average overwhelming to hear and ultimately I think he will read quite a few more than that number. Instead, he has the goal of reading one book a day and I’ll make him new sheets as needed. We’ll celebrate milestones as he goes along with little prizes or maybe he’ll want to get in on the pizza party!

He is choosing his own books right now with mixed results. The first day – he picked The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss and the second day he choose a Magic Treehouse book. He did very well with The Foot Book but I have a feeling he pretty much looked at the illustrations in the the other. I let him choose it because I don’t want to discourage him but I’m going to keep an eye on it.

We have two days in and I think it’s going really well! I haven’t had very much push back because I think the boys feel pretty good about the expectations. That gives me a clue that something is going right. One thing about the independent reading time is that for 30 minutes or so, there is some peace and quiet in our house! 

Books I’ve Read This Summer – just the book spines on a shelf with a place for title, author and rating would be appropriate for kiddos going into preschool-3rd grade (more help is needed when they are younger). My almost 2nd grader can fill his out independently. I would recommend the other version (with an attached packet for writing summaries) for kiddos entering 4th – 6th grades. I feel like I would do something different for kids older than this – it would depend on their interests in reading and how they were doing by this point. If I make something – you’ll be the first to know.

How much reading do your kids do over the summer? What strategies have you used to encourage reading? I’d love to hear! Comment below!

I think we’ll be doing a lot of hiking this summer. I want to explore state parks that we’ve never been to as a family before. We picked a direction and looked up a park!

This time we decided to visit Chimney Bluffs State Park (right on Rte 414 N) on the shore of Lake Ontario.

The geography of NY state was heavily influenced by the activity of melting glaciers. The bluffs are primarily composed of clay and were formed by erosion. They are amazing to see! I visited here as a kid at least once and I thought the boys would enjoy seeing a Great Lake and the unusual scenery.

My 6 yr old son is in cub scouts so before the trip – we reviewed the six essentials together and he decided to bring a notebook to write about the things he saw. Most people didn’t have snacks or drinks or even a bag, so maybe we were a little over prepared but we ended up hiking the whole park! I was really proud of my sons for carrying their own packs the whole way.

We arrived about 2:20 pm and we waited about 10 minutes to park. There was a machine to pay for a parking pass which cost $5.00. 

The park has bathrooms which are open and they seem clean – currently they ask that you wear a mask to enter.

People were very polite during the whole trip; some wore masks and some did not but everyone kept their personal space. 

We played in the picnic area from which you can see the Bluffs in the distance. It is a pleasant, sunny area with very nice stone tables and benches. We took the opportunity to view the bluffs through binoculars and pointed out interesting features to each other. It was about 70 that day but the wind coming off the lake made it feel cooler. I was glad we packed sweatshirts. The waves were also very high.

We hiked to the Bluff Overlook via the East-West trail (heading East) where it connected to Drumlin Trail and then continued on the Bluff Trail which was marked as closed on the side we exited but not on the side we entered. We enjoyed identifying trees, talking about ferns, listening to the birds, and counting dragonflies. 

I don’t recommend taking the Bluff trail with young kids. We had our 6 yr old who feels nervous with heights and you could see the drop almost the whole way down. It was also not well cleared, narrow and muddy in places.  I would do that particular trail again with my husband or another grown up because I loved seeing the water which was particularly dramatic when we visited.

There is another parking area at the opposite end of the Bluff Trail and there is more direct access to the lake. After we finished our hike, we drove to that area and got a closer look at the water and the beautiful rocks on the shore.

It was a beautiful day! The kids enjoyed the park and were fascinated by the landscape. As we hiked up the bluffs – the air seemed to smell cleaner. It was refreshing to see the sunlight streaming through the trees and to watch my sons practice balancing on logs. We also saw many hawks and on the short ride to the other side of the park – we were surprised by a pair of swans on the marsh and two fawns.

I definitely recommend this park if you are in the area – most of the hiking trail was easy and the views aren’t to be missed! We appreciated the bathrooms being open and we didn’t feel like there were any social distancing concerns.

Amenities: Bathroom, Picnic Area, Hiking Trails

Extra things I was glad we packed: binoculars, sweatshirts, a journal and pencil

☆☆☆☆ 4/5

Pokemon Go fans: 
There are two gyms and two pokestops in the main park area and another pokestop in the other parking area. My husband and I both have Pokemon Go on our phone and we make it *part* of our adventures.We discussed it after this trip and feel that it helps heighten the appeal of new places. Sometimes it also serves as a positive distraction but we don’t let it stay the main focus.