Summer Reading Toolkit
- Heather Moran
- Jun 9
- 2 min read
Stop the Summer Slide: The 10-Minute Reading Routine That Protects Your Child's Progress
Summer is a time for pool days, family memories and unlimited popsicle stains. But for many kids, it also comes with a hidden cost: the dreaded summer slide. That term might sound playful, but it’s anything but fun when your child heads back to school in the fall behind where they left off in June.
What Is the Summer Slide? The "summer slide" refers to the academic regression that happens when children lose skills they gained during the school year. According to research, kids can lose up to 2 months of reading proficiency over the summer and 62–73% of students lose ground in reading. These losses add up—and by ninth grade, two-thirds of the reading achievement gap can be traced back to early summer setbacks.
This isn’t about pushing more academics into your child’s summer. It’s about preserving the progress they’ve made and continuing to build a love of learning in small, joyful ways.
The Easy Fix: 10–15 Minutes a Day You don’t need a workbook, tutor, or full curriculum to keep your child on track. You just need:
One great book
One rich vocabulary word
Three quick questions
That’s it.
Here’s How It Works We’ve created a free Summer Reading Toolkit for kids ages 5–8 that gives you everything you need to make daily reading intentional, meaningful, and (most importantly) doable.
Each book comes with:
A carefully chosen vocabulary word with a kid-friendly definition
A Before Reading question to activate prior knowledge
A During Reading question to help kids monitor comprehension
An After Reading question that reinforces the vocabulary word and helps them pull out the story’s big idea
No time to run to the library? No problem. Many of these books have free read-alouds online—so you can still follow along and get all the benefits.
Total time? Just 10–15 minutes a day.
The Payoff? Huge.
Your child returns to school confident and prepared
They build stronger reading habits and better comprehension
You share meaningful moments without adding stress to your day
Download Your Free Toolkit This isn’t just a list. It’s your stress-free summer learning plan—designed by an educator and mom of three who knows how hard it is to keep kids reading when there’s ice cream to be eaten and sprinklers to run through.
Commenti