Summer Reading Programs

Most teachers have either heard about or experienced the summer slide first hand as students' knowledge drops after only a few short months. One way to prevent or help this is to encourage your students to join a summer reading program. Let your students' parents know about summer reading programs as well so they can encourage their children when you are not around.

Here is a list I have gathered of some great summer reading programs:

1. Scholastic Summer Challenge - Scholastic has a summer reading program where students log their minutes of reading and can win prizes. Teachers can also register their students before the school year is up which I think is a great feature and parents can log on also to check how many minutes their children have read.

2. Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program - Barnes and Noble will let students get a new book for free after reading 8 books. All they have to do is simply record their books on Barnes and Noble's PDF sheet and turn it in when they are done. Check out the link to see the selection of free books children can select from.

3. TD Bank's Summer Reading Program - TD Bank will deposit $10 into a new young saver's account after they have read 10 books this summer. Students simply read 10 books, record those books onto TD Bank's sheet and bring it into any local branch. This could be a great way to encourage reading and help students learn how to save money.

4. Book Adventure by Sylvan - Students read books and then take a simple comprehension quiz over the material to make sure they have understood it. Students earn points on these quizzes and can cash in their points for prizes! Any students K-8 can participate in this program.

5. Chuck E Cheese Reading Rewards - Students record their daily reading on a printable calendar and turn in into their local Chuck E Cheese. Two weeks of daily reading results in 10 free tokens. There is a catch: food must be purchased for free token redemption.

 6. Pottery Barn's Summer Reading Challenge - Pottery Barn Kids is offering a free book to children who complete the reading of one of their summer reading lists. Simply select a book list to follow and upon completion receive one free book at your local Pottery Barn Kids store. You can also register to win prizes.

7. Half Price Books Feed Your Brain - Students can earn a $5 gift certificate to Half Price Books by participating in their summer reading program. Simply read and log at least 15 minutes each day. When children reach 300 minutes, they will earn their gift certificate. Top readers in each age group can also win larger amounts.

8. Your local library - Almost all local libraries have summer reading programs for kids. My local library even has a summer reading program for adults! It's always worth it to participate.

Please let me know if I missed any great summer reading programs.