Beat the Summer Slide with BooksForTopics: Engage Pupils with Summer Reading Bingo and Recommended Reads!
It’s that time of year when thoughts turn to the end of term and Summer holidays are just around the corner. The summer holidays bring a well-deserved break for many children, but they can also bring a hidden challenge: the summer slide. This is where children lose some of their reading skills over the holidays. Without the regular practice of reading that often happens during the school term times, children’s reading fluency, comprehension and vocabulary can become rusty.
The good news is, the summer slide isn’t inevitable. By keeping children engaged with exciting books and fun reading activities, parents and teachers can help them maintain their skills and avoid a bumpy return to school in the Autumn term.
Just like in previous years, BooksForTopics has you covered with a set of printable resources to keep your primary pupils engaged: the Summer Reading Bingo challenge and a curated list of 2024 Summer Recommended Reads.
Summer Reading Bingo
Forget tedious reading logs! Summer Reading Bingo makes reading an exciting adventure and our 2024 Summer Reading Bingo challenge is designed to keep children motivated to read over the summer holidays.
Our Summer Reading Bingo is an activity that keeps the focus on reading for pleasure experiences rather than specific texts, with activities like ‘make a den and read inside’, ‘read in the dark using a torch’ and ‘read to a pet or a soft toy’. Children can choose what they read for the challenges, whether that is stories borrowed from school, graphic novels and comics from home, online reading material or books borrowed from the library. Pupils can even complete the challenge in tandem with The Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge, which should be running via your local library.
This keeps things interesting and encourages students to explore different ways to enjoy reading as well as to discover more about their identities as readers.
How to Run Your Bingo Challenge
Teachers can print out the bingo cards for pupils to take home over the summer holidays or the cards can be shared online and printed by parents at home as a fun reading challenge.
There are two levels of difficulty to choose from – 9 squares or 25 squares. Children and adults participating in the challenge can fill in the squares over the holidays as they complete each reading experience challenge.
When pupils return to school after the holidays, they may be awarded prizes, house points or certificates for a completed line or a full house! Return to our website to find the official printable pupil certificates and remember to celebrate children’s summer reading.
Don’t forget – teachers can join the challenge too!
Top Reads for Every Reader
Struggling for age-appropriate book recommendations? BooksForTopics has curated a fantastic list of Summer Recommended Reads for all primary ages and interests.
We’ve put together a list of some of our favourite new children’s books out this summer, listed by age group. Our summer selection includes stories of adventurous getaways, creatures of the deep, treasure quests, seashore escapades and plenty of exploration of the great outdoors. There is also a printable poster for you to download and share.
Take a look at There’s a Beach in my Pants and Aqua Boy for EYFS Summer story books, or the summery short chapter book Huxley and Flapjack: Trouble at Sea for KS1. For 7-9 year olds, this summer we are recommending Holly Webb’s latest book The Summer Dolphin and for older primary pupils try Mel Taylor-Bessant’s new super fun adventure Race to Imagination Island, which will keep children turning pages throughout the summer.
You can print off the poster to share book ideas with your school community or simply share the link to the Summer Recommended Reads online. Some schools also like to share our Year Group Recommended Read lists and Branching Out posters for more reading for pleasure guidance and book ideas for families.
The Summer Reading Advantage
Providing opportunities to motivate summer reading is a powerful tool to prevent the ‘summer slide’. It keeps young minds active in the holidays, develops vocabulary, and – most importantly – builds a love of reading. The BooksForTopics summer bingo challenge really focuses on enjoying the experience of reading rather than creating pressure to read specific texts, aim for a certain number of words or read for set lengths of time – keeping children in control of their reading adventures and motivating them to keep reading in their own way. When pupils return to class in September, they will hopefully be happy to share their book recommendations and their most enjoyed reading experiences as well as receiving certificates to celebrate their summer reading adventures.
Empower Your Students This Summer!
Head to the BooksForTopics website to download your free Summer Reading Bingo cards for your class and explore their recommended reads list. You could even hand them out on transition day as a new class challenge for the summer. Don’t forget to share your experiences with BooksForTopics on social media using #SummerReadingBingo and tagging @booksfortopics! We’d love to hear how pupils – and teachers – are getting stuck in.
Happy reading!