The end of the school year brings about plenty of excitement. For many, the summer officially begins at the very last day of school, which typically occurs in June. Children are excited to have a few months where they can play and explore. Getting up early and sitting in a classroom won’t happen again until fall, and they are free to have as much fun as they can!
For parents, summer can be a worrying time, as well. Many children tend to lose some of what they have learned during the school year over the summer break. Children might not want to read as much or engage in educational activities. As a parent, it is important to keep their minds active and ensure that they have enriching experiences all summer long!
Five Activities for the End of the School Year
Make a Scrapbook
Using some of your child’s favorite art projects, great scores that they got on tests, and other work that they are proud of; create a scrapbook! Whether you purchase a pre-made scrapbook or decide to create your own from scratch, have your child tell the story of their school year. Use school pictures, newspaper clippings, and handwritten stories about what they experienced in school through the year. This is a project that they will be thrilled to look back on later in life. Creating an education scrapbook like this one will also remind them of the things that they’ve learned over the previous year, so it doesn’t slip out of their minds!
This is also a fun project for parents to work on and enjoy reflecting on how their kids have grown!
Have a Reading Night
Even though school is out, it doesn’t mean that your child should stop reading! Encourage him or her to continue reading by setting up a family reading night. Go to a library or bookstore and have each member of the family choose a book. Then have a nice quiet evening where you can relax and read together. You can combine this with other fun activities as well, such as making snacks that are based on your favorite books, dressing up like your favorite character, talking like the characters in your books talk, etc.
Invest in an E-Reader
Picking up an e-reader or tablet for your child to use over summer break is a great idea. They have the ability to take books with them wherever they go – this is particularly helpful when the family is going on holiday. Load up the e-reader with books that you think your child will enjoy. Try taking a look at some of the great titles available through the redcatreading.com program – it is a subscription service that provides your child with plenty of interesting and entertaining books, videos, and educational resources for you.
Play with your Child
Yes, that’s right – play with your child! A lot of important educational things can be learned through play. In fact, many children learn best by engaging in enjoyable activities such as those found in playtime. Whether you are playing cards with your child or you are building with blocks, you are not only having fun, you are helping your child learn. Whether it be cause and effect, math, or reading, there are so many different activities available that will help your child hold onto what he or she learned during the year without even realizing it.
Take Enriching Day Trips
Take some fun and enriching day trips with your child. Go to a children’s science museum or to an art gallery. Take a trip to an important monument if there is one nearby. Have your child chronicle his or her summer by taking photographs and writing journal entries. As a bonus, he or she will have plenty to share with classmates when school starts again!
Red Cat Reading Summer Reading Lists for Kindergarten and First Grade
Another huge way to keep kids learning over the summer and make sure they don’t get off track for the next school year is to follow a reading list!
Why does your child need a summer reading list?
It’s a well-known fact that kids can lose up to 2 months of reading skills over summer! Now that’s a scary statistic. To make sure your kid’s reading level doesn’t slide this summer, check out our fun and easy Summer Reading Lists below! Perfect for kindergarten and first graders who love reading exciting books.
Why is it important for kids to keep up their reading over summer?
Kids who keep up with reading over summer will have a huge head start when they do go back to school in the fall. This head start will help your kids stay ahead for the rest of the year, and beyond!
What will they learn after finishing our reading lists?
Don’t worry, kids won’t feel like they’re going to school or doing homework when they’re reading our books! Kids absolutely love our funny and adventurous stories and interesting books about the world. They’ll still have an active and exciting summer, while fitting in just 10 minutes of reading a day for 6-8 weeks!
Kids will practice their phonics and will read our entertaining storybooks & leveled reading books which answer tricky questions about life. They’ll learn about topics like animals, jobs, sharing, different houses around the world and so much more!
You can even check out our Summer Reading Program which has a curriculum (including digital books, videos and activities) laid out for 7 weeks. At the end your child can even receive a printable Summer Reading Completion certificate!
Wishing you all a happy and relaxing summer holiday with your kids! How do you plan on fitting in reading with summer fun these holidays?
Summer Reading List for Kindergarten Kids!
– for kindergarten kids about to enter first grade
- Kids vs Phonics L1 i
- Kids vs Phonics L1 d
- Kids vs Phonics L2 b
- Kids vs Phonics L2 u
- Kids vs Phonics L3 g
- Kids vs Phonics L3 f
- Kids vs Phonics L4 w
- Kids vs Phonics L4 x
- Kids vs Phonics L5 ie
- Kids vs Phonics L5 ea
- Kids vs Phonics L6 or
- Kids vs Phonics L6 ng
- Leveled Reading L1 Pets
- Leveled Reading L1 Feelings
- Leveled Reading L1+ The Ocean
- Leveled Reading L1+ I Play Music
- Leveled Reading L2 The Desert
- Leveled Reading L2 Sharing
- Leveled Reading L2+ What Is It Doing
- Leveled Reading L2+ Origami Dog Face
Summer Reading List for First Grade Kids!
– for first grade kids about to enter second grade
- Kids vs Phonics L7 ch
- Kids vs Phonics L7 th (hard)
- Kids vs Phonics L8 ou
- Kids vs Phonics L8 ar
- Kids vs Phonics L9 e_e
- Kids vs Phonics L9 o_e
- Kids vs Phonics L10 -y2
- Kids vs Phonics L10 le
- Kids vs Phonics L11 ion
- Kids vs Phonics L11 igh
- Leveled Reading L3 Going Camping
- Leveled Reading L3 Where Things Come From
- Leveled Reading L4 Under a Microscope
- Leveled Reading L4 Making Cookies
- Leveled Reading L5 Going to the Dentist
- Leveled Reading L5 Homes Around the World
- Kids vs Life L5 Why is the Sky Blue?
- Kids vs Life L5 How To and Not To Play With Cats
- Kids vs Life L5 Kids vs Dark
- Kids vs Life L5 Kids vs Halloween
Congratulations… You made it!
You and your child made it to the end of our Summer Reading List! Your child is now ready to begin the brand new school year with a head start that will help them for the rest of the school year. When a child starts ahead, those gains are usually carried through the rest of their elementary years and beyond! If you’d like to discover more about this, check out Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling ‘Outliers‘ book.
We hope you and your child had a great time reading and learning together this summer! Please comment and share your child’s favorite book from the lists!
We created Red Cat Reading to provide children with the critical reading skills they need for both success in school and life. In fact, Red Cat Reading is designed to help your child master reading faster than traditional classroom instruction in several ways:
- We Have More Time to Help Your Child: Red Cat Reading has the time and resources to help each and every student. We won’t let your child fall through the cracks and will work to ensure their school readiness includes knowing how to read before class begins.
- We Assess Your Child’s Reading Level and Specific Needs—For Free: At Red Cat Reading, we don’t believe in a “One Size Fits All” approach to education. That is why we carefully assess all students first to determine their specific needs and identify which leveled books they need to read to attain reading mastery.
- We Can Help Your Child Learn How to Read in Just 3 Months or Less: We use video and audio to assess your child and monitor their progress with our leveled books. Your child will practice reading and listening with our fun and educational videos, songs, interactive e-books and worksheets. Using our proven system, your child can and will be reading children’s books at or above their age level in just 3 months or less!
What are you waiting for?
Sign up now for your Free Account with RedCatReading.com to give your child the best head start in life and help ensure school success!
