Summer Is Coming

Concord - The end is near. Of the academic year for New Hampshire schools, that is. But learning shouldn’t stop just because school is out. The New Hampshire Department of Education is launching its 2019 Summer Learning Challenge to help parents stop the summer slide.

"Keeping kids engaged and learning through the 'classroom' of the summer season is one of the most important keys to academic success. Research reliably demonstrates that a significant part of the gap between high-achieving and low-achieving students comes from how well students have retained learned material when they return to school," writes Deputy Commissioner Christine Brennan in the Concord Monitor.

Building on a program begun last year, the 2019 Summer Learning Challenge includes:

• Find A Book NH - a partnership with Lexile that helps parents find grade-appropriate summer reading material pegged to their children's interests.
• The NH Summer Reading Program - a collaboration of New Hampshire libraries with the New Hampshire State Library.
• Scholastic's Read-A-Palooza - an interactive challenge where students can log the number of minutes they spend reading this summer.
• The Summer Math Challenge - a partnership with Quantiles where parents can sign up for daily math challenges.
• Summer Nutrition - Where to find more than 100 summer meals programs across New Hampshire.

"Just two to three hours per week can make the difference between a student being ready to go in September and having to spend the start of the school year relearning last year’s lessons," Brennan adds. "Summer is definitely coming, but the summer slide does not have to be inevitable."

For more information, Learning Challenge (link no longer active).