Students encouraged to read during summer

Avoid the “summer slide,” the learning losses that set students back academically when they do not read during the out-of-school summer months, by taking advantage of Georgia’s 2015 Summer Reading Challenge.

The Fayette County Public School System encourages all students to read every day this summer, for a minimum of 15 to 30 minutes, by taking advantage of a multitude of free resources that will make it easier. A complete list of these resources is available at www.fcboe.org. Look under “What is in the News at FCBOE” for the “summer reading lists” link.

Suggested reading goals based on grade level are as follows:

K-2 students, 10 books.

3-5 students, 8 chapter books.

6-12 students, 5 fiction books and 5 nonfiction books.

Research shows that students can lose up to three months of reading ability over the summer, which lowers their achievement potential and widens the achievement gap. Learn more about summer reading loss at the Lexile Summer Reading web page, https://www.lexile.com/using-lexile/summer-reading, and the National Summer Learning Association web page, http://www.summerlearning.org/?page=know_the_facts.