Have a Magical Summer- 8 Free Summer Reading Logs
Who wants to track summer reading?! Summertime is quickly approaching! I know many teachers ask students to read at home for 20 minutes nightly. I did the same thing when I was in the classroom. But as I’m sure we all know; routines tend to go out the window once summer vacation rolls around. I created free printable summer reading logs to help motivate your child to keep up their reading practice during the summer break from school.
Why is it important for kids to read daily, especially during the summer?
It is important for kids to read during the summer for several reasons:
- Preventing the “Summer Slide”: Summer break often leads to a loss of academic skills and knowledge, known as the “summer slide.” By engaging in regular reading, kids can maintain their reading proficiency and prevent a decline in their literacy skills over the summer months. This better prepares them for the school year ahead.
- Continued Learning: Reading during the summer allows your child to continue learning and expanding their knowledge outside of the school environment. They can explore different subjects, discover new interests, and deepen their understanding of various topics through books. They may not always have these opportunities during the school year when they have less choice in what they must read. Summer is the perfect time for them to dive deeper into their interests and explore which type of reading material they enjoy the most.
- Vocabulary and Language Development: Reading regularly helps kids improve their vocabulary and language skills. Exposure to a wide range of words and sentence structures in books enhances their language proficiency and comprehension abilities. Reading practice improves reading fluency.
- Reading Comprehension: Regular reading practice during the summer helps children improve their reading comprehension skills. They learn to understand and interpret different types of texts, make connections between ideas, and draw conclusions based on the information they read.
- Imagination and Creativity: Reading stimulates children’s imagination and encourages them to think creatively. Through books, they can visualize characters, settings, and events, and create their own mental images of the story. This helps foster their creativity and imaginative thinking.
- Enjoyment and Relaxation: When I was a child I spent most of my summer vacation reading books. It was something I enjoyed doing. It offers an escape into different worlds, adventures, and stories, allowing children to unwind and enjoy their free time during the summer. Reading can be a fun hobby. Your child doesn’t have to read alone either. Spend time reading together to find topics you both enjoy and can discuss.
My son is still very much into unicorns and magical and mystical things. I decided to create a summer reading log to help ensure he continues to read daily throughout the summer. I don’t anticipate a problem with this, but it’s always fun to have a super cute, unicorn tracking sheet, right?
Free Summer Reading Logs
These fun, simple summer reading logs can be used to encourage summer reading (or can be used at any time by choosing one that is not month specific).
There are four reading log options in each design (Unicorn and Dragon):
- Unicorn Summer Reading Log: Color a cloud for each book read
- Unicorn Reading Log: Color a cloud for each day read (Write in month)
- Unicorn Summer Reading Log: June
- Unicorn Summer Reading Log: July
- Dragon Summer Reading Log: Color a cloud for each book read
- Dragon Reading Log: Color a cloud for each day read (Write in month)
- Dragon Summer Reading Log: June
- Dragon Summer Reading Log: July
You can print these on colored paper for more fun! You could also laminate them and re-use them every month. This would also cut down on paper usage.
I posted these for free on my Teachers Pay Teachers store. There are four different unicorn reading logs as well as four dragon ones. I know not all boys are into unicorns as much as my son is, so I thought a dragon would be a good magical alternative.
For other reading ideas or activities, be sure to check my literacy posts here.
Have a magical summer!