Many children succumb to a phenomenon called "Summer Slide." They lose ground in reading over the summer months when they are not in school.
To combat Summer Slide, Stamford Cradle to Career has conducted the Stamford Summer Literacy Initiative for the past two summers.
The program is two-pronged:
- School literacy teachers work in four summer camp programs to provide a literacy-rich environment and small-group instruction for campers in kindergarten through third grade.
- Messages are posted around the community, including in bus shelters, on banners, and through flyers and bookmarks, to connect children and their families with the Ferguson Library Summer Reading Program, to encourage children to read and connect with library resources.
During the first summer, of the 34 students who worked with literacy coaches in camps, 88% showed an improvement in scores for nonsense word fluency.
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