By Angelle Thorington
Every year on the last day of school all the kids run out of the school and for the rest of the summer they get lazy. Summer slide is the tendency for students, especially those from low-income families, to lose some of the achievement gains they made during the previous school year. The well-documented and so-called summer slide, which occurs when kids fall behind in reading and math over the summer, is cumulative and most damaging to children from low-income families. About two-thirds of the 7th grade achievement gap in reading has been attributed to summer learning loss. Math skills erode even more. In my school, the teachers are thinking of a solution to the summer slide.
The principal of my school has her own opinion about the summer slide. She stated that the summer slide doesn’t really have a big impact on our school. She is thinking of giving a book to students and when they come back in the fall giving them a writing assignment on the book to show what they learned. She also thinks that all students should have a mental break during the summer and continue their learning through real-world experiences. She believes that all kids should be able to play and have fun.
Without having a book or an assignment kids get lazy. When kids aren’t forced to wake up early without an alarm clock they won’t get up to do anything. Most of the time kids just forget the date and get very, very sluggish. The summer slide has a negative effect on kids brains. One student from my class says that the summer slide has a huge impact on him. He says that the summer slide lets him play video games and just get lazier. He said that when he gets back to school there is just a blank in his mind. This student is happy that he will be receiving a book. Despite the varying opinions on the importance of the summer slide, we are all counting down the days to the end of school!
The Greenline 