As mid-Missouri schools are letting out for the summer, educators are reminding parents to keep students learning while school’s out of session — and encourage creative strategies to include reading, even when kids gravitate toward screens.
Teachers and librarians call learning loss that happens over break “the summer slide.” Students can lose an estimated 5-10% of knowledge gained during the school year, said Sarah Rausch, elementary school library media specialist for the Hallsville School District.
Regular reading is often the first step to keeping students on track because students need those skills to comprehend other school subjects, Rausch said. Just like with vegetables, parents can find creative ways to sneak reading into their children’s routines over the summer.
“If you go on a road trip this summer, annoy your family and just shout out every road sign you see for 10 minutes … and that's reading. It counts,” she said.
Rausch also recommends parents allow flexibility with types of reading materials over break, and should aim for a minimum of 10 to 20 minutes each day.
“We just want them to read. I don't care what they read. I just want them to read something every day over the summer,” she said.
For kids more interested in multimedia, Rausch said simply turning on subtitles or captions while watching TV or videos on social media can also be useful to keep reading skills up.
“We know that they're going to watch YouTube Shorts and TikTok and all of that. So put the captions on and read it,” Rausch said. “Don't necessarily fight against it, but figure out how to work with it.”
Bridging the broadband gap
Rural students, due to location and often lack of broadband, can face barriers when it comes to accessing learning materials over summer break.
Erin Swearngin is a youth librarian at Daniel Boone Regional Library and coordinates the Books by Snail program, in which the library will mail reading materials to K-12 students in rural towns over summer for free.
“We know that everybody can get really busy and parents are working and it's hard to make time to come to the library … especially if it is 30 minutes away,” Swearngin said.
Each summer, students who sign up can request specific books or get curated materials from the librarians.
Students in nine mid-Missouri towns without a Daniel Boone Regional Library branch can participate. Although the program began through the Institute of Museum and Library Services grant in 2008, it’s been incorporated into the library budget since 2019. Last summer, a team of four librarians worked 256 hours to coordinate the program and spent about $6,000 in mailing costs to send 428 bags of books.
“The library thought it was important enough, and we were able to fit it into our budget,” Swearngin said.
When the program began, Books by Snail served 55 student readers, Swearngin said. Over the years the project has grown to include more grade levels. In 2024, 197 students received books in the mail.
Daniel Boone Regional Library serves Boone and Callaway counties and the Books by Snail program is available to students in Auxvasse, Hallsville, Harrisburg, Hatton, Kingdom City, Mokane, New Bloomfield, Sturgeon and Williamsburg.
“The goal is to reach the students who live in the rural areas, since they don't have access to one of our library facilities,” Swearngin said.
Returning books on schedule can also be a challenge for kids without access to transportation. The library does not charge late fees for borrowed materials; students can keep the books for any amount of time.
“They can have the same set of books all summer long,” Swearngin said. “Sometimes we have kiddos return five or six bags over the summer, so it's really at their own pace.”
Rausch said Hallsville students are up against the “digital divide” as well as the access issues that come with living in rural areas. However, Books by Snail and the library’s Bookmobile help close the gap.
“Kids don't even have to leave Hallsville in order to get books, which is really awesome,” Rausch said.
