CINCINNATI — These kids are bucking the trend. They’re using their summer vacation to become better readers. 

“It builds up skills, the different skills they practice during the school year; we’re able to continue to practice during summer,” Parent, Mackenzie Metcalf said.

Mackenzie Metcalf has two kids, ages 6 and 9, and uses a unique strategy to keep them engaged during the summer.  

“We do read a lot. Right now, we are focusing especially with my older one, silent reading, and we do audiobooks. I learned it tends to calm my boys’ minds,” Mackenzie Metcalf said.

Metcalf says her kids enjoy multiple books each summer. Whether it’s reading words off a page or listening to an audiobook, she believes the time focused on literacy can create unique skills they can use in the fall. 

“Not only is helping the summer slide, but reading is the basis for everything, helps with vocabulary, written expression, communication just with you and me, then most of all creativity,” Metcalf said.

Over the summer, Metcalf’s kids are taking part in the Winn Reading program, a Cincinnati-based organization that was created during the pandemic. It uses one-on-one reading sessions at the library to help elementary-aged students learn to read. Leaders of the program believe kids who don’t read multiple times each week for at least half an hour will see their skills decline.

“So many kids can lose valuable skills that they learned during the school year, research says. They can lose up to a month of the skills they learned,” Founder of Winn Reading, Kay Limbach said.

But data also shows introducing kids to books needs to start early. According to the Ohio Department of Children and Youth, kids’ brains are 80% developed by the time they turn three. And when they enter kindergarten, they should know thousands of words to be successful in the classroom.

“Either the child reading to themselves or a parent reading to them can make all the difference when they go back to school in the fall,” Limbach said.

Metcalf says reading creates a closer bond with her family and is grateful for it.

“The time we are reading together, it’s also good family bonding as well,” Metcalf said.