Summer is coming and it’s time for play. Keep literacy learning a part of each day! Word play is fun and easy to do. Think of the words for the things around you.

Do teachers experience the same slide during the summer months when not teaching every day? Here are some ways we can avoid our own summer slide.

Teachers are working with demanding and stressful time constraints when expectations and accountability are higher than ever. And, the reality is we can’t control everything. So, let’s consider what we may be able to control, or at least impact, toward maximizing time and optimizing student learning with the following strategies

Raise your hand if you’ve ever racked your brain for ways to motivate a particular student or group of students. OK—hands down. As educators, we understand motivation is the key that unlocks learning. That’s true for all of us, no matter our age. If we’re not motivated to do something, we procrastinate. When we finally get started, completion may take longer because the task doesn’t seem valuable and we lack motivation.

Research has shown a pattern of summer learning loss, particularly among low-income youths. Lack of access to high-quality summer learning programs negatively impacts the academic achievement, health, and social development of children, particularly in high-poverty communities. Students in middle- and higher-income households still lose an average of one to two months of learning each summer. So, what can educators do to lessen or eliminate summer slide?

With increased accountability for schools to demonstrate student achievement comes high-stakes testing. Although testing can be stressful for students and teachers, there are measures we can use to lessen that stress and help students do a better job showing what they know.