Published: May 20, 2025
Reading has been shown to have far reaching effects that can last a lifetime. Reading every day cultivates a rich vocabulary, enhances comprehension skills, and helps develop critical thinking skills. A recent article published in Healthline, further demonstrates the multitude of benefits that reading books has on both physical and mental health. These benefits include strengthening your brain, reducing stress and improving sleep.
As the school year winds down and after school activities are in full swing, at home reading proves to be difficult. The dreaded summer slide is beginning and school hasn’t even ended yet. The skills that are learned in school need to be practiced daily to achieve reading fluency and comprehension. So how can parents help students continue the learning while navigating a busy after school schedule in the last few weeks of school?
Reading doesn’t have to be done all at once. Read a few pages of a book together with your child as you wait for the bath to fill up, or while you wait for the carpool to arrive. You can also choose lots of different types of readings to keep things interesting. Reading can include comics, novels, science fiction and even newspapers. The New York Times for Kids is a monthly section that helps kids understand the world with exciting features on elections, dinosaurs, money and gaming.
Word games are a great way to build vocabulary. The NY Times offers a multitude of games that are not only fun to play but also promote critical thinking and vocabulary development. Word games like Wordle, Spelling Bee, and the famous NY Times crossword puzzle (mini version) have proven to be valuable teaching tools for vocabulary and cognitive development. Encouraging your child to play a quick word game each morning is a great way to boost vocabulary and promote critical thinking. Once they get hooked, they will probably even play it with their friends on the bus to their sporting events.
A person with a rich vocabulary is said to be one who is well-read and well-spoken. A well-developed vocabulary is needed to communicate effectively whether you are reading, writing, speaking or listening.
At Prep Academy Tutors, we encourage our students to continue learning even when the school day has ended. Our tutors are here to help build the rich vocabulary that is needed for successful communication!
Written by Prep Academy’s staff author and reading specialist, Maryann Moriarty.