In an effort to keep students engaged in learning throughout the summer break, Eastside Connections School held a summer “check-in” to see how the children are doing.

Eastside students recently gathered at the school’s playground and received prizes for revealing how many hours they’ve read over the summer.

It is just one way the Niles school is trying to combat summer learning loss.

“The goal of our ‘summer reading check in’ was designed to urge our students to keep up the good work and keep reading all summer long,” said Eastside Principal Joe Racht, adding that students were also encouraged to sign up for the Niles District Library’s summer reading program.

Similarly, the library’s program incentivizes students to keep track of how much they’ve been reading in exchange for prizes.

Eastside’s “check-in” was a way to take that program to the next level.

Research suggests that reading for at least 20 minutes a day helps students in many ways, including increasing attention span and reading retention, while building vocabulary skills. Similar studies have found that students who do not read over the summer can lose nearly three months worth of learning compared to students who do read.

“The Niles Library summer reading program does a great job encouraging students to read over the summer and ECS students were eager to participate,” said Racht.

Students will also turn in their reading logs at the start of the school year.