My son, Benjamin, and I recently finished reading “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl. I am not sure who enjoyed the book more - he or I! Dahl provides children and adults great imagination through text.

Ben, who is only 3, and I love to create a picture in our minds from the chapters I read to him. He got such a kick out of the character Violet Beauregarde turning into a blueberry and the Oompa-Loompas rolling her around. We laughed for a few minutes!

Ben’s next choice to read is “James and the Giant Peach,” another popular book by Dahl.

Before diving into our first Dahl book, we read a few smaller chapter books, such as the “Mercy Watson” series and the “Magic Tree House” series, which he also enjoyed.

The main reason why I started reading chapter books to Ben was because he was no longer attending his early-learning center. In addition to reading more intense and higher-level books, I also began doing some teaching through workbooks, videos, activities and more. I did not want him to miss out on any academic learning and development during the COVID-19 shutdown.

This is probably a feeling many parents have during the summer when children are not in school, commonly known as the summer slide.

According to the June 5, 2019, scholastic.com article titled “How to prevent your kids from losing what they learned in school during the summer vacation,” “The concept of the summer slide has been on researchers’ radar since at least 1996 when one of the first comprehensive studies on the phenomenon was published. The study showed that kids lose significant knowledge in reading and math over summer break, which tends to have a snowball effect as they experience subsequent skill loss each year.

“A more recent study of children in third to fifth grades also showed that students lost, on average, about 20 percent of their school year gains in reading and 27 percent of their school year gains in math during summer break,” the article continues.

Unfortunately, because of the coronavirus, many academic-related events and camps will not be taking place. But fear not - there still are options for parents to utilize during the summer months.

Da Vinci Science Center, Wildlands Conservancy, National Museum of Industrial History and others have partnered with PBS39 to introduce a program called It’s Camp! Live from Camp Fowler. Videos are live streamed on PBS39.org and its Facebook page 11:30 a.m. weekdays. The program started June 22; each episode lasts 30 minutes. For more information and to watch a preview, visit wlvt.org/education/its-camp.

The organization also has distance-learning resources available for preschool, English, mathematics, science, social studies, health, the arts and world languages at wlvt.org/education/distance-learning.

Camp Invention, a popular STEM summer program, has gone virtual this year. To find a camp program near you, visit invent.org/camp-invention-connect.

Another resource for parents is the local library. Many are holding virtual events and reading programs for the Summer Quest 2020: Imagine Your Story program.

For nonvirtual events, Lehigh Valley Zoo is planning to hold on-site camps this summer, with modifications in place due to COVID-19. The first camp, called Jungle Journeys, will be July 6-10 for ages 6-9 and 9-11. For more information and to register, visit lvzoo.org/education/summer-camps/.

I am thankful these organizations are doing everything they can - whether fun, virtual, at-home events or on-site programs with adjustments in place to keep kids safe - to promote the academic success of our future generations.

Soon, Ben will return to his school, and I will be relieved of my teacher- mommy duties - but those chapter books are definitely here to stay.

Happy summer and happy learning, everyone!

Stacey Koch

editorial assistant

Whitehall-Coplay Press

Northampton Press

Catasauqua Press