2026 RCDS
Summer Work
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The Impact of Summer Reading:
It is essential to continue learning beyond the end of the school year. A loss of academic skills, or the "summer slide", can affect many children. Up to two months of reading skills can be lost over the summer and it can take about six weeks in the fall to re-learn former skills.
Studies show that access to books during the summer prevents a drastic loss in reading skills. It takes just 2-3 hours per week to prevent summer learning loss. Slow the summer slide by incorporating a little bit of learning all summer long. Academic apps, playing board games, taking day trips to places like museums and parks, and watching educational videos are all great ways to make learning fun. Most valuable of all is continuing to read!
Just 20 minutes of reading per day can help prevent the summer slide!
| Student A reads | Student B reads | Student C reads |
|---|---|---|
| 20 minutes per day | 5 minutes per day | 1 minute per day |
| 1,800 minutes per summer | 450 minutes per summer | 90 minutes per summer |
© The Sassy Apple
Lower School
Summer Reading Requirements
• Rising Beginners–4th Graders: Are required to choose one of the All Lower School Required Readings: Magic Tree House: Revolutionary War on Wednesday by Mary Pope Osborne OR Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: American Revolution by Natalie Pope Boyce and Mary Pope Osborne
• Rising 1st–4th Graders: In addition to the All Lower School Required Reading, are required to read at least one book from the Grade-Level Theme List.
• Rising Nursery–4th Graders: Are encouraged to read at least five award-winning picture books from the decade-by-decade list.
The following lists and summer reading log were sent home with your child at the end of the school year, and are also available for download here.
Upper School Summer Reading
• All Rising 5th through 8th Graders: Choose one book from the assigned books list for your grade, and one book of your choice that you have not read before. If you are not sure what you’d like to read, you can explore the library, a bookstore, or get ideas from our recommendations list.
• Rising 7th and 8th Graders Only: In addition to the assignment above, choose three articles from The New York Times (either hard copy or using the RCDS login, which will be shared with RCDS families on July 1st). Students should complete written responses using the provided template and return the completed form to their Social Studies teacher on the first day of school.
The following lists and summer reading log were sent home with your child at the end of the school year, and are also available for download here.
Upper School (5th-8th Grade) 2026 Math Work
In addition to summer reading, all rising Upper School students are asked to complete some summer work in math. The assignments are designed to keep skills sharp and support a strong start to the new school year. Assignments will be shared in the coming days.
For both reading and math, we recommend spreading the work out over the summer. Developing a habit of reading regularly and solving a few math problems at a time helps make these important skills part of everyday life.