It’s almost the end of the school year! Wow, it flew by so quickly. We ask the same question every summer: Should students continue to work during the summer? Should they be allowed to have fun, or should they work? Let me tell you, both!
Teachers and students both deserve some downtime after a long school year. However, it is important to keep our brains active to ensure the success of the next school year.
We have collected 5 summer activities for your students to have some fun and use their brains during the holidays. It can be given to your students as a summer project, or you can share it with them over the last few weeks.
Summer Scavenger Hunts – Adriana
Scavenger hunts are a favorite activity, and I try to make sure they happen every week. These are great for ending the day.
Three themes are available for my scavenger hunting: one on friendship, one for the outdoors, and one for inside the classroom. They can be used in so many ways!
It’s simple: I give each student an assignment sheet, a pencil, and a clipboard. The hunting theme dictates what they must find. I ask them to find friends who can tie their shoes and other friends who have cats for the friendship theme.
My kids love the Scavenger Hunt, but I also use a lot of summer activities, such as holiday-themed writing, math exercises, and picture glyphs. These activities can be found here.
Kathy’s Summer Calendar offers endless holiday fun!
To ensure they don’t forget anything during the long summer break, I love to give activities to my students. Here’s how I do it:
I receive a blank calendar to brainstorm with my class. We come up with short activities and questions that the class can do together over the summer to sharpen their skills. You might think of things like counting the number of shoes your mom keeps in her closet or how many steps you take around the neighborhood to measure the area in their home. Your students can write these ideas on different dates and complete them throughout the summer.
Oh, and before I forget… If you teach first grade… I already have one for you, my “funny”tastic first-grade BFFs… Oops! I assume you are your best friend at the moment. You did the hard work! It’s the Summer Calendar for First Grade.
Make a Memory Book of the Best Moments of the Year – Kathy
One of my favorite activities is getting students to make a memory book. This will serve as a souvenir and a way to remind everyone how much fun they had.
A blank notebook is also an option, but I use it every year. I have a template that I print and give to my students.
My students are encouraged to reflect and think about their school year. I ask them questions such as:
- Which is their favorite memory?
- Please take a look at what they did well during the school year.
- Think about their friends in the coming year (I allow them enough room to include the entire class).
- Consider how great their classmates were friends.
- Here are some things they learned at school this year
- What is the one thing that they remember most about the year?
- There are many other things. After we’re done with the writing, we decorate the book with pictures. They can then take them home when I bind them.
Space Conquest: Sneak math in… Becky
Math activities that are so fun it doesn’t feel like mathematics are the best. This is why I love to include games in my classes as often as possible. It is a great way to keep students interested over the summer.
Prepare your spinner or a 12-sided die before you start playing. Alternately, you could use random.org. This website generates random numbers. Enter the range 3-12 and click ‘generate. The black holes will also have to be placed. These black holes will be impossible to capture.
Here’s how you can play:
- The game can last for 10 rounds or until the player runs out of pieces. You will need 2 sheets (200 pieces) to store the player pieces.
- The players decide who goes first.
- Player 1 spins the spinner and then places a spacecraft onto that number and any of its multiples.
- Player 1 now has all these squares.
- A black hole is where a player cannot place a counter. It is not habitable.
- Player 2 now takes their turn. If they land a craft on a space owned by Player 1, Player 2 takes it.
- Once each player has taken their turn, round 2 begins.
- Each player continues the game by placing their pieces on top of any spaces previously taken.
- Throughout the game, you will see piles of pieces in spaces often taken.
- Add up the spaces each player claimed after round 10.
- Only pieces at the top count.
- The player with the most space wins!
With the Summer Manifesto – Kelly set goals
The idea of creating a list that lists the goals you would like to achieve over the summer was a great idea. It is possible to help students set goals all year. There are many other things you can do together. You can ask them to write a school year manifesto and a summer manifesto by the end of the school year.