Summer School Visual Plans (Grades 1 and 2)
I look forward to summer school all year long (3 days a week! 3.5 hours a day!), but about a week or two before, I always begin to panic about my plans. I generally have the same students 3 years in a row, so coming up with fresh, new ideas for the same group of kids can be a little daunting! I decided to share my plans in visual format, just in case you're teaching summer school and need some new ideas.
This year I'll be teaching a class of upcoming 1st and 2nd graders for the first half of the day, and then a class of 4th and 5th graders. Dividing our 4 weeks into themes makes planning a lot easier! I can separate out the books and activities I need well in advance.
Our general summer school schedule is as follows:
Morning Meeting/Warm-up/Morning Work
Computer Lab
Snack/Recess
Reading/Writing/Craft
{For all the crafts listed in this post, check out my ESL Summer School Pinterest board}
For the first week, my littles will learn all about the 4th of July: how we celebrate and why we celebrate. This 4th of July pack is super versatile, and perfect for my varying proficiency levels. And how cute is that door hanger? We'll be able to do lots of speaking and listening about colors, shapes, and directions while we work on it.
In week 2, I'll keep things light with some fun beach and ocean fiction reads. The summer literacy and math centers, summer printables, and ready set print are some of my favorite TPT buys- I can pick and choose the pages that work the best. When I go to the beach for 4th of July, I'll bring back a huge ziplock bag full of sand that we can play and paint with!
Week 3 ups the rigor a little, with some non-fiction ocean reads. We'll focus on some math and phonics skills. I love finding resources that work for multiple levels of reading and math readiness! The fish-bowl craft looks ambitious...I'll keep you posted about how it turns out!
And with that, it's week 4, and summer school is over. This is a short week, as the last day is an Open House for parents, and I have my minions students help me clean and pack up my room for summer cleaning. We will focus on some safety skills, like crossing the street and putting on sunscreen. This camping pack has all the safety ideas I need. plus some cute campfire songs that I'll attempt to teach! I'm not sold on the hand craft just yet...if you have other safety craft ideas, please let me know!
Now, a summer at my school wouldn't be complete without lots and lots of computer time. We are paperless, and our administration is focused on having students utilize personalized learning tools. So during the times I don't have my students, they'll be with an aide working on these great websites. We use them all during the year, so it shouldn't be hard to get back into them!
Do you teach summer school, or have suggestions for crafts and activities? I'd love to hear them!