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Last week I showed you what the upper elementary kiddos and I did last year during summer school. Now I’m going to show you what the younger elementary students and I worked on quite a bit!
First up, who can go wrong with a little sidewalk chalk!? Whether we were writing, doing math facts, or simply working on spelling – it was a great way to enjoy the sun!
This is something I wish I had known about back when I taught Kindergarten. Our special ed teacher has this kit in her classroom.
There are every day objects for each letter of the alphabet! How did I not know about this before hand?!? I’ve seen teachers make their own collection of these in the past, but to be able to buy them in one spot and have it all there – priceless!
We played a lot of “Pig Pals” games. Donna Whyte runs The Smartie Zone, and she has some AMAZING things! Unfortunately I do not currently see these “Pig Pals” in her store, but I’ve also personally used her Popcorn Words set and her book The More Ways You Teach, The More Students You Reach. These two items and all of her other products can be found directly at her website – here. If you are looking for a dynamic speaker with some great ideas, she is well worth it! I heard her speak in 2010, and I’m still using many of her great ideas today!
We also did some basic writing each and every day. Sometimes we used paper, other times we wrote our stories on the sidewalk with the chalk mentioned above, and sometimes we just found a random spot in the room and wrote on small white boards. We mixed it up enough that it was fun and not a chore!
Another thing we did that I can’t believe I don’t have pictures of – ahhh – was play dodgeball math, just like I did with the older students. However, some of these kiddos still needed the dots to do their basic addition skills. No problem! They make fuzzy dice for that too! (I *might* have about a dozen different large, fuzzy dice in my classroom!)
The younger students were OBSESSED with Magic Square Puzzles! I seriously had to crank out as many sets of these puppies as I could last year because the kids just simply couldn’t get enough! We worked on short vowels, beginning sounds, compound words, rhyming, addition, telling time, shapes, money, subtraction, matching uppercase and lowercase letters, and MUCH MORE! After I introduced them, the students would beg to do these each day. It actually worked out to my advantage because we could focus on the “less fun” activities first, and the students would work hard knowing they got to complete these when they were done! 😉
Last summer was simply great! I’m the type of person who needs to stay busy, so teaching summer school (while earning a little extra money on the side) was great for me! This summer has been just as crazy, but not in a teaching way. I recently got married, as did every other sibling in my and my husband’s family! Seriously – five weddings in about 10 months! If you want to read all about the wedding craziness – from planning to the actual day – head over to my personal blog.
How’s your summer going so far?
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