Good morning. I have been on break for 3+ weeks now and have been jam packed with activities. I went away for 4 days, and celebrated my birthday in multiple ways.
Yesterday I spent a few hours organizing my school materials I brought home for the summer. Every year I try to become more organized by consolidating.
I haven’t been able to turn my teacher brain off this summer. I am constantly saving ideas and planning for the next school year. I’ve been teaching for 30+ years so there is a lot of information floating around in my head.
We are in the middle of the dog days of summer now. Your children have been home and you have had your children home with you for a few weeks at this point. The newness of being home for vacation is over. Students may be becoming bored and parents may be becoming, frustrated.
I have some suggestions that may make your life a bit simpler and easier. If you’re working, I’m thinking your children may be going to camps or you have family watching them. Going to parks, pools, indoor places like an arcade or the movie theater or bowling may be things you’ve already done earlier in the summer, but it may be nice to revisit now. You can extend any of those activities by having your child do something at home to remember the experience they’ve already had. They can draw a picture. They can write a little story. They can create a different outcome of the movie they just watched. They can tell you their favorite characters.
You can ask them questions:
– who was in that movie?
-where did the movie take place?
– When did the movie take place?
– What came first?
– what came second?
– what came last?
-You can have them draw pictures of a movie in their head.
-Draw a picture of what happened first, then second, then third, and so on.
You might be able to find a puzzle related to the movie or related to your students interests at the Dollar Store or at Five Below. The Library also has great activities that are scheduled throughout the summer. An adult must be with your child or have a guardian with them. They have crafty activities and meet and greets with different people or animals, etc.
Look into your local library and see what activities they have planned.
I am on call for all my parents over the summer if anyone needs me. I was reached by a parent, and I was able to share their questions to my administrator and she was able to give me the appropriate information to pass back along to a parent.
I hope these ideas help. When I had my children, I was a young teacher and I did not work over the summer. I was able to give them one-to-one attention for many weeks and then we all went back to school at the same time. I can’t pretend to know what working parents for the summer are going through. I just hope to make your summer easier.