Summer sighting

Teaching Pre K-8, May 2001 by Swartz, Elizabeth

Ideas for keeping kids excited about learning all summer

Summer has been sighted dead ahead! How can we help our students be best-prepared for this wonderful season? Let's begin the same way we did with the school year - discuss where they're going and how they're going to get there. I don't mean Disney World - although it does make a great social studies mini-unit to have kids map out vacations - I mean, what do the kids want to get out of the summer before it passes them by?

Sure, some students will say that they don't want to do any school work over the summer, but a large number of them will say that they're interested in doing some reading or "playing school." We can help to encourage both of those ideas.

Skill sharpeners. There are many places to find suggestions of ways to keep skills sharp in the summer, including back issues of Teaching K-8. Every spring, parenting magazines and newspapers run columns of ideas for activities that maintain learning over the summer.

What's often missing is the spark within the child. It takes more than ideas to realize results. It also takes more than a parent pushing all the time. Success requires a student who is self-motivated. You, as the classroom teacher who has worked closely with the child all year, could be the catalyst that makes the difference.

Something to take home. Children love to take home something from their teacher. This month's reproducible page can be a reminder of one of your final conferences together. Guide each student to set some goals after going over the year's report card together. What areas need practice? What areas are ready to blossom? What areas of interest didn't get developed enough during the year?

Perhaps you'll want to give each student a postcard, to send you mid-summer, reporting progress. Or, an unexpected phone call some evening from a teacher can mean a lot to a student.

Maybe you can tell a student about a new book by a favorite author.

We shouldn't extend our whole curriculum into the summer, or take time away from the child's family, but there are many children who desire a little structure in their lives, and an adult who cares. Take time to jot down titles of books that you think they might enjoy reading over the summer. As you're boxing up books for the summer, toss a few paperbacks into a bag for students to take home. Wouldn't it be better to have those books being read, rather than have them sitting in a box?

As teachers, we're in a position to encourage children to be life-long learners. Isn't that what school is all about?

Elizabeth Swartz is librarian at Watsontown Elementary School and Turbotville Elementary School in PA.