Author: TCR Staff

Lesson Plans, Teaching Tips

Summer Packets

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Many teachers send a letter to their students just before the start of the school year. It’s a great way to introduce the teacher and get students excited about the coming year. How about including a small packet of summer activities with that letter? See a sample letter here.

Start by picking out your favorite activities from any of the resource books that are fun and cover all subject areas and ability levels (you can search for books by subject area and grade level here or scroll down for sample activities). Then students can pick and choose as they see fit. Designate the activities as optional. Those who complete some activities should bring them in the first day of school. They can share special projects if they want, and the teacher can display certain ones. Give every student who participated a certificate as a reward for these extra efforts during the summer.

The teacher can emphasize that the activities can be done with partners or family members. Again, stress that these are optional. They are meant to be fun, yet can be a learning or reviewing experience. Since many children attend camp for the summer, the teacher may want to include one or two activities that tie in—a journal and picture of a favorite camp memory, for example.

Tips: It is a good idea to send packets in July, about one month before school, when students may be feeling bored. Make the envelope inviting and exciting. Put stickers on the outside and address it using colorful markers. Include a class list if possible, so students can get together and work on the activities. New friendships may develop before the school year starts.

Sample activities to include in your summer packets:

From Creative Kids: Arts, Crafts & More:

From 101 Ways to Love a Book:

Teaching Tips

Ideas for Reinforced Learning During the Summer Months

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Here are some suggestions for continued practice of reading and writing skills during the summer months:

Gifts That Promote Reading and Writing

  • Books, both fiction and nonfiction (includes cookbooks, craft books, biographies, etc.)
  • Magazine subscriptions
  • Models that have written directions for assembling

Reading Activities

  • Reading newspaper and magazine articles
  • Reading recipes and cooking foods

Writing Activities

  • Sending a card or letter to someone far away
  • Writing family shopping lists (for groceries, presents, etc.)

Memorizing Activities

  • Story retelling
  • Songs

Games That Require Reading

  • Trivia games
  • Spelling/Vocabulary games
  • Board games

Reading and Writing Activities Using the Newspaper

  • Cut out words that belong to word families we have studied.
  • Collect interesting pictures. Be ready to explain what they are about.
  • Learn a new word every day. Tell what section of the newspaper it came from.
  • Collect interesting news items.
  • Collect interesting cartoons, and draw one of your own.
  • If your newspaper has a puzzle page for students, try to work the puzzle.
  • Look in the classified ad section. Find a job you would like to have. Try to figure out what the abbreviations in the ad stand for.
  • Design a newspaper ad for your favorite consumer item.
  • Pretend you have made an amazing discovery or invention. Write a newspaper article about yourself.

Other Ideas to Try

  • Play a twenty questions game.
  • Compare and contrast items at a store.
  • Explain all the different things you can do with a variety of objects.
  • Diaries
  • Reading directions for making gifts
  • Reading street signs and maps
  • Writing thank-you letters for gifts
  • Poems
  • Plays
  • Crossword puzzles
  • Word searches
  • Dictate a story to a friend or relative.
  • Write clues for a treasure hunt.
Behavior Management

Student Certificates

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Teachers are often too busy throughout the day to remember to hand out little rewards or certificates to those students who have done something worthy. Usually positive words are the sole way to reinforce positive behavior. However, it is nice for a student to receive something more concrete so they are able to present it to family members with pride. If the teacher cannot hand certificates out regularly, make a point to do so each quarter. On report card day before the teacher hands out the report cards, have a number of certificates to hand out. The teacher can have two or three standard certificates every quarter, but then add new ones and different ones each quarter, as well to keep the surprise. Don’t feel every student must get a certificate every quarter. If all students earn certificates, it eliminates the feeling of a reward.

Some ideas to use for certificates include the following:

  • students who have done the most extra credit
  • students who had no late work all quarter
  • students who had only one late assignment all quarter
  • students who reached their reading goals
  • students who performed their class job well and regularly
  • students with consistently clean desks
  • students who are the most improved in a certain area

Every class will most likely be different depending on the activities the teacher has set up in the classroom. Some of the certificates can be followed with an extra reward. For example, the students with no late assignments may get a “no homework” coupon with their certificate. Students with one late assignment will get just the certificate. The teacher can also include a bookmark with the reading goal certificate.

Tips: Do not announce to the students what efforts during the quarter will earn certificates. The teacher may want the reward to be given for honest effort and work, not simply to receive a certificate. That’s why changing the certificates each quarter, except for a select few, will promote honest efforts.

If the teacher wants to give certificates out more often than once per quarter, a neat trick is to have some generic ones ready. (See below to download award certificates.) Fill in the student’s name and your signature ahead of time. Put two in the plan book each week. This will remind the teacher to find something that student did particularly well that week. The certificate is then ready for the teacher anytime. He or she just needs to fill in what the certificate was for.

End-of-the-Year Certificates
In addition to the quarterly certificates, try doing end-of-the-year certificates in which every student receives one. These are fun, personal certificates that reflect something that student may be known for in the classroom. Some of these can be funny as well. Some examples include the following: the most artistic, the trivia guru, or the most improved in a certain area. (Note: These categories will change each year depending on the dynamics of the class. This is a fun, positive way to end the school year.)

Handy certificates to download and hand out:

Award Certificate
Grade Advancement Certificate
Farewell Certificate

In addition to handing out end-of-the-year certificates, download and hand out the form below to students so they can assess the year for themselves. Keep a copy for yourself — it will prove very enlightening for you!

What I Have Learned This Year

Classroom Management

Preparing for Next Year and Summer Storage Tips

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Preparing for Next Year
Although you will always spend time in the fall to prepare for the beginning of the year, it is important to get somewhat organized at the end of the year so that the transition is smooth.
1. Take some time to decide what areas you will begin teaching next year.
2. Pull the files, and take them home to begin planning lessons.
3. Have the first week of lessons planned, as well as the materials prepared, if you are certain what you will be covering that first week.
4. Familiarize yourself with the titles and contents of resource books that you will be using next fall.
5. Read books during the summer that you will be using in your lessons.
6. Organize and clean out your file at the end of the year when everything is still fresh and you remember what you needed and what you didn’t need.
7. Pack away students’ records so that you will have room for the upcoming class list of information.
8. Make up your new lesson plan book or obtain a new one.
9. Compile the Daily Task book and pull out the Beginning-of-the-Year List. Begin checking things off that you complete that are on both lists.
10. Look ahead at the Beginning-of-the-Year List and complete anything that you have time to complete now.

Summer Storage
Storage is important if you are moving from one classroom to another. If you remain in one classroom from year to year, storing your material is essential if others use your classroom during the summer or if you are concerned with the dust that might attach to your materials. Whatever your needs are, make sure you begin saving boxes at the beginning of the year so that by the end of the year you will have your boxes ready for storage. You may ask the custodian to help you gather and save boxes. Make sure to label the boxes clearly with your name, your room, and the contents of the box. Organize the items in the boxes logically—supplies in one box, books in another, etc. Resist the temptation to throw everything into one box—it will take much longer to sort through when you are unpacking.

Although the temptation is great at the end of the year to walk away from the loose ends, leave time and energy to wrap things up in an organized manner. Time spent packing, planning, cleaning, and looking ahead will save time in the future, and it will allow you the self-satisfaction (not to speak of the relief!) of knowing that you will be coming back to an organized classroom in the fall.