Summer means playing, resting, hanging out with friends, going to the park, taking family vacations, splashing in the pool, staying up, and sleeping in late. It is also time for the Summer Slide! Lily from Personal Creations ( a fabulous website full of unqiue and personalized gifts) is putting together a School All Summer Project. Their goal is to help students learn more over the summer in fun and exciting ways. So, she asked me to write about how to help promote meaningful summer learning! As teachers, the words "Summer Slide" make us cringe. That dreaded phrase refers to the summer months when our kiddos are away from school, get out of the routine, and are often exposed to little or no learning experiences at all. That time of "rest", while much needed, allows for children to forget important skills and concepts because they are not continuously practicing them. But, there are many ways to sneak in learning opportunities with your kiddos to help them maintain ...
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Writing Center Inspirations
Our school has adopted the Lucy Calkins Units of Study writing program for the upcoming school year. I have already been to one training on it and have heard so much positive feedback that I can't wait to get started with my kiddos this fall. One of the biggest traits that I have noticed while researching the program is the use of writing centers and writing areas. To be completely honest, I have always asked students to work on their writing at their seats. My students and I have had great success with writing workshop and writing conferences, but I feel like taking writing to this next level will allow my students to be more creative and more well rounded in the development of their writing craft. The plan is to provide students with a "home base" where they can find writing references, tools, and supplies. I don't expect them to stay at the writing center. In fact, I am going to encourage them to select what they want from the center and take it back with them to their own ...
Monday Made It
I hadn't planned on posting a Monday Made It today, but Tara mentioned that I should share my new classroom door decor so here we go! I just love this linky. I get pretty jealous at how creative and crafty you all are. My school summer project list is still a mile high, but maybe I will get everything completed in time for the new school year. In the meantime, I did have a craft night out with the best friend this past Friday. Our cute, little downtown has a pottery shop called The Pink Pig. It is an adorable store. Recently, they have started to expand from pottery and now offer canvas, craft, and glass classes. We made these adorable 4th of July friendly door hangers. Mine is going on my classroom door for Labor Day in September. I am soooooo excited to share the steps to make this adorable door hanger with you. Sorry for the "not so great" picture steps, but I didn't plan ahead. I just snapped the following pictures on my own randomly without ...
