Summer is here to stay and we’re ready to play! WE LOVE all things Summer. While the calendar tells us that technically we still have couple weeks before it’s official our Summer session officially began this week.
With the new season we’re approaching lessons and routines a little differently. Instead of our regular list of lessons during the school year we pair it down and focus in on a particular subject. We also don’t do lessons everyday. A big part of Summer is acknowledging this is a time for rest. We plan to do lessons just 3 days a week and on occasion (as places open up) we’ll include a field trip for one of those days.
Math/numeracy is our focus and it will be the primary lesson for each of our lesson days. My oldest is a rising second grader so we will simply continue using her math curriculum (the good and the beautiful.) My little two preschoolers will use the math number games in the Learn + PLAY calendar we’re currently using (fruit fun.)
In addition to math, my littles will journal everyday. My oldest can draw a picture and write sentences on various topics. My rising kindergardener will simply keep a drawing journal. If/when she feels comfortable I’ll have her write the word or the letter sounds to match her drawing.
And, of course, we will do a daily read aloud- currently still reading By The Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I’ll also have my oldest read aloud to me everyday in a fluid, organic with our day kind of way.
My Learn + PLAY calendars are ideal for summer learning because they come from a place of F-U-N! They’re easily adapted for various ages and skills sets so I full expect to have lessons that consist completely of Learn + PLAY activities.
My best selling Summer Together, Open Ocean, and Fruit Fun calendars are all three perfect for these sweet days at home!
Part of making Summer special and fun is the little ways we can intentionally go the extra mile. Poetry tea time is an activity on our Summer loop. I plan to try to go the extra mile with it this Summer. Nothing huge or over then top, but I want to put some extra though into them. So far my ideas include a Teddy Bear Tea, Rainbow Tea, Under the Sea Tea, etc.
Curious about this? I thought you might me. I’m planning to photograph the tea parties and blog about them all. Hold tight! 🙂
Language Arts is another super simple subject for the Summer because we’ll simply continue our school year curriculum. Language arts is part of our loop schedule so it’s not a daily lesson but very easy to pick up and do.
So, to put it concisely- every day we do our lessons (2-3x a week) we will do a math lesson, game, or activity. My littles will journal at their level of communicating and we will read aloud together. The rest of our summer fun will operate on a loop schedule. That means we will choose a subject to begin with then move on to the next subject/activity the next day. Our loop subjects include:
Science: Force and Motion study
Poetry Team Time
Nature Study: observing our backyard, neighborhood on a walk, etc.
Spelling- we’re trying a new spelling program called, Sequential Spelling. (As soon as it arrives I will share all about it!)
Art Lessons- we’ll do various projects learning about Matisse, Impressionism, Surrealism, and Pop Art
Language Arts- the good and the beautiful Level One.
Do you love our loop schedule? I’m excited to share it with you! The loop printable isn’t currently editable but I’m working on that! If you’d like me to customize one for you, feel free to send me an email at hello@everydaylearnandplay.com and I’d be happy to help! and best of all it’s FREE! Click the button below to grab the free summer loop schedule!
1 Comment
Amanda
June 6, 2020 at 5:39 pmLove this idea! I think we’re going to do something similar. My oldest is 4, just finished 3k. My current thinking is we’re going to do our morning breakfast activity, a reading lesson, and journal (draw) each day then rotate through- letters, numbers, science, and art. We’re going to use the fruit play calendar for our activities. We’ll start there and see how it goes! At what age did you start chapter book read alouds? Thank you for all you do! I LOVE the fruit calendar.