My Summer Break

Where Were You?
Reading Ask students to bring in postcards or photographs of where they went this summer. Discuss setting. Divide the postcards and/or photos according to: country, city, beach, forest, inside, outside, etc. You can do this in large groups on a bulletin board, in small groups on poster board or in learning stations. Another day, use the same images to illustrate context clues. Can you tell what is happening by the picture?

My Summer Vacation – On the Internet!
Your students can travel and learn with Kate and her younger brother, Matt, as they explore the U.S. – on the Internet! They will visit Web sites connected to popular attractions, and search those sites for answers to questions from Kate and Matt!

The New and Improved "What I Did on My Summer Vacation"
The start of the new school year is a time to get to know your students, assess their abilities, and determine learning styles, but time is short. These introductory activities will give you insight into your class and their families while providing several baseline samples. Using children's literature as a guide, students retell the story of a family vacation that leads to a surprise-culminating event at the end. Students will also share background information through their "All About Me Museum" displays, a project that integrates four core social studies strands. As a bonus, you'll be able to create a stunning hallway display just in time for your school's Meet the Teacher Night, using student created poems and photographs derived from the lesson, "The Best Part of Me."

Drawing your Summer Vacation
This is a twist to the "What I did on my Summer Vacation" lesson for the first day of school. It is a great icebreaker in any class.

I know what you did last summer: A data graphing project.!
The student will learn of the diverse experiences of their fellow classmates. The student will become acclimated to the school. The school will become more familiar to their community of learners within the mathematics classroom.