Summer School and the Olympics

School has been out for almost two weeks now. It is a bitter sweet feeling at the end of the year. I am in much need of a long break, but I really will miss many of my kids. Boy, I already don't know what I will fill my time with this summer! 

Hopefully my former students will be having a busy summer. I gave them a big summer homework packet and a book to read. It wasn't necessarily required, but they were very much encouraged to complete it. I talked with almost all parents about it and I am sure they will encourage their children to finish it too. 

Each student got the packet. They were catered by math levels: second grade, third grade, and forth grade leveled. The first grader who comes up for my math class also got one! Second grade girls got Junie B. books; boys got Captain Underpants. Third grade girls got Katie Kazoo or Amber Brown; boys got Goosebumps. I got all twenty-two books at the Half-Price Bookstore for 45 cents each! All were nice quality and hadn't felt like they had even been opened!

I will be teaching two-weeks of summer school. Its a short bit, but they are full days. Conveniently (or unfortunately), this will be during part of the Summer Olympics. I had every hope and intention to go over to London for the games. I spent summer of 2010 in a Catholic junior school in Southwark, London. It was fantastic and could have stayed with the woman I stayed with when I was there before. But alas, second best thing: I get to theme my summer school session around it!

We are an AP school. That's Accelerated Pathways. It adds about 300 hours of school a year for the kids who opt to do it. Two or three days a month are reserved for it and two weeks in the summer. During that time, AP days are guided by a focus. Mine will be the Olympics. So, almost all activities will relate in some aspect to the Olympics. Right now, I am creating and finding activities to use. We'll probably be doing one or two field trips as well. I haven't decided where to go that would best connect yet. One maybe to the YMCA or Lifetime, a state park, or a large, free playground for the day that would be great fun for the kids.

For writing, I will be going through Writing Process with them. We will be working on a "Gold Medal Story." They will get to write about how they would win a gold medal in the Summer Olympics. I am sure that at least a quarter of the class (if not more) will write about soccer (football). If you want a copy of what I am planning to use, you can get a copy for free here:

My Olympic Gold Medal Story

I'll post some other activities I have planned later on. I have a craft that we will do when displaying our final drafts too.

Hope you're having a great summer!