Summer

Summer Unit Study has free and low-cost activities, lesson plans, worksheets, study guides, and more. This unit covers the season of summer and things to do in the summer. There are teacher tools as well as student activities.

The student will be able to

1. Appreciate the importance of summer in the seasonal cycle.
2. Develop listening skills and demonstrate these skills.
3. Become familiar with terms and procedures related to topic.
4. Dramatize information learned about topic.
5. Evaluate information based on prior experiences and newly-acquired knowledge.
6. Research a variety of documents to obtain knowledge.
7. Exercise critical thinking skills.
8. Learn to gather and use research information.
9. Create a notebook to demonstrate organizational skills.

Timeline

Create a timeline of your own life! Focus on activities that have taken place in the summer!

Vocabulary

beach	ocean	sand
beach	ball	baseball
bubbles	vacation	solstice
sunglasses	watermelon	summer
bird	ice cream	bicycle
growing	pollination	monument
barbecue	sunscreen	cookout
garden	rake	hoe
sandcastle	popsicle	humidity

WordWeb free downloadable software to look up words. https://wordweb.info/free/
Dictionary.com online Dictionary https://www.dictionary.com/
Look up your Vocabulary words in another language. Create a section for your three ring binder for language learning https://www.babelfish.com/

Word Tracing Worksheet Generator you can create tracing worksheets for your vocabulary words
https://worksheetprints.com/worksheet-generator/tracing/word-tracing

Free Fonts for Teachers
https://www.teachjunkie.com/blog-files/42-free-fonts-teachers/
https://www.1001fonts.com/teacher-fonts.html
Pre-cursive and Cursive Fonts https://www.bjupress.com/category/elementary-handwriting/5637160378.c

Book Resources

Fresh & Fun: Summer. Dozens of Instant and Irresistible Ideas and Activities from Creative Teachers across the Country. School may be out, but learning is still as fun as ever. This collection features teacher-tested activities for Bugs, Sand and Sun, Patriotism, and Friendship. Includes a read-aloud play, math storymat, mini-book, art projects, computer and literature links, and more. Grades K – 2

Summer Reading Projects

See if your local bookstore has a summer reading program your kids might like to participate in. The national chain, Barnes and Noble, usually has a summer reading program.

Look up OLD books to read over the summer little kids will like to read books by Beatrix potter older ones might like Jules Verne. https://www.gutenberg.org

Textbooks free online reading for Highschool and College as well as teachers. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/

Do you plan on being in the car for much of the summer? These mp3 books would be great listening

https://www.learnoutloud.com/Resources/Publishers-and-Retailers/AudiobooksForFreecom/428

Science @ NASA News Archive. Some articles will directly relate to summer. https://web.archive.org/web/20050730092032/http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/news_archive.htm

All the old Radio Shows! https://www.oldradioworld.com/

Arthur’s Family Vacation. A rainy family vacation is not what Arthur had in mind. In fact, he had his heart set on going to Camp Meadowcroak with his friends. As Arthur discovers, however, there are 101 fun things to do in the rain, and being with his family is not half-bad, either. Based on the book series by Marc Brown.

Poetry + Music

Songs for Car Trips https://faculty.washington.edu/crowther/Misc/Songs/

MP3 Singing Science Songs some are Specific to summer others are great for learning in the car. https://web.archive.org/web/20050425075153/http://www.acme.com/jef/science_songs/

Summer Songs https://songsforteaching.com/calendarseasons.htm

Summer Poems for kids

Songs and Poems about Summer https://www.canteach.ca/resources/songs-poems/summer/

Video and Software Resources

Practice the geography of the lands that have summer right now! http://www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm

Games

Choose games to make https://web.archive.org/web/20040111040408/http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec670/Cardboard/matrix.html

Using the instruction guide for the GeoSafari you can create a ton of cards for this unit. GeoSafari is GREAT for long car trips https://archive.org/details/GeoSafari-Manual
Try matching the Item to the season
The vocabulary words with a picture or a definition

Clip Art

The variety of things done in summer leaves it difficult to see which clipart suits best this unit. Please browse around the websites listed to find what you need.
http://1try.com/
http://www.aperfectworld.org/clip_art.htm
https://classroomclipart.com/

Summer Science

Build your own Stonehenge activity

Sprouting STEM Activity

Science. Have two squares of butter and place one on each plate. Put one in a very sunny area and the other one in a shady area. Come back later and discuss with the children what has happened.

Do a mini-study of bubbles. Bubbles are a great way to have fun and explore the properties of air, water, color, and light at the same time. Observe the bubbles that you make and record your findings in your journal.

The Science of Summer https://dptv.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/the-science-of-summer/ Get ready for summer by exploring the science behind some of your favorite summer activities. Discover the physics of sailing, the chemistry of campfires, the science of blowing bubbles, the mineral composition of sand, and the forces that allow humans to ride bicycles and roller coasters.

Summer Crafts

Sun Prints. Put three or four shapes out of construction paper on a brightly colored paper. Place the papers in a sunny window. After several days, let the children remove the shapes from their papers to reveal the non-faded areas under the shapes. Let the children outline the non-faded areas with glue and sprinkle on glitter.

Summer Watercolor Pictures lesson plan from A to Z Teacher Stuff

---

Bubble Recipe

• 1 gallon cool water
• 1 cup liquid dishwashing detergent (Dawn or Joy)
• 2 Tbsp. liquid glycerin or white syrup

Mix the water and detergent thoroughly making as little suds as possible. Allow the mixture to sit overnight in a cool place. Add more water to this mixture on a less humid day. Glycerin is available at the pharmacy.

---

Craft Recipes sidewalk chalk, gak, slime, and play dough

Sand Painting a href=”https://homegrownfriends.com/home/sand-painting/”>https://homegrownfriends.com/home/sand-painting/

Make Sand playdough https://7daysofplay.com/sand-play-dough-ocean-sensory-activity

Play dough and more from A to Z Teacher Stuff

How to make playdough without cream of tartar and no cook play doh

Big Bubble Book. Have each child use white finger paint to paint a big bubble. While still wet, sprinkle multi-colored glitter on the bubble. Let dry. Shake off excess glitter. Cut around the bubble, then glue to another paper. Write as they describe their bubble. Bind the pictures together to make a book. Read during group time.

Bubble Art. Have the children put their own straw into a cup of bubble mixture and blow until bubbles are on top of the cup. Lay your paper on top of the bubbles and the design will show up on their paper. Add food coloring to the bubble mixture to make the designs more colorful.

Summer Food Recipes

Look up your state’s In-Season fruit and vegetables and choose a few ingredients and create your own smoothies

The Seasonal Food Guide website also lets you know what to look for when choosing your produce
Learn more about each fruit or vegetable USDA Snap-Ed Connection

Simple Green Smoothies offers around 10 smoothie recipes as a way to start helping your kid drink a daily smoothie and sneak more fruits and veggies into their diet.

Kraft’s website has quite a few food recipes for Summer such as: Summer Berry Poke Cake, Summer Poke Cupcakes, Summer Berry Pie, Low-Fat Raspberry Summer Sensation, Kool-Aid Kool Pops, and Summer Grilled Chicken and Vegetables, Summer Squash Bake

Fruit Kebabs. You need strawberries, orange segments, pineapple chunks, melon chunks, lettuce leaves. For each child thread one or two strawberries, orange segments, pineapple chunks, and melon chunks on a bamboo skewer. Serve in top of lettuce leaves placed on paper plates. Talk with the children about the rainbow colors of the fruits. Then have them remove the fruits from the skewer before eating them.

Ice Cream Social. Have 4 or 5 different types of ice cream for the children to taste.

Field Trips

• The Beach
• The Zoo
• A Farm (try to do a organic and a regular farm for comparison)

Summer Solstice

The summer solstice is celebrated in some way in almost every culture on the Earth. But what really happens to our planet on this day, and why is it so important to us? https://starwalk.space/en/news/summer-solstice-first-day-of-summer

Summer Solstice https://www.weather.gov/abq/clifeatures_summersolstice

National Solar Observatory short video What is Summer Solstice?

Worksheets, Activities, and complete units

Make a journal about your summer vacation. Include your thoughts in addition to pictures.

Summer Activities as well as arts and crafts https://www.dltk-holidays.com/summer/index.html

Summer Theme Worksheets https://www.edhelper.com/summer.htm

Kidzone Summer Themed Math Pages https://www.kidzone.ws/math/summer/

Seasonal Haiku: Writing Poems to Celebrate Any Season (grades 3-5)

Under the Sea and Summer Sun https://www.angelfire.com/ga/prespecial/page78.html

Wild about watermelons https://www.thevirtualvine.com/watermelons.html

Make a map of the areas that have winter and summer right now. In your journal write why the seasons change. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/

Summer Season worksheets from Teacher Planet

Affiliate Links

Amazon	NotebookingPages.com
Fresh & Fun: Summer Scholastic	Memorial Day Notebooking Pages
The Calendar Kids Meet June by April Martin	Birds Notebooking Pages
Collapsible Foldable Beach Sand Buckets and Shovels Set	USA National Monuments, Memorials, and Parks Notebooking Pages