The New and Improved "What I Did on My Summer Vacation"

By Genia Connell

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."

OBJECTIVE
Students will:

Put events in sequence from both a short and long time.
Write a descriptive poem that describes their favorite feature.
Create a multi-dimensional project that focuses on each student's individual history.

LESSONS FOR THIS UNIT
Lesson 1: The Relatives Came: A Family Read-Along
Lesson 2: All About Me Museum
Lesson 3: Best Part of Me

REPRODUCIBLES
Parent Letter (PDF)
Good-bye Summer (PDF)
Story Board (PDF)
All About Me Museum Letter to Parents (PDF)
All About Me Museum Project Guidelines for Students with Rubric (PDF)
Wants and Needs Financial Planner (PDF)
Picture Planning (PDF)
Example of Map Flip Book (PDF)
Artifacts (PDF)
Line Guide (PDF)

CULMINATING ACTIVITY

The culminating activities for Lessons One and Two are listed at the end of each lesson.

SUPPORTING BOOKS

Resource Books for Starting the New School Year

Teacher Store

The Teacher Store

Using Caldecotts Across the Curriculum Set

Use this rich resource and 20-book set of Caldecott winners to inspire cross-curricular learning in your students. The teacher's guide uses Caldecott-winning books as springboards to provide lively literature-based learning experiences in areas such as reading, science, art, and math. Includes writing mini-lessons, art activities, and more.

$31.48 You save: 50%
Paperback Book Collection | Grades K-2

Using Caldecotts Across the Curriculum Set

Grades K-2 $31.48

Teacher Store

The Teacher Store

Guided Reading Content Areas Level Z

Scholastic Guided Reading Programs deliver the materials you need to help ALL students become strategic and independent readers who love to read! The programs were created and carefully leveled by Dr. Gay Su Pinnell, America's leading authority on guided reading. The instruction aligns to No Child Left Behind, including rigorous guided practice in comprehension, phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and fluency. The Guided Reading system for book leveling assigns each book a letter (A

$254.96 You save: 36%
Supplementary Collection | Grade 6

Guided Reading Content Areas Level Z

Grade 6 $254.96

ARTICLE	And the Winners Are They gathered in Seattle, Washington, awaiting the big news. No, not the Academy Award nominations. The standing-room-only crowd packed the house Monday, as the American Library Association (ALA) handed out its awards for this year's top books for children and young adults.

LESSON PLAN	Best Part of Me Describes a beginning of the school year lesson in which students identify their favorite parts of themselves through descriptive poetry and...

BOOK INFORMATION	Isabel It is 15th century Spain in the kingdom of Castile. The territory is in turmoil. At the center is King Enrique, brother of fourteen year old Princess Isabel.