Teaching Day-by-Day: Summertime!

1. The Frisbee flying disc originated in New Haven, CT, where long ago, people began tossing and catching the pie tins from the Frisbie Pie Company. Learn more facts like this and the basics of playing Ultimate Frisbee at www.pbskids.org/itsmylife
2. Raining outside? Test your boomerang, archery or horseshoe skills in an interactive game from Maya & Miguel at www.pbskids.org/mayaandmiguel

3. Learn about different water sports available in your community. Is there a place to water ski, practice synchronized swimming or take diving lessons? Chart the locations, schedules, fees and other information about these activities for easy reference during the summer.
4. Get walking! Keep track of how many steps you take in a day with PE Central's Log It at www.peclogit.org Set daily goals, issue a challenge to another class or participate in a hiking competition.
5. Invent new class games. Divide the class evenly into cooperative learning groups. Have each group brainstorm ideas for a new game to play at recess or in gym class. Groups should determine the basic rules of play and any penalties.
6. Allow one group per day to teach their new game to the rest of the class. Use anonymous feedback cards as a way for each member of the class to offer compliments or suggestions for improvement to each group's game.

7. Offer each group time to reassess their game and make any changes. Record final game rules in a class game book.
8. Have students go outside to look for plants and trees. Besides water and sunlight, what else do they need to grow? Then talk about how the plants and trees change during the season. Ask your students what they think the plants and
   trees will look like in the winter.

9. Ask your students to pick an object they can observe, such as a leaf, a bug, a bird or a plant. They should first note information about the day – weather, time, temperature, etc. Then have students record any activity they see during that time. Have each student share with the rest of the class what he or she observed.

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10. With your students, explore famous rivers such as the Mississippi, the Amazon and the Mekong and find out how each has influenced transportation, exploration and commerce. Visit the Great Projects website at
    www.pbs.org/greatprojects to learn how two rivers changed America.
11. Massive floods and other powerful natural forces have created some of the earth's most unusual geological features, from mountain ranges to canyons. Visit www.pbs.org/wgbh and ask your students to take the interactive quiz to see if they can identify what forces shaped these amazing structures.
12. Visit www.comet.ucar.edu to learn all about hurricanes. Next, using the timeline at
    www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex, have students create a map or mural of major storm disasters, updating it with the recent hurricanes that struck Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana.

13. Ask students if they've ever heard any folklore that predicts weather. Use the Forecasting Folklore handout at www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova, have students test if the predictors were correct about the next day's weather over a period of a week. Another fun site is www.americanfolklore.net
14. Ask your students to think of the ways they communicate without actually speaking, such as with facial expressions or physical gestures. Students can then act out how they think their favorite animals communicate. Visit
    www.pbs.org/wnet/nature to learn about how animals think, communicate and adapt to new surroundings.
15. Have students who love ponies? Read the classic Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry (Aladdin, 1991, reprint) to learn about the wild ponies living on the eastern shore of Virginia. Students can research the histories of Chincoteague and Assateague Islands at the National Park Service's website at www.nps.gov/asis

16. Everyone likes to play in the water, whether it's a lake, river or the ocean. But how can we protect these bodies from pollution? Start by discovering with your students where the closest stream or body of water is to your school. Use Google Maps (maps.google.com) to help you search. What type of water is it? Where does it flow?
17. Now that you've found the closest water, learn more about protecting and enjoying it by visiting the Journey to Planet Earth website (www.pbs.org/journeytoplanetearth) for lesson plans on conservation and vocabulary activities.
18. Now that spring is here (and summer just around the corner), living things are busy growing and blooming. Arrange to take your students to a local farm, petting zoo or orchard to learn what farmers grow in your part of the world. Back in class, students can each choose a favorite food and research where it comes from.
19. Plant your own little garden with flowers and vegetables either outside, in a window box or using clear plastic cups indoors. Use seeds like lima beans, marigolds or zinnias. On a classroom chart, ask students to predict which type of seed will sprout first. Encourage your students to guess why each sprout grew as it did.

20. When the weather's nice, everyone loves to be outside playing, even pigs! Younger students will enjoy reading Pigs on the Ball: Fun with Math and Sports by Amy Axelrod (Aladdin, 2000). When the pig family takes a trip to the golf course, their game becomes a learning experience; for readers grades 2-6.
21. Help your students exercise their imaginations (and their planning) with this travel activity – pretend each student is going on a long trip. Where are they going? What will they need to pack? What fun activities will they take part in on their trip? How will they get back home?
22. The development of the automobile changed the way Americans worked and played. Take your students on a tour of the automobile's role in American Culture via PBSKids WayBack features at www.pbskids.org/wayback and www.pbskids.org/summer
23. Continue the journey with interactive games that build chronology skills, develop understanding of change over time and illustrate the role of transportation in American commerce, communities, landscapes and people at www.americanhistory.si.edu

24. Help students create collections of travel-friendly games and activities to take along on summer trips or to pass the time on rainy days. Introduce them to tried-and-true car games like "License Plate" and "I Spy" and encourage them to create new games or adapt old favorites to life on the road.

25. Diane Siebert's Truck Song (HarperTrophy, 1987, reprint) evokes the rhythm and adventure of long-haul trucking. Read the poem and enjoy Byron Barton's colorful illustrations together, then invite students to use Siebert's verse as a pattern for their own poems.
26. Have students work in small groups to research the transportation options between your community and a selected vacation destination like the mountains, the beach or a distant city. Which option is fastest? Cheapest? Most scenic?
27. Do you know your transportation ABCs? Create a class alphabet big book. For each letter's page include the types of vehicles (from horse-drawn carriages to the Space Shuttle) that start with that letter. Illustrate the book with pictures you draw or cut from magazines.
28. Humans aren't the only species who travel; animals like birds and whales do it, too! Use the lesson plan found at the Scientific American Frontiers website at www.pbs.org/saf to learn how white storks who fly thousands of miles each summer are guided by their sense of smell alone. What other animals migrate?

29. Go Fetch! This new program on PBS Kids features real kids going on real adventures as they learn about science and the world around them while having fun. Students can play learning games at www.pbskids.org/fetch
30. While it's almost summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the weather is turning cold in the Southern Hemisphere. Plan a virtual field trip to Argentina's Patagonia; how will you get "down there?" Learn more about the beautiful scenery and special animals who live there by visiting the Living Edens site at www.pbs.org/edens
31. Are your students preparing to graduate from your school? Where are they going next? Whether their next classrooms are just down the hall or across the city, use maps to help them understand where their next academic journey will take them.

PBS TeacherSource helps PreK-12 educators with 3,000+ free lesson plans and teachers' guides on hundreds of topics – all correlated to national and state curriculum standards. Visit www.pbs.org/teachersource to access these educational resources, professional development materials and to sign up for a free weekly newsletter for teachers.

May, 2006, Vol.36, No.8