As primary school teachers, we all spend summer term trapped in a box of humidity and resentment. The air is thick with the scent of child sweat and there’s a fresh wasp attack every 10 minutes.
To make matters worse, the summer holidays are tantalisingly close and the temptation to down tools and doss about for the last half-term is strong. But you have targets to meet, learning objectives to fulfil and young heads to fill with knowledge and experience.
What you need is a guide on how to feel like you’re slacking off when you’re still working hard:
Plan a class picnic
Doing a topic about the Second World War? Have a VE day party with sandwiches, bunting and newspaper hats. (OK, it should have been on 8 May, but we’ll gloss over that). Learning about healthy eating? It’s time for a healthy food outdoor buffet – get your class to plan recipes, make the food, even design a lunch box, and then get outside to taste everything that they’ve made in the sunshine. Project about space? Um…off-duty astronauts probably like sausage rolls and being outside. Creativity is key here.
Make a summer playlist
You’re never too young to learn about what makes a good playlist, so shoehorn this into your music planning. What elements make a piece of music sound summery? What instruments work best? Do the beat and the rhythm matter? How important are lyrics? Compile your class’ favourite summer-themed pieces of music and play them when they’re doing the sort of work that doesn’t demand intense concentration. Instant summer vibes.
Write some summer-themed poetry
This entails going outside and "experiencing" summer so that you can make a list of all the sights, sounds, smells and feelings to put in your poem. It is very important to lie down under a tree to fully experience summer (knotted hanky on head optional). Sadly, in among the delicate song of humble blackbird and the hum of a tractor in the farmer’s field, you will also detect the sound of 30 stampeding Year 4s, who have gone feral due to being released from the classroom for 20 minutes. Oh well. Such are the tribulations of a poet.
Practise for sports day
Who’s going to win all the races on sports day this year? YOUR CLASS! Because you’re going to use it as a legitimate excuse to be outside enjoying the weather and practising lots. Fit it into your class PE time or sneak in an extra 30 minutes if you’ve powered through your other lessons at the speed of light.
Recreate the beach
If you teach in Early Years Foundation Stage or key stage1, you can make a sandy beach somewhere inside or outside of your classroom without raising an eyebrow. Investigate the differences between wet and dry sand, make sand art by pressing objects into it to print, have a sandcastle content, walk on it barefoot – the possibilities are endless. In KS2 you’ll have to think outside the box for this one. Could you investigate how the sea works by trying to create waves on water in a paddling pool? Or how sand and sea water erode objects over time?
Buy everyone an ice lolly
A pack of eight cheapo lollies costs 65p from Asda so if you feel like treating your class (and yourself, and your long-suffering teaching assistant), you’ll get change from £3 and a welcome treat at the end of a long, hot day. If management get on your back about it ruining their Healthy Schools status, make some out of fruit juice with your class (or ignore the summer Scrooges and bring on the Nobbly Bobblys anyway).
Lisa Jarmin is a freelance writer and teacher
