Ten Teacher Tips in the Summer

I am a teacher, so I have to work throughout the summer months. I am giving my ten tips that I use every summer. I live where it is very hot and my students need to and want to go outside. I have these tips for my summer schedule.

1. Use Sunscreen. That sounds easy, right? Here are my tips. Depending upon where you live and the age of your students, you have to have permission to apply anything to a child. Keep all sunscreen in a basket together and slather up everybody at the same time. It does not take long. Label them with permanent markers or masking tape.

2. Permission Slips: Prepare a generic permission slip that states that the parent gives you permission to apply lotion, sunscreen or whatever you choose with a blank for the child's name and a blank for the signature of the parent. Make copies and keep in a folder.

3. Your child needs: Prepare another sheet that says, "Your child needs" and leave some blanks for whatever the child may need. This is to put for sunscreen, bathing suit, towel, and whatever else. Do not put this inside a cubby. It will get lost.

4. Have a water play day each week: This is not a big deal. Get a hose with those sprinklers and let them go. If you have younger students, a water table is perfect.

5. Wash the suits and towels yourself: I have a washing machine at my school. It is a little extra work for my staff and me on this one day, but I do not have to worry about a parent forgetting to bring a suit or a towel each week. I do the laundry or get an assistant to do it for that one day. It is worth it to have the children enjoy the water. If you do not have access to a washing machine, make sure your parents know that if your child does not have a suit, he or she may not participate. I do have a child that has several suits. We do not have need of them, but she just prefers her child have them

6. Summer is about watermelons: Bring in real watermelons and let your students explore them. Besides just eating them, they are interested in seeing them cut open and talking about the seeds and how they are planted. Plant the seeds!