Summer Fun

Well... my summer is half way over!   It's a sad week, however... I have been successful at not doing very much school related work and turning off my teacher brain for the last month.  I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep it off. Here's the fun we've been having so far!

 

Of course, we've tried to keep some of that LEARNING stuff going this summer- (teacher's kids have it rough!!).  My kids are participating in the local summer reading program at our library.  We've found some great new books!  My son is a future Silicone Valley pirate and has been reading a non-fiction series call Technology Pioneers.  He has read about Microsoft, Apple, and Google so far, but is hoping to read all the ones they have.  They are published by ABDO.  

 

He has also begun reading a series called Here's Hank!

It's a cute series and it's co-written by Henry Winkler!  Perfect for the second grade reader!!

My daughter is entering 7th grade, so her choices have been a little more challenging!  But some of her books we share!  This one in particular is REALLY good..

Fish in a Tree by Linda Mullaly Hunt

She's also really been enjoying the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot!

Also, mostly because of my son's interest in it, we have been trying out some STEM activities.  Both of my kids have really enjoyed these fun challenges and have amazed me at how they can just predict so accurately how and why they work or don't!

We have tried:

 stacking books on different shape columns

building a tower using one material (index cards)

building catapults 

I am hoping to try and incorporate some of these into group activities with my second grade class and lessons on teamwork.  The catapults so far has been my favorite!  And instead of using marshmallows or ping pong balls--my son had the bright idea of using small pom poms!

I simply have just searched on Pinterest and tested them out!  If you follow me on Pinterest, you can see some of the ones I have pinned!

It's almost the time to start thinking about school again...but we still got a few more weeks of summer fun!  Enjoy your last few weeks of summer!