Soaking Up Summer! - 6 strategies to having a refreshing and useful summer experience

1.  Soak up the Silence - or at least the almost silence

My ears get weary....  So my favorite thing to do during the summertime is to enjoy silence.  Turn off the TV, turn off the music, put away your ever present devices and do something surrounded by quiet.  If you have a family at home with you, your best avenue for comparative silence might be a walk in the park, or a trip to the playground or the library, but whatever you do, find sometime to rest your tired ears.

2.  If chores are necessary, do the ones that are relaxing first

I am starting this summer by organizing all of my audio files.  It's time consuming, and repetitive work that I can accomplish while enjoying my favorite coffee at Starbucks or while snuggled in my recliner with my favorite TV series.  I like chores like this because when I am finished I feel like I've done something important that will make my life easier without sacrificing the slower and less demanding pace of summer

3.  Read!

Even in the slower pace of summer it feels positively decadent to lounge around and read a book.  Even professional books are not such a burden if you can take it to the beach....

4.  Pinterest!

So I really think that Pinterest should count as legitimate form of professional development.  Earlier this week I spent an entire day re-organizing boards that I had created simply for the joy of looking at all the neat ideas I had found.  It's so much fun, and addictive.... very addictive....  If you would like to follow me on Pinterest I can be found HERE! 

5.  Youtube

Build up your video files by searching through Youtube for clips that can be used in your classroom.  Some you may want to pin on pinterest, while others you may want to keep.  In most districts you can only show Youtube without ads and other stuff, so I've gotten in the habit of using safeshare.tv
and keepvid.com

6.  Create crafts with a purpose
Once you are all inspired up with Pinterest ideas, you may find that there are things that you would like to make for your classroom.  Summer is perfect for those types of projects!  Just pick one or two, break out the gluegun and scissors and have a blast. This summer I have plans to make some curtains for an area of my room that needs some coverage.

Farewell to Family - Celebrating the year with a good goodbye

Have I mentioned that I LOVE my school?  THIS is how awesome they are!

Teachers voluntarily attended several before and after school rehearsals in MAY to learn how to play a song on instruments all in order to celebrate what a great year it has been and to take the time to say "thank you" and "we'll miss you" to those who will not be at our campus next year.   Those who were too busy to attend or who had a conflict, practiced on their own time and on the last day, everyone came together, admin, teachers and staff on Friday morning and we sang!  As my co-teacher would say, our performance was "beautifully flawed"

The entire experience was so much fun! Every rehearsal saw a different group hurrying down to the music room.... teachers would come in with end of year tasks etched on their faces and leave 20 minutes later relaxed and smiling ready to get to work....  During the performance on Friday  there were smiles, there were tears, there were hugs, there was sincerity,  there were hooray's and there was a deep sense of thankfulness that we had all made to the happy side of another year of teaching!  It was fantastic!

What sorts of things does your school do to celebrate the end of the year?