The end of the school year is nearing! Everyone is beginning to pack up their classroom and is excited for summer. But… wait! You volunteered to teach ESY this summer. Maybe you need the extra money or maybe your district requires you to teach ESY. Either way, prepping for ESY should be a breeze.
Let’s talk about some easy ways to prep for ESY before the school year is over.
Communication sheets
Make copies of communication sheets and keep them in a safe place. You could make a special sheet from ESY or use the one from during the school year. Either way, this is one small thing to take off your plate at the start of ESY.
Think about a theme
A theme is a must for ESY! No one wants to be at school during the summer, so a theme makes things much more fun! You could have one theme for the entirety of ESY or pick one theme for each week! Once you at least think about your themes, you can brainstorm fun activities to go with your theme. For example, when doing a camping theme you could have students bring in flashlights and blankets. Make time for independent reading in the dark 🙂
Need some ideas? Check out my ESY Summer units. There are five units total and each unit is jam-packed with theme-based activities. Activities are engaging and target common summer IEP goals for students on a K-2 grade level!
Gather sensory staples
Yes! ESY is meant to be fun, too! You’ll want to enjoy the beautiful weather with your students. Sensory activities are perfect to do outside. Gather sensory materials such as shaving cream, ingredients to make slime, etc. Before the school year is over, ask for one more donation from your students’ families. Check out this blog post for ideas of what to ask for.
Gather common behavior charts
Whether you will have the same students for ESY that you have during the year, or new students altogether; it’s important to have common behavior charts on hand. These might include token charts, visual schedules, or first/then schedules. You will most likely have a student that requires behavioral strategies during ESY. I personally would use old charts from school (ie. use the tokens that are starting to peel). Save your brand-new clean token boards for the start of the new school year 🙂
Looking for some new token charts or want to try board game token charts? Click the link below!
If you keep these 4 things in mind, you will be well on your way to a fantastic ESY summer! Let me know if you have anymore ideas to help make ESY easy by clicking the contact button or leaving a comment.