Teaching Extended School Year (ESY) can be both a rewarding and challenging experience. Some of us relish the opportunity to stay busy over the summer, while others enjoy the laid-back atmosphere. Yet, for many, the need for extra income or the job requirement is the driving force behind teaching ESY. Regardless of the motivation, one thing is sure: we all want ESY to be as stress-free as possible. Don’t worry- keep reading to learn all you need make ESY as easy as possible.
Prep Your Paperwork
Let’s get the boring part out of the way! Make copies of generic data sheets to fill in student IEP goals easily. You might get student information at the last minute, so you’ll want an easily adaptable data sheet. I also take the time to print communication sheets. Since ESY is a set time frame, I print enough communication sheets to last the entire program. I include data and communication sheets as a bonus in the ESY bundle.
Set Your ESY Theme and Schedule
Setting a weekly or program-wide theme is a helpful way to focus your planning on distinct and engaging activities. Students also feel excited about specific themes. I have done themes that include Under the Sea, Camping, Farm, Pirates, and Bugs. Once I know my themes, creating simple and creative activities to make ESY fun is easy! For example, we wore pirate hats during our Pirates theme and did a scavenger hunt. During our Bugs theme, students searched outside for bugs with a magnifying glass.
You’ll also want to set a tentative schedule. Setting a schedule is important, even in ESY. Students with disabilities thrive on routine. See below for a sample schedule. The duration of each activity can be tweaked based on the needs of your students or how long your ESY day is.
Plan Activities for the IEP and more...
Now that you have your schedule and themes in place, it’s time to plan what learning and fun activities you will do. This might be hard if you don’t know your students’ IEP goals yet, but you’ll want general reading, math, and writing activities. My ESY bundle includes resources for a wide range of abilities. It’s easy to pick and choose what you need! It contains worksheets, interactive PDFs, and 10 BOOM Card decks.
You’ll also want to think about sensory or outdoor activities you could do to fill your day with fun. The ESY resource also gives you ideas for this such as a visual marshmallow playdoh recipe, a pirate scavenger hunt, and ocean sensory slime.
Prep Summer Task Boxes
Just like during the school year, task boxes are a helpful learning activity to use during ESY. Task boxes not only target IEP goals, they help students practice working independently. Prep your Summer task boxes once and use them year after year. This, for sure, creates less stress! Summer task boxes are a part of the ESY Bundle or you can purchase them separately, here!
Plan to Use Summer Books
Reading picture books is a great activity for whole-group time. It can target language, phonics, and comprehension goals. Here are some of my favorite picture books to read during ESY. (affiliate links).
Each of these books and more contains comprehension questions for students to answer in worksheet, Interactive PDF, and BOOM cards format.
Other Materials You Might Need
Let’s think about other materials you might need for student breaks or other learning tools. In my county, we teach ESY in a different classroom and/or school building. I make sure I grab these things before the end of the school year.
- kinetic sand/sensory bins
- playdoh
- magnet tiles
- iPad loaded with learning apps
- magnetic alphabet letters
- dry erase boards
- art supplies- crayons/pencils/paint brushes/paint
- construction paper
Well, there you have it! You can create a supportive and enriching learning environment for students while reducing stress and increasing your effectiveness as an ESY teacher.
Check out my FREE ESY forms:
I love using this parent communication and data sheet for ESY. They are easily editable on your computer and make ESY prep super simple.
Now that we’ve got all of that covered check out my next blog post about how I prepped my ESY program in just one day.