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Okay, I admit it. I’m envious that y’all have the summer off. 🙂 The thought of sleeping in late, reading, gardening, watching late-night television, and spending quality time with family and friends…words just can’t describe how wonderful it sounds. And yet I remember that summer vacation isn’t all fun and games. When I was teaching, I always had a summer job of some sort. There were usually a few summer classes or workshops to attend. And I always had an endless list of summer projects that I had put off doing during the past school year. But I can’t lie: I loved my summers!
How do you plan to spend your much-deserved summer vacation? Smiles, |
The recent economic times have caused me to start a second job – and for those of you that have one, preschool teaching part time does not pay the bills. I got a second job in a greenhouse, which gives me alot of what I want – helping people, educating a little on plants, and learning new things myself. I won’t lie, it is a little hard to adjust. I am used to having summers to get caught up on life at home, etc. And my schedule isn’t as consistent as I would like – but they are all learning opportunities. I am just glad I can have two jobs that I like and I am interested in!
I’ve already started on lesson plans for the upcoming year. I have an early childhood conference to attend in July. I also try to schedule doctors’ appointments during the summer so I don’t have to take time off during the school year.
I do sleep in late, though, and enjoy the fact that I don’t have to set the alarm.
I will take a couple of short trips this summer, and then I’ll be ready to get back to work when August 10th rolls around. 🙂
I have to attend meetings and various summer school functions. I also do part of my yearly training hours in the summer. I also do a lot of my planning ahead of time so I do not have to work so much during the year. I teach 3 different classes so I do alot of planning.
But I do take time for me reading walking and a couple trips over the summer.
I have a second job as well with Thirty One Gifts. But I love the bags and I love sharing them with others.
But other than that, I am reading, started exercising, and we are going to the beach. yee – haw!
I have been lucky so far that I have not had to get a second job. Summers usually consist of catching up on all those things I let slide all school year.
I do sleep in, maybe not the best use of my time and takes readjusting when school starts again.
I usually do some sort of PD over the summer too.
Last year it was a national conference but this summer I am starting planning to work on my National Board Certification.
Those who do not work in education and think we all get to play all summer would be amazed at all we do outside of our work duties.
I am taking the summer off. Lots of time with a couple of my grandchildren (they are staying with us for the summer), reading and rving around my homestate. I have to admit to sleeping in (all the way to 8:00am!) I will go back early in August to set up my class and begin to get ready for the beginning of the year.
My summers too are used to catch up at home with chores I haven’t had time to do during the year–clean out the garage, etc. I also love to take care of my flower gardens.
But there is also always PD. This year I have already had 6 days and will do a week in LA in July. I have also been fortunate to get the opportunity to travel abroad several times with study tour groups such as Fulbright to countries such as Australia, Peru, and Mongolia. These programs are usually 4-6 weeks and provide incredible learning experiences for me to bring back and share with my school and community.
I have also spent part of many summers teaching summer school.
In between all this you try and schedule a family vacation. I am always amazed how quickly it goes by and we are back in school.
Ahhh, summer vacation . . .
1st week: staff meetings at school.
2nd week: The Brain and Differentiated Instruction workshop
3rd week: visit from my son and his family from another state
4th week: organize the papers and books that I brought home from school
5th week: make 3 brochures of “I can” statements: one for the students, one for their parents, and one for me to guide my assessments
6th week: take a class on eliminating clutter
7th week: browse Mailbox books and websites for phonics activities
8th week: R&R
9th week: staff meetings, First Aid and CPR training, Open House
10th week: welcome my new students
Ahh, yes, I love my summers!
I’m one of two teachers in a private preschool program, so we use our summers “off” to teach four weeks of summer “camps”, (because the rent is still due in the summer), scrub floors, shampoo carpets, clean and sort toys, organize and restock art supplies and craft materials, print, cut, label and laminate new nametags, placemats and cubbie tags, plan our lessons for the following year, make and bind childrens’ work books, parent handbooks and family songbooks and prepare for the big family events for the year ahead: Parent Orientation, Open House, holiday parties, field trips. We also schedule a couple of work parties during the summer to get various tasks done and offer a get-acquainted picnic for all the families in late August. In between all that, I like to sleep late, spend time with my own kids and grandkids, read, walk, work in the garden, go to the beach, relax, sew, work on my genealogy and go camping.
I’ve always tried to balance out each day or every other day with getting some teacher-aspect completed (finding new resource materials online, creating file folder games, etc), a home catch-up project completed (cleaning, sorting out magazines to donate to local nursing home, yard work, etc), and little personal R & R time (reading or papercrafting usually).
Add in a few family functions like reunions and one or two overnight road trips for my husband and I will round out the summer for us. (Economy has wreaked havoc for us, too; it’s been at least 4 summers now since we were able to take a 7-10 day vacation trip and 2 summers since we’ve been able to do tickets for a concert or summer stock theatre production.