Summer Buckets

This time of year is always so crazy to me.  There are 100 things to complete and tons of paperwork.  Every year, I do a post similar to this.   I hope this post can help you with a few ideas that you may want to try in your classroom.

Oh, and before you say, "I can't believe she buys all of that!"  I don't buy everything you see.  I send a letter home to my parents and most of the stuff is donated by the parents.  I do typically get the buckets and put together the little shovels with worms, but they do the rest.  I even arrange for a parent or two to come in and fill up the buckets for me.

These are great if you want something that's free and you want your kiddos to work on their reading over the summer.  It also isn't something that will be extremely time consuming.  There's also several different ones in case you want your kids to be more challenged.

The last few years, I have done summer buckets for my class.  I know it looks like a lot, but when you get parents to help out, it's a lot of fun and it doesn't cost quite as much as you think it may.  I usually find the buckets at Michaels.  Below is the list of items I send home to my parents.  I try to put things that the kids can use during the summer, but also things that they need for their summer packets like pencils, little pencil sharpeners (I found them at the Dollar Tree in packets of 8 to 12), erasers, crayons, and even flashcard packs for some of my kids that are still working on learning their math facts.

If you want to use the tags that I put on the buckets or the list I sent home to my parents, just click on one of the images.  It will take you to the file so you can download it.

I created these last year to prevent a summer slide for my kiddos.  Since I finished first grade pretty quickly, I went ahead and created a kindergarten packet and a second grade packet.  If you are curious about how they are set up, click on the grade level you are interested in and download the preview on TPT.  It will show you how it is set up.  Each packet also has a parent letter and reading log.  All you have to do is print the packet front and back and it's ready to go.  With it being the end of the school year, if you are like me, you don't have time for much more than that.  There's too many memories to fit into your day.  If you are tutoring this summer, you may also want to check out the packets.  I know several people have commented that they are perfect to use when tutoring.

Alright y'all!  Hope you have a great week!  Thanks for being the best fans ever!