Second Grade Summer School Activities
Some students who are falling behind their peers on some subjects need to attend a summer school to reinforce skills and help them to catch up. Young students in particular, such as second-graders, need summer school so that they don't continue to fall further behind. Don't make summer school a dreaded boring experience. Rather then lecturing, engage the children in creative activities both indoors and outdoors that teach without them realizing they are learning.
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Mind Reader Game
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This activity helps reinforce literary skills. Come up with several sentences and take out a word from each sentence. Write the words on a piece of paper. Read the first sentence out loud to the students, leaving the missing word out. The students have to guess what the missing word is. For example, if your sentence is " Amy is a good _____." The students have to figure out the word you are trying to say -- in this case "friend." Give the students clues to the word, such as "this word has two vowels next to each other" or "this word start with a blend," which means that two consonants are blended to make the sound, such as "fr."
Balloon Science
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This science activity shows children how yeast makes bread rise. For this activity, give each child an uninflated balloon. Set up a table with a bowl of yeast, one with sugar and a large jug filled with warm water. Have each child come up one a time and help him place a narrow funnel into the opening of the balloon. Allow students to carefully pour in one tablespoon of yeast in the funnel, one teaspoon of sugar, then a cup of water. Carefully remove the funnel and tie a knot to close the balloon opening and write the child''s name on the balloon. Have each student measure the size of his balloon as it is currently with a ruler. Place all the balloons on the windowsill where warm sunlight will hit them. Have the children wait and watch their balloons slower start to get bigger and bigger. Explain to your amazed students that the yeast released carbon dioxide, which inflated the balloon, which is how baked bread rises.
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Summer Geometric Mural
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Ask each child to bring an old white bed sheet in to school. Go outside to an asphalt playground area and place down drop cloths, one for each child. Have the children spread out their bed sheets onto the drop cloths and tell students to think of an outdoor picture they want to paint such as a beach scene, forest or mountains. Tell the students that they should include shapes such as circles, squares, and triangles within their murals. They can draw out an outline of their pictures with marker before painting. Place large bowls of paint between every two students to share, and hand out paint brushes. Allow the students to paint however they would like, encouraging them to incorporate as many shapes as the can. Leave the murals outside to dry in the sun. Students can take the murals home to use as outdoor tablecloths.
Team Tic Tac Toe
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Draw a tic tac toe grid on the board and divide the class into two teams. Call out a spelling word. The students must work together to spell the word on paper or small white boards. The teams must then hold up the answer. Whichever team spells the word correctly first gets to put and "X" or "O" on the board. The first team with three in a row wins. You can use this activity for any subject, such as math and history.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Children play school. image by Nobilior from Fotolia.com
