Unit Plan

The New and Improved "What I Did on My Summer Vacation"

Engage your new students in sharing about themselves, their families, and their summer vacations through a variety of learning activities.

By Genia Connell

Grades

3–5

Duration

5 WEEKS

Quick links to unit plan resources:

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Lesson Plan

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Book

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Activity

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Reproducible

Overview

The start of the new school year is a time to get to know your students, assess their abilities, and determine learning styles, but time is short. These introductory activities will give you insight into your class and their families while providing several baseline samples.

Using children's literature as a guide, students retell the story of a family vacation that leads to a surprise-culminating event at the end. Students will also share background information through their "All About Me Museum" displays, a project that integrates four core social studies strands. As a bonus, you'll be able to create a stunning hallway display just in time for your school's Meet the Teacher Night using student created poems and photographs derived from the third lesson, The Best Part of Me.

Objectives

Students will:

Put events in sequence from both a short and long time
Write a descriptive poem that describes their favorite feature of themselves
Create a multi-dimensional project that focuses on each student's individual history