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Teaching elementary-aged children is a rewarding experience, but as educators and parents, finding the time and resources to create engaging lessons can be a challenge. That's where this podcast comes in. Welcome to Naturally Teaching Elementary.

I'm Victoria Zablocki, a certified elementary teacher turned outdoor educator. With over a decade of experience coaching teachers on effective teaching methods, I'm passionate about teaching the whole child with authentic and place-based experiences in school and home settings. Join me as we explore strategies for teaching with practical teaching tips, insightful interviews, picture book reviews, and more.

So let's grow together. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Naturally Teaching Elementary Podcast.

My name is Victoria Zablocki and I'm your host. Hopefully, you have reached the coveted summer break that you've so rightfully earned. Regardless of whether you're a public school teacher, an educator that teaches during a balanced calendar, or a homeschool parent, this break can help you rediscover yourself, your passion, and help you get organized for the next time you kickstart your instruction.

Everyone needs time to refuel and fun in the sun is a great way to do it. It's also a time for your learners and their families to enjoy experiences together, and you can help them do just that while also avoiding that summer slide. If you've listened to last week's episode, episode 72, I reviewed six books for summer to share with your learners' caregivers.

This week, I'm excited to bring you summer activities for kindergartners and third graders that will help them practice looking at weather and seasonal signs. Kindergarten and third grade have weather and seasonal cycles in common, which are both aspects of summer that your learners can enjoy exploring with their families. In this episode, I'm going to describe summer activities for kindergartners and third graders that are about summer, the weather of summer, and seasonal signs of summer.

For each activity, I'll share the Next Generation Science Standard that inspired that activity as well as how you can easily share the activity with your learners' caregivers to practice over the break. Make sure that you listen through to the end of the episode because even though I've paired these activities to particular standards, you may find yourself inspired to use a similar concept for your curriculum or even use the same activity for a different grade. Now, let's get into these summer activities for kindergartners and third graders.

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So, for kindergarten, the Next Generation Science Standard that I pulled was K-ESS2-1: Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time. So, how does this relate to summer?

By looking closely at the weather each day, your learners and their families can see the patterns that make up the summer season. After a school year of taking weather data through fall, winter, and spring, they can compare their family-found data with the experiences you gave them over the school year. So, one way to make weather and seasonal sign data collection more engaging is to suggest a summer scavenger hunt for your families.

By providing them the idea or a digital copy of a summer scavenger hunt, you can encourage your learners to extend their knowledge outside with their families around the summer solstice, which this year is June 21st. Some seasonal signs that you can include on the scavenger hunt could be sun, baby animals, trees with leaves, reptiles and amphibians, insects, flowers, grapes and more. By practicing looking for seasonal signs over the summer, your learners will continue to use their observational skills, reflect on previous seasons, extend their current understanding of summer, and avoid that dreaded summer slide.

If you love the idea of sending your learners a scavenger hunt to do with their families, but you don't feel like you have the time to make one, check out my summer outdoor scavenger hunt list on Teachers Pay Teachers. It's already made for you and it's a digital download. And typically, my terms of use ask you not to share a document without permission from me, but feel free to use this podcast episode as my invitation to download the scavenger hunt and share it with your families via email after purchasing. This will make it easier for you to distribute and more accessible for your families.

[3:59]

For third grade, the Next Generation Science Standard that I pulled was 3-ESS2-1: Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season. How does this one relate to summer?

Much like the standard for kindergarten, third graders are looking for weather, seasonal signs, and how they cycle. The third grade standard is a little more analytical and requires data collection be taken at a greater depth and in a more formal way including tables and other graphics. But in essence, third graders are also looking for the patterns that show the changing seasons and how nature ebbs and flows over the course of the year.

So, my thought for third grade is to suggest to your families to keep track of what they're seeing a couple of times a week throughout the summer. Since many families don't have specialized science equipment like air thermometers, wind meters, barometers, etc., provide them suggestions for alternative ways to get this data.

One way to do this is to provide them with online resources to help them find their local numbers. I know our public school district has a weather station that provides our local weather data, which would be a great school-to-home connection that I could provide to my learners. Maybe your district has one too.

Whatever data collection suggestions you get, it would be nice for it to reflect what you were collecting altogether as a class over the year. This will allow them to analyze the way that the season has shifted in a one-to-one comparison. If you change up the types of data they're analyzing, it's more difficult to see patterns.

In addition, you could also provide a few different graphic displays, such as tables and graphs, for them to add their data to to help them analyze the patterns throughout the season. Remember, though, you're providing your family some extensions to the school year, so you want to keep it fun and engaging, not treacherous homework no one wants to participate in. Also, if they don't do it, it's their choice.

You're just providing some supports to help prevent that summer slide. If you love the sound of supporting your families in this way, but you don't feel like you have the time to put something together, consider checking out my Summer Book Printable on Teachers Pay Teachers. This booklet is a great starting point for looking at seasonal ebbs and flows for the beginning of the summer.

There's a page for summer weather prediction, clothes your learners may need for the season, tallying how many hours of night and day there are on the summer solstice, a list of what your learner wants to do for the summer, a prediction page for what they think a summer day might look like, a recording page for what a summer day actually looks like, a recording page for what your learners can see, smell, hear, and feel on a summer day, another recording page for changes your learners see in the plants since spring, a recording page for an animal your learner sees, and also a reflection page on what your kids learned about summer. It could be a great addition to what you send your families, or it could be the only thing you send your families, and then they take their summer study from there. This booklet is already made for you and is a digital download.

Just like the scavenger hunt, typically my terms of use ask you not to share a document without permission, but you can feel free to use this podcast episode as my invitation to download the booklet and share it with your families via email, after purchasing. This will make it easier for you to distribute and more accessible for your families. And as a bonus for being a listener, I've added a 10% first buyer discount to my Teachers Pay Teachers store that will last until this Friday, June 12th, 2026.

[7:43]

So in a nutshell, today we talked about summer activities for kindergartners and third graders. For kindergarten, we talked about using a summer scavenger hunt to investigate weather and seasonal signs. And for third grade, we talked about collecting weather data to compare to previous three seasons to get an overall view of seasonal patterns throughout the year.

And don't forget, if you're looking for a made-for-you summer scavenger hunt or summer seasonal signs booklet, check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store and take advantage of that 10% first time buyer discount available until this Friday, June 12th, 2026. So thanks for taking time to listen today. I know you're busy and I truly appreciate the time you take to tune in.

Do you have any questions, wonderings, or fun summer activities for kindergartners and third graders that you use? Get ahold of me on Instagram at Naturally.Teaching, or you can email me at victoria@naturallyteaching.com. Don't forget to check out the show notes for this episode at naturallyteaching.com/episode73.

Thanks again for joining me today. Until next time, keep exploring, keep learning, and keep naturally teaching. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of the Naturally Teaching Elementary Podcast.

I hope you found it informative, inspiring, and full of actionable insights to enhance your teaching journey. Connect with me on social media for more updates, science tidbits, and additional resources. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook at naturally.teaching.

Let's continue the conversation and share our passion for teaching elementary age children together. Don't forget to visit my website at naturallyteaching.com for all the show notes from today's episode. If you enjoyed today's episode, please consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform.

Your feedback helps me improve and reach more educators like you. Thank you again for listening and until next time, keep exploring, keep learning, and keep naturally teaching.