Summer Packet Reflections

This summer I have been reflecting a lot on my first attempt of giving my students a summer packet. I still don't know what I will find on the first day of school when students are supposed to return their packets. Regardless, from reflecting throughout the summer, I will want to do the packets differently next year. This year I wanted to make sure that everything I asked the students to do would go along with my belief that they should have choice with their reading and writing. More than anything, I just wanted them to continue reading and writing. That's it. While reflecting, the packet was probably more detailed than it needed to be.

In order to simplify the process, yet still meet my goal of continuing to foster a life long love of reading and writing, students will just read and write with a little bit of scaffolding. This year I was closest to that with reading. Students could read any book they wanted at least four days a week for thirty minutes. However, they also had a reading reflection. Rather than a weekly requirement, I have been considering that it may be more beneficial to have them do an open reflection as they finish each book. The number will be different depending on the student. My recent reflections from revisiting Nancie Atwell's In the Reading Zone influenced my decision of how I could make sure I was not adding unnecessary busy work to reading for pleasure.

With writing, I will have a similar weekly requirement. I am still not completely sure how I will set this up, but I am considering sending them with a spiral notebook with a list of types of writing taped on the inside that they would be familiar with from the support they received in class throughout the year. I am mulling over whether I should have it be an open entry a day or if I should aim for a certain number of entries per week plus a complete longer piece that they could work on over the summer.

I look forward to see students' feedback about the packets when they return. I will consider their thoughts and keep the packet in the back of my mind throughout the year. Then when May quickly comes around, I will have a clear sense of the best way to continue supporting my students throughout the summer.

A final area that I have been considering and one that was difficult this year was that I made packets for both my incoming 6th and 7th graders. My 7th graders were with me all year and had a better context of what I was talking about. However, I ended up making the packet more generic in order to include the 6th graders. I wonder if next summer I will only create it for my returning students and network with the incoming class' teacher to see if she will give them a summer packet or if I will end up making separate packets, one for returning and another for new students.

There is still a lot to think about before making my final decisions for next summer.