3 Cool Facts About Summer for the End of the School Year

3 Cool Things About Summer:

1. The summer break is based on tradition – tradition that goes back to the late 19th century when school calendars were being standardized across the nation.  The idea was to take advantage of the warmer weather and longer days.  Some say that it was for work – farm work and such, work that could be done at ANY age – not for sleeping in and having more time for video games. Others say it was for the fact that schools without air conditioning in the summer were sweltering hot and that most people took that time off to travel to cooler destinations. 
2. It’s easy to assume everyone goes to school from approximately August to May or June with a bunch of standard breaks interspersed throughout. But, that is not the case. Students around the world are starting and ending school all months of the year. Worldwide, “summer break” typically lasts 6-12 weeks. Of all the months of the year that most students in the world have off simultaneously – July is the one!
3. Meteorologically speaking, summers in the northern hemisphere are longer and warmer. That’s because at this time of year the northern part of our planet tilts toward the sun in such a way that the sun shines on it for more hours and from a shorter distance due to the tilt. Don’t forget that it’s actually winter down south. When the northern hemisphere is tilting toward the sun, the southern hemisphere is tilting away from it! It’s not all sunshine and warmth down there.

Check Out The 1-Page High-Interest Text and Writing Connections That Explains All the Cool Things About Summer to Students To Get Them Reading & Writing! FREE For Grades 5-8 in PDF OR GOOGLE SLIDES DISTANCE LEARNING

To go with the summer theme, also check out this FREE PDF OR GOOGLE SLIDES short story text with reading questions that explore figurative language and character motives for BULLYING (and the characters who bully end up feeling bad about it...so that's good). WONDERFUL SHORT SCI FI STORY!!! Plus there is a free 30-minute video you can have them compare, which aligns to RL.7.

WANT MORE ENGAGING READING FOR YOUR STUDENTS? WANT TO HAVE THEM PRACTICE ALL 10 READING INFORMATIONAL TEXT STANDARDS SKILLS? STUDENTS KEEP REPORTING HOW MUCH THEY LOVE THE TEXTS!!! TRY BOTH VOLUMES: