3 Ways to Make the Most of Your Summer

Three silly, playing kids

Make the Most of Summer Memories

Quote on Facebook: Educators don’t have 3 months of summer vacation…they are in 3 months of recovery!

What can you do to make sure that summer is a time of renewal not just more of the same frenetic, stressful school year pace. Here’s a tip: Make the most of summer by starting an intention and reflection practice with your family. Beginnings and endings are an essential part of life. We learn from our experiences when we bookend our time with an intention at the start and reflect on the results at the end.

  • Set an intention for the summer months–  It doesn’t have to be serious, complicated or long.  Here are some examples:
    • Play! Have fun!
    • Spend time together as a family
    • Read lots of  books
    • Learn something new everyday
  • At the end of summer reflect on whether or not you followed your intention.  Again, make this a pleasurable experience:
    • Write or journal about how you took action on your intention
    • Create a photo collage depicting the intention
    • Draw pictures that show how you acted on the intention
    • Make a family video describing how the family as a whole made summer memories
  • Celebrate the end– I know the summer just started!  But plan now for a fun way to celebrate the end.  Incorporate the reflection in the  celebration.  Show the video, share photos or drawings.  Share the best and the worst parts about the summer and plan what you want to do again next summer.  An end of summer celebration will give you something to look forward to all summer long.

School Counselor Resource for developing teamwork:

Wyatt the Wonder Dog Learns about Teamwork

Camping with his Boy Scout Troop is exciting and fun… until Max takes a serious fall while hiking.  When Wyatt and the rest of the Scouts use their emergency training to get Max safely out of the woods, they learn the value of teamwork and the power of community to achieve big goals.

Wyatt the Wonder Dog Learns about Teamwork is another great example of helping kids improve their social skills. It teaches kids the power of working together and how much better we are when we work as a community.

~Melissa Toren Hrin, Professional School Counselor, Beverly Cleary School, Portland, OR

Wyatt Learns about Teamwork

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