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"It's that time of year when both teachers and students are looking forward to time away from the classroom. The sun is out, and the days are long. We enjoy our quiet time, but at the same time, we know that soon we will be thinking about the ringing of bells throughout crowded hallways. I once heard a principal explain the summertime like this: Teachers think of July as one big Saturday. They wake up with an excited energy and spend each day enjoying every possible moment. However, teachers think of August like a Sunday. They start to become more focused on the upcoming year. They work on lesson plans, purchase school supplies, and look to see what is new in the world of education to make sure they are prepared for their incoming students. If this describes your typical summer routine, I would like to share some tips and tricks to stay updated throughout the summer and make your back-to-school prep as smooth as possible."

"Many teachers and schools are buying iPads now in preparation of next year. I've made this list of 'Summer Goals' after a few schools have asked for assistance in getting teachers ready for Septembers iPad roll out in their schools. I've tried to order these from simplest to most complex task - but don't feel like you must follow this order. After all, Summer is about having fun!"

"Want to keep your kids' math skills sharp over the summer -- but don't want to be a party pooper? Daily math practice doesn't have to be drill-and-kill. We found five highly engaging math apps that will help kids avoid the "summer slide" in a fun -- and totally painless -- way."

"The ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge is a free, self-paced, online professional development opportunity designed to help teachers explore the powerful possibilities of using ThingLink for teaching and learning. This 5 week challenge invites teachers to have fun learning to use interactive images, slideshow channels and interactive video to power up your pedagogy and redefine learning in the classroom. Throughout the challenge, we will use the ThingLink flexible suite of interactive tools for schools to create media rich, customized resources for use in your classroom. The weekly challenge activities are designed to be beneficial to educators who are new to ThingLink and also to experienced users. We will explore all the flexible features of ThingLink and discover the tremendous potential for using this amazing tool. Here are 3 reasons to take the ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge."

"Summer break is not just for teacher vacations. Sure, you need to unwind and recharge your batteries, but working to hone your craft is also good medicine for making the next school year your best one yet. These 9 tips will make every teacher better this Summer break and will help your students be better next school year."

"It's May, time for teachers to revisit their bookshelves and think about summer reading selections. This year, I'm considering a different kind of summer reading for my kids, books that will inspire them to head outside and make, do and create. My younger son, Finn, likes these sorts of projects, and while I can provide him with scrap lumber, nails, a drill and some screws, he and I wanted to find some additional inspiration. Judy Russell, our town librarian, enthusiastically joined in my research and helped me come up with some fantastic resources for inventing, constructing and making. "

"For those many kids who choose not to read books, for those kids who are news junkies, for those kids who choose to focus on nonfiction, for those kids who read everything anyway, and for those kids who are motivated by regular, tangible rewards, Newsela's Free Summer Reading Challenge may be just the thing to engage students with the world, while attacking potential Summer reading slump."

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"Rapidly approaching the dog days of summer (give or take a few days or weeks), I felt a need to share a power packed suitcase of tools that could be used to archive your summer highlights and memories. Many educators never really go on vacation. While they may appear to be leisurely sipping daiquiris on the beach, let's be realistic… their brains are constantly running, reflecting, and mentally archiving away ideas for the next school year. To meet both the recreational and curricular needs of educators, I have concocted a special blend of FREE web tools and apps, highlighting both extracurricular as well as instructional integrations for each. Hopefully, these tools will exceed your souvenir quota and prove to be true digital treasures for the 2014-2015 school year as well."

"Summer is a busy time for many. Vacations. Family time. Housework. Yardwork. Painting. Hobbies. Reading. School book studies??? Summer is an opportunity when many educators dedicate time to read, find new ideas to implement in their classrooms, and brainstorm strategies to use the in fall. Teachers want to read, share, and learn together. There is actually now time to collaborate and share! Traditionally, book studies are done in face-to-face meetings. Teachers choose a book to read together, plan which chapters to read, and then decide on meeting times to discuss those chapters. However, with varying schedules and planned commitments, finding a common time to come together to discuss a shared book multiple times throughout the Summer is quite difficult. Families take vacations, their children have camps and other commitments, and thus meeting together with everyone is infrequent and often not well-attended. So, with interest in having book studies from my staff, but dealing with tricky schedules, a different solution was necessary."

"It was the summer of my disconnect… I've decided to try for a different focus this summer.  I want to spend a LOT less time online and tinker with technology that doesn't revolve around a 2D computer screen. Last year at this time, I was wrapping up my look at teaching computer programming to primary students.  I had just finished submitting in my Coetail Final Project and this was the subject-matter that I had chosen for my final project.  My investigation was done mainly through the 2D environment of the computer screen.    My own children and I spent last summer participating in two online "kids camp" programs that were an extension of my Coetail Final Project.  They were Scratch Programming and Minecraft.  We worked through several weeks of challenges, earned digital badges, and posted our creations online.  Some of them were featured in a weekly Show and Tell that was streamed over the internet by Pursuitery (has some connection with Connected Learning Alliance  and Mimi Ito of "Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out"). That was a huge amount of fun but it was all pixels."

"Pity the summertime. All year, we long for better weather, using this season as a repository for our plans. I'll paint the house in the summer. I'll plant a garden in the summer. I'll reorganize the garage in - you guessed it - the summer. But all those plans jamming up our calendar doesn't leave much time for anything fun. These seven apps can help you keep track of your various household chores and projects, so you can spend more time getting things done and less time keeping track of them."

"Today was a big day in my grade 4-5 STEM class: It was our first time to start the "Maker Studio" rotation. Maker Studio is a concept I developed this past summer attending Maker Faire Kansas City and the awesome "Create, Make and Learn" week-long #MakerEd #STEM summer institute in Vermont coordinated by Lucie deLaBruere (@techsavvygirl). Last year was my 17th as an educator but my first as an elementary STEM teacher. I enjoyed developing and sharing lessons about a wide variety of topics, but as a "STEM teacher" was uncomfortable with my predominant focus on direct instruction lessons. Some of my favorite units from last year focused on the science and technology of music and sound, kitchen chemistry, and collaborative projects in MinecraftEDU involving permiter/area building challenges, coordinate grid scavenger hunts, and more. Our projects and activities together in these units were engaging, fun, and standards-based, but still relied predominantly on direct instruction. The after-school "Makers Club" I facilitated provided many opportunities for student-directed learning, but didn't change my predominant teacher-directed instruction during STEM class. My summer PD experiences at #MakerFaireKC and #CML14 were transformative. Enter "Maker Studio.""

""One thing we can bet on is that 'making' engages kids," Dale Dougherty, Maker Media founder told Engadget. Anyone that's ever been to a Maker Faire knows that's a solid wager. Children routinely crowd around booths and attractions at the event peppering proprietors with questions about how their devices work. They drag their parents to the marketplace to buy Arduinos, soldering guns, and DIY kits. Getting littles ones excited about science and crafts is easy when it's right in their faces, but then what? That was the question on Dougherty's mind, "what happens on the Monday following a Faire?" The initial answer to keeping kids interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education) topics was an online summer camp. A virtual meeting place for kids looking to expand their DIY skills and connect with other like-minded makers. Of course, once summer is over, those same kids are left in the lurch. Some schools have implemented a by-the-book rote memorization curriculum with very little hands-on opportunities. So now Maker Camp is leaving its summer roots and going year round with weekly projects."

"I have been asked to return to teach summer enrichment classes on maker education for elementary-aged learners at a local school during the summer of 2016. One of the new classes I am designing is called Coding and Bots. The description is: Learn how to code first by playing games and then by coding some bots including Sphero, OZOBOT, and Dash and Dot. All ages are welcome but the child should have basic symbol recognition/reading skills. Two things to note about this class are, first, I learned last summer not to underestimate the learning potential of very young kids. These classes are mixed ages ranging from 4 to 10 year old kids. For most of the maker education activities, the very young ones could perform them, sometimes better than the older kids. Second, I am a strong proponent of hands on activities. Although I like the use of iPads and computers, I want elementary aged students to have to directly interact with materials. As such, I am designing Coding and Bots to include using their bodies and manipulating objects. This translates into having all activities include the use of objects and materials excluding and in conjunction with the iPad - not just using the iPad and online apps/tools to learn to code. The activities I plan to do follow:"

"Teachers are notorious for taking care of everyone but ourselves. The coming summer provides a perfect chance to change that. Some of us will seek the luxury of a true physical, mental, and emotional break from the classroom. Others will leap directly into teaching summer school in order to cobble together a full salary. Or we'll attend more conferences and trainings in the next two months than in the last 10 put together. Every teacher, even those of us in the throes of summer school and professional development, should make time to answer an existential question: Who are we when we're not teaching? Here are four ideas for making the most of that oasis of time between the end of this school year and the beginning of the next."

"This is my third summer offering maker education summer camps as part of a bigger program at a local school.  During mornings (9 to 12 with a half hour recess), campers, grades Kindergarten through 6th grade, can choose from one of four enrichment classes: art, drama, games, foreign languages, computers, and in my case, maker camps. During the afternoons, all campers get together for typical camp activities - fun and games, field trips, water sports, silly competitions. Each camp lasts a week. This summer I am offering: Cardboard Creations, Circuit Crafts, Toy Making and Hacking, and Robotics and Coding. I often discuss the need to implement maker education programs with minimal cost materials and ones that offer the potential to tap into diverse learners and their diverse interests:"

"My favorite unit to teach the last two years to my middle school students has been on "Fruit Loop Conspiracy Theories." Rather than study and discuss controversial political topics, we focus on the Apollo Moon landings and the skeptics (who are sometimes also "flat-earthers" on YouTube) who believe NASA never landed on the Moon, and the entire historical episode was faked thanks to Stanley Kubrick's moviemaking special effects. This lesson was the result of summer work I did with my Chicago colleague Brian Turnbaugh (@wegotwits) in 2020, which I archived on the website, "Fact or Fiction? Apollo Moon Landings." Brian and I met through the summer Institute in Digital Literacy in Rhode Island. I've served as faculty for the Institute the past two summers, in 2020 and 2021."

"Summer has begun! This is a great opportunity to reflect on the past year and to learn some new skills for next school year. We will be starting a weekly book study of Dave Burgess', Teach Like a Pirate on 6/17 at 8pm CST. Burgess teaches cutting-edge strategies for skyrocketing creativity so that teachers will be able to design lessons to draw students into their content like a magnet. Readers will leave with the ability to create a classroom experience that will have students knocking down the doors to get in. The book will have your mind racing with ideas that you can bring into your classroom immediately."

"This summer, Apple will introduce an addition to its usual Apple Camp program: a coding course for children ages 8 to 12. Besides its usual interactive storytelling and iMovie classes, kids will have the option to enroll in Coding Games and Programming Robots. The class will use Tynker's software to teach the basics of coding using blocks that can animate characters and move robots. In May, Tynker raised $7.1 million in funding."