My Summer in Review Writing Activity

Whether you’ve been schooling year-round or are just getting back into the daily school groove, it’s always fun to find ways to celebrate the transition from one academic year into the next! And even if you have been schooling year-round, I’m willing to bet that you made some summer memories and had some adventures as a family that you’d like to document!

Today’s activity is a simple way to do just that, and it can be adjusted to work for very young ages. The only real requirement is that your child knows his or her letter sounds! We think that this Summer in Review Writing Activity is perfect for children between Pre-K – 3rd grade!

What’s Included:

This writing activity, “My Summer in Review,” is a 2-page printable. These pages include a prompt for the activity alongside the writing page. The writing page features each letter of the alphabet with a blank space next to it where your child will write a word that starts with that letter. Each word chosen needs to have something to do with a fun summer memory that he or she made!

How to Use It:

This activity is adaptable for ages Pre-K – 3rd grade, as long as your child can recognize letter sounds. However, this is a fun activity to do with your child even if he or she is a confident writer. It’s just really fun to see which words they choose to go with each letter and to talk about the memory behind each word! I think that bonding opportunity is part of what makes this such a great transitional activity for the beginning of a new homeschool year.

For Pre-K- 1st Grade Level:

If your child is on the younger side of the suggested age group (Pre-K – 1st grade), here are some tips for making this activity fun and successful.

Practice letter sound recognition for each letter before choosing a word to go with that letter. As you get to each new letter, you might say something like, “Okay now what letter do we have? What sounds can that letter make?” Be sure to include sounds that the letter can make in combination with other letters (such as diagraphs: th, ch, sh, etc.).
Talk about what alphabetical order means.
If your child is not comfortable with writing yet, it’s okay to let him or her dictate to you! Just focus on the letter sounds and talking about each memory.
If your child is comfortable writing, you may want to write down each word that they choose so that they can copy it over!

For 2nd or 3rd Grade Levels:

If your child is a little bit older, or just more comfortable with writing and spelling, you can still enjoy working through this activity with him or her and talking about each word/summer memory!

You may also want to help with spelling by:

Writing down each word for your child to copy over.
Having your child sound out each word and/or practice it on a whiteboard before writing it down.
Asking your child to spell it aloud.
Encouraging your child to write the words that he or she definitely knows without help, but helping with less familiar ones.

When your child is done with this Summer in Review activity, read each word together! This activity makes a great souvenir of all of your fun summer memories.