95 Ways Elementary Teachers Relax During Summer
How do teachers keep up with all the latest trends in education? How do they keep themselves motivated and fresh every year?
Here are 95 ways teachers stay fresh for school. These ideas are from elementary teachers just like you, who want to be the best teacher they can be. These are things that teachers do over the summer to stay fresh for school
A word of advice: this is a list of ideas teachers generate. It is a long list. Don’t feel like you have to do it all. You can’t do it all. I wrote an entire blog post about being unable to do everything as a teacher.
Pick a few areas or ideas that resonate with you and try them out. See if they work for you. If not, don’t do them anymore. If they do, continue doing them and add another idea to your routine.
Here are a couple of blog posts that might also help you not stress about teaching or keep from being too overwhelmed by teaching:
- But I Can’t Do It All
- 30 Ways Teachers Can Destress in September
- How to Survive as an Introverted Teacher
- Quick, Low-Stress Meals for Teachers
Here are 95 ideas to help you stay fresh as an elementary teacher over the summer. These ideas are divided into two groups: school-related and non-school-related activities.
Ideally, we teachers would do some of both groups. I hope you find some ideas that you can adopt this summer!
Relax by Not Doing School-Related Activities
Below are some non-school-related activities that teachers do over the summer to stay fresh. These fun and relaxing activities are separate from school and work and focus on spending time with family, reading, exercising, and doing things for yourself.
- Maintain a positive attitude and start every day as a new day
- Keep to a regular exercise routine
- Always try to learn new things
- Read outdoors is refreshing and allows thoughts to flow
- Keep my coffee supply stocked
- Take time just for yourself every weekend
- Practice self-care for nearly the entire summer
- Do water aerobics in my pool
- Take the weekend to just spend time with family
- Try not to take work home
- Give myself me time
- Join a running clinic
- Get 7 hours of sleep
- Go on a short run each day
- Spend time with people I love
- Have at least one last date night a week
- Get a manicure and pedicure to relax
- Go to the beach with family and friends
- Spend time praying and reading God’s Word for wisdom
- Sleep, run and spend time with family
- Read a lot of inspirational texts
- Read my mushy romantic stories
- Get a massage and do my hair and nails
- Go to bed before midnight
- Enough sleep, healthy food, and some peaceful mindfulness
- Take a social media break and limit technology
- Pick out an audiobook to listen to on my commute
- Do fun summer activities right up until August with kids
- Make sure I go to all the necessary doctor appointments
- Have a cup of coffee in silence
- Balance work and play
- Work out and eat a good breakfast
- Swim in my pool and explore different places in my city
- Schedule spa days or weekend trips
- Enjoy sunrise and sunset
- Read a good book, make art, get enough rest
- Travel
- Go to yoga
- Cook great food
- Sit on my front porch
- Spend quality time at home
- Ride a spin bike
- Spend time in the pool
- Read my guilty pleasure: horror books
- Read non-teacher books
- Can all the garden vegetables
- Work in the garden
- Take walks
- Read on the patio
- Visit grandchildren
- Participating in HIIT Hot Pilates 2-3 days a week
- Watch a movie
School-Related Activities that Help Teachers Stay Fresh
This group of ideas for teachers is focused on school-related activities that bring new ideas and can invigorate your teaching throughout the year.
- Do a little bit of prep at a time gradually throughout the summer
- Plan fresh activities for my classroom
- List want-to’s for this year
- Reflect on the previous year and generate new ideas for the next year
- Read blogs to gain new perspectives
- Take professional development every summer
- Figure out how to go digital and use Google classroom
- Follow other educators on Instagram
- Watch free Facebook lives with reading and writing specialists
- Browse Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers through the summer to be inspired to learn something new
- Following social media for new tips and tricks and by
- Reread professional development books
- Keep up with current research in the field
- Learn from and collaborate with other teachers and online educators
- Start a new planner
- Host student teachers to see their new ideas
- Look for new ways to keep kids excited
- Plan out my year
- Organize my classroom and materials
- Change things that need to be better
- Pay attention to the latest trends related to students
- Watch vlogs, listen to podcasts, attend webinars
- Laugh with my kids and my co-workers and try to keep a sense of humor whenever possible
- Focus on ADHD-related books to better understand some students
- Never stop working to grow
- Plan to provide more opportunities for hands-on learning in math
- Go back to school and start your master’s degree
- Discover new and fun ways to teach
- Buy the best resources and supplies that can be found
- Promise to leave school on time
- Plan to implement a Daily Classroom Meeting agenda that focuses on skills for success in school and life
- Subscribe to lots of teacher Facebook groups
- Pick a few school projects, crafty or practical, that I don’t get time for during the school year
- Attend a week of training in the Responsive Classroom
- Participating in Twitter chats with other teachers
- Scrub my classroom top to bottom, clean out my supply area, and purge useless items
- Help create a school-wide pacing guide for ELA
- Create fresh binder covers
- Re-read Understanding by Design right before the year starts
- Attend a 2-day literacy conference
- Make the classroom jazzy for incoming student
- Buy a new children’s book to read in September
- Re-read The First Days of School and The Power of Our Words
- Spend a lot of quiet time in my room alone, visualizing the upcoming year
What do you do to keep yourself fresh over the summer? Do you rest, relax and rejuvenate? Do you look forward to next year and search for new ideas for your classroom? Or a little of both? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
I stay fresh by reading blogs, scouring pinterest, and following my favorite teachers on facebook for ideas and inspiration.
How generous of you to host a giveaway! Thank you. I recharge by heading to the beach a lot during the summer so when school starts I don’t feel like I’ve missed an opportunities.I also read at least one professional book that I’m interested in during the summer so I have fresh ideas. A few days before school starts, I pick out an audiobook to listen to on my commute. Thanks again!
Jan
Laughter and Consistency
I recharge by reading PD books, participating in conferences, and resting over break. Thanks for all your helpful ideas and giveaways.
Thanks for setting up a contest! I keep myself fresh by finding a new fun way to teach something that I can get the kids really excited about. This year will be PBL about farms. I’m tying in literature and a visit from a beekeeper.
I keep my lessons free by always looking for new ways to keep my students involved. I love having kids create, collaborate, and communicate!
Hi there, I keep fresh by learning from all of you!!! I spend the summers attending online webinars on topics that are needed in my class!
Thank you for hosting this giveaway!! I am already a recipient of your fabulous e-mails 🙂
One thing I do each summer to make sure I am refreshed for the upcoming year is spend a lot of time with my own kids doing fun summer activities right up until August, when I put my teacher hat back on and dive into planning a great year for my school kiddos. I also make sure to read/research new strategies so as not to get stuck and become ineffective.
Thank you, again,
Erika
I have been doing several free webinars about specific school skills! They have given me great resources to start the new year with!
I keep fresh by looking for new ideas to implement in my classroom by going on Pinterest and reading blogs. I have a background in a graphic design so I always try to set up some things for the classroom by using those skills!
To stay fresh for school I do my best to take care of myself by getting enough sleep and feeding myself nutritious foods.
I keep myself fresh for schoolby learning new things, networking with other teachers, keeping an open mind
And always remembering I still have a lot to learn.
I keep it fresh my networking and meeting with new teachers in the area and/or online to look for new ideas. After every lesson I include a reflection to try and look the lesson better.
I keep myself fresh for a new year by doing some professional development over the summer! Last year it was all about learning the ins and outs of whole brain teaching. This year, I’m really diving into my class management plan to make sure there aren’t any loopholes!
I love to learn new things. This is what keeps me motivated to learn new things for my students.
I do several things each summer to keep myself fresh. I love to travel and spend time outdoors so I make sure to schedule several trips with family and friends. I also set aside at least 2 weeks in the summer when I don’t allow myself to read emails, books, search the internet or TPT for anything school related. If I am on Pinterest during those two weeks I stay away from work related pins (this is so hard). The last thing I do is to have time set aside to participate in professional development, read school related books, search the internet, TPT, and/or pin on Pinterest to my hearts delight! All of these things recharge me and make me look forward to school!
Hey there! I get your emails and love the ideas and help you send it. One thing I do to stay refreshed is monthly massages. I hold a lot of stress in my back and shoulders and massages help me stay a bit relaxed and a little more stress free so I’m at my best for my students.
I stay fresh by making sure I take time over the summer for ME!
I try to plan ahead. It keeps me on track.
Thanks for the giveaway! My favourite way of keeping myself fresh and making sure that I’m on top of my teaching game is by constantly learning about new and exciting teaching ideas and practices. I live participating in Twitter chats with other teachers, getting fresh ideas from teachers groups on Facebook and participating in online PDs as much as I can. It’s exciting to try new approaches and take risks in class, and my students love when I’ve got new teacher tools too! Promoting life-long learning is a huge goal for me as a teacher, and what better way than to practice what you preach!
I already receive your emails. I keep it fresh by pampering and taking care of myself. Making sure I go to all the necessary doctor appointments, getting my nails done, a bath with scented candles and bath salts, and plenty of time with my family are all ways I recharge, relax, and de-stress.
I keep myself fresh by doing one thing for me daily. Whether that’s a cup of coffee in silence (a rarity) or a few minutes to listen to a podcast I try to do something that’s just for me. As a teacher, wife and Mom I do a lot for others.
I scrub my classroom top to bottom, clean out my supply area and purge useless items. Then I take a complete break from all things educational and do something for myself that is fun! It recharges me for a new year!
I keep it fresh by balancing work and play
I keep up with new training, networking with other teachers, and reading teacher blogs.
I make sure I don’t spend my summer with school stuff. I try to enjoy my time with my own children and relax as much as I can.
I try to look for new ways to deliver content, new classroom transformations, new read aloud and a few new decorations!
I keep fresh by reading a book every week (and not school related).
Working out and eating a good breakfast help me to adjust and spice up lesson plans!
thanks for asking this today. I really needed help to refocus as I live in the area of the #CarrFire and my mind and heart are not into thinking about school starting in two weeks. Typically I keep things fresh by reevaluating (reflecting) on what did and didn’t work from the previous year, take time to not think about school planning, etc. However, this summer I helped to create a school-wide pacing guide for ELA and our SEL focus. This helped me look at how I can merge the two and now I’m really focused on discussion questions that bring out the SEL focus during specific times to embed in the reading and writing we do.
Fresh binder covers and post-it notes! 😀
I stay fresh by taking some time for me during the summer. I love to swim in my pool and explore different places in my city.
I am going to be honest. I’d love to say I do spa days or weekend trips or something exciting. But honestly, I am happy if I get a couple quiet hours to get out in front of the television and let make believe people distract me from th 3, 472 thoughts running through my head. Hope everyone has a fantastic year!
I’m actually struggling right now with life in general!! I was down at my mom’s for my younger brother’s celebration of life, when fires broke out- now several towns where family live are under mandatory evacuation, mom is on advisory evacuation! We made it out of the county about 4 hours before they closed the road!!
Usually, I enjoy the sunrise and sunset and reading!! Thanks for your giveaway, I’m sure it will help whoever wins!!
I make sure I make time for myself! It is hard for me to do that during the school so I make sure I do it during the summer. Also just being really positive about things.
Once I get that academic calendar labeled (old school paper calendar) with all the school dates for the year mapped out I feel like I’m focused and ready to jump “all in.”
I love reading blogs, going on Pinterest and Facebook groups, and reading the emails I get! I get great ideas to implement which gets me super excited about the school year starting! It is absolutely wonderful that there are so many teachers out there willing to share their great ideas with others…thank you!!
Relaxing and spending time with family Herod me stay fresh for school. Thank you for offering this giveaway!
I stay on my game by trying to have a balance in life. I try to exercise on a regular basis for stress relief. I stay fresh in the classroom by reading wonderful blogs like yours to give me new ideas!
I start getting my room ready mid-summer so I can work slowly bit by bit without waiting and stressing at the last minute. I read and reread important books and information that I want to implement in my classroom closer to the beginning of school so it’s fresh in my mind. 🙂
I love this giveaway and your resources! I already get your emails. Something I do to stay fresh for school is follow educators on Twitter and read blogs that they share. I also read professional books over the summer and attend conferences.
To be fresh for the new school year, I read up on the latest strategies and gather materials. I also rest and read- adult books as well as young adult fiction. I read the YAF to be able to have book discussions with my 7th graders in the fall!
I like to read educational books during the summer to learn new strategies.
Staying FRESH in a middle school classroom….???? Hmmm…..using a diffuser can be helpful! lol. Seriously though, physical and mental relaxation is the best way for me to recharge. Reading a good book, making art, getting enough rest are super important for me.
I am teaching 5th and 6th for the first time and I am taking them away on an overnight during the first week of school to work on team building and science thinking.
I stay fresh for school by re-reading Understanding by Design right before the year starts!
I stay fresh by adding new ideas to lesson plans and always adding a little something new to my classroom each year.
I want to do a season of growth. I will take a photo of my students in fall winter spring and end of the year.
I stay fresh by making sure I leave work at work at least a couple of nights during the week. I also talk to others about what they are doing in their classrooms.
I like to read books during the summer that I don’t always have time for during the school year. I also enjoy going to the beach!
Thanks for a chance to win! I stay fresh throughout the school year by always learning new things and having a “I get to teach today,” mentality. Podcasts are a must!