Summer

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box is light and it rattles softly, like something plastic sliding about. Hold it up. Whole class chants:

Shake it — a soft slither. Lift the lid a crack and sniff: nothing. Sniff again, harder. Peek in, and let your whole face light up.

Put them both on and turn round once so everybody can see. Big sun circle overhead with both arms: “Summer!”

4 min Teach · Summer

Everybody stands up. We do the whole summer with our bodies, twice — small and slow, then big:

Now the three sun rules, in this order, every day this week — say them, do them, and make them say them back: hat (hands on head) · water (drink from a bottle) · shade (both hands up over your eyes).

Littles do the big sun circle and say “Summer!” Bigs take the frame: “It is summer.” “It is hot in summer.”

Teacher fails: put the sun hat on and then pull on the woolly scarf and the mittens as well, shivering, complaining that you are freezing. “Brrr. What a cold day.” Hold it. Wait. Let them undress you.

Chinese moment: lay the 夏 card where everyone can see it and say 夏天来了！ once, all together. Leave it there; the row grows by one card a day. 芒种 was on Saturday — 芒种忙种, the busiest planting week the farmers have.

3 min Song · Summer, Summer, Sunny Day — chorus + Monday verse

The one song of the week — same chorus at every circle, one new verse each morning, the whole thing on Friday. Chords and the full sheet are on the Song tab. The chorus is the three sun rules set to music: hat, water, shade.

3 min Game · Summer or winter?

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The pile of clothes goes in the middle of the mat, the red basket at one end of the room and the blue basket at the other.

One child at a time, then two at a time as they get the idea. Littles just run it and say the one word — “Hot!” “Cold!” Bigs owe you the sentence as they drop it in: “I wear a hat in the summer.”

At the end, tip the red basket out and hold each thing up: this is what we wear now. Everything in the blue basket is going away until winter.

Put the swimming costume in the pile on purpose. It causes an argument, the argument is the language, and it sets up Thursday.

1 min Close

Standing, hats on, ready to run. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle) read again, out in the sun this time — they know every page, so let them tell it to you and just turn the pages.

2 min Magic Box hook

Today you come in running with the box, because what is inside will not wait. Whole class chants while you jog on the spot:

Shake it — a hard clatter. Lift the lid, look in, and pull your hand back as if it hurt.

Every child holds one cube for two seconds and passes it on. Fan your face: “Hot!”

4 min Teach · Hot

Everybody sits. We say it twice, and the second time they do the actions with you:

Then the two cups, side by side: warm water in one, an ice cube in the other. Every child touches both with one finger and tells you which is which — hot and cold are the two ends, and everything else lives in between.

Littles fan and say “Hot!” Bigs owe you the sentence: “It is hot in summer.” “The water is cold.”

Teacher fails: fan yourself furiously with the fan held backwards, blowing air at the wall, and complain loudly that it is not working at all. Wait. Somebody will turn your hand round for you.

Chinese moment: the 热 card joins 夏 — 天气很热, said with the fan going. Ask them what people drink at home when it is this hot: 凉茶? 绿豆汤? Let three children answer; there is no wrong one.

3 min Song · Summer, Summer, Sunny Day — chorus + Tuesday verse

Sing this verse panting, as if you are much too hot to get the words out, and cool right down on “shady place”. They will copy the panting before they copy anything else.

3 min Game · Melt the ice

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Three identical saucers, one ice cube in each, held up so everybody sees they are the same.

Place all three, then walk away. Come back at snack time, at lunch and at home time. Littles say “Gone!” and point. Bigs give you the whole thing: “The ice is melting.” “The sun one won.”

This is the real science of the week and its control of error is the ice itself — the answer arrives on its own and nobody can argue with it, including you. Do not tell them which will win. Let the water do it.

1 min Close

Standing, fanning. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Lie on the floor in the coolest corner of the room with the lights off and the fan on, and just breathe together for two minutes. Then ask them, quietly, what the hottest thing they have ever touched was.

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box smells, and it smells of something they have all met before at home. Chant, then hold the closed box under one child's nose.

Lift the lid a crack and sniff long and slow, eyes shut. Then take the 艾草 out and walk it right round the circle so every single child gets a sniff of it — this is the smell of 端午节 and it is the whole hook.

Big sun circle overhead with both arms: “Sun!”

4 min Teach · Sun

Everybody stands. Say it twice; the second time they do it with you:

Now the story of 屈原, told plainly and short: a poet who loved his country, and who was so sad that he went into the river. The people who loved him rowed out fast to look for him, and threw rice into the water so the fishes would eat that and not him. That is why the boats race, and that is why the rice is wrapped. Hold up the dragon boat on “rowed out fast”, and the 粽子 on “wrapped”.

Littles make the sun circle and say “Sun!” Bigs owe you the sentence: “The sun is hot.” “I wear a hat in the sun.”

Teacher fails: try to eat the 粽子 with the leaves still on, chewing hard, saying how tough it is. Hold it. Wait. They will unwrap you.

Chinese moment: the 太阳 card joins 夏 · 热 — 太阳出来了. Then the whole class, twice: 端午节吃粽子，赛龙舟。 And 挂艾草 — hang the bundle over the classroom door and leave it there until Friday.

3 min Song · Summer, Summer, Sunny Day — chorus + Wednesday verse

This is the one verse in the whole week that starts on Am — one finger, second fret of the G string. It makes the boat sound serious, which is exactly right, and it lifts back to C on “hot sun's room”.

3 min Game · Dragon-boat row

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Everybody sits in one long line down the room, legs apart, each child behind the one in front. You sit at the back. One child sits at the front with the drum.

Row slowly, then faster, then freeze on one drum hit. Chant 一、二！一、二！ the whole way. Littles just row and shout the numbers; Bigs count in both languages and call the changes.

Swap the drummer twice, so three different children hold the beat.

Everybody rows together or the boat goes nowhere — say that out loud, once, and then let the game prove it. A boat where one child races ahead is the best teaching moment you will get all week.

1 min Close

Still in the boat, oars up. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? 《赛龙舟》 — any picture-book version, or just the pictures with your own words over the top. Then 儿歌《端午节》: 五月五，是端阳。

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box has three things in it and they all belong to the same hot afternoon. Chant, then shake — one soft slosh from the bottle.

Out comes the water bottle: drink. Out comes the fan: shade and air. And last, held up in two hands and put straight onto your own face, the goggles.

Two big front-crawl strokes: “Swim!”

4 min Teach · Swim

The blue cloth goes down the middle of the mat and two children hold each end and make it ripple. Say it twice, the second time everybody joins in:

Then the water rules, said as plainly as the sun rules and just as often: never go near water without a grown-up, and in the sun you keep your hat on and your T-shirt on, even at the pool. Say it once, clearly, then get straight back to the kicking.

Littles do the two strokes and say “Swim!” Bigs owe you the frame: “I can swim in the water.” “I can kick my feet.”

Teacher fails: put the goggles on over your ears, or upside down over your mouth, and announce that you are ready. Hold it. Wait. Somebody will fix your face for you.

Chinese moment: the 水 card joins 夏 · 热 · 太阳 — 我会游泳！ shouted once, all together, with the strokes. Then 多喝水 — and everybody really does take a drink.

3 min Song · Summer, Summer, Sunny Day — chorus + Thursday verse

Sing it once at swimming speed and once in slow motion, underwater, with the words stretched right out. The slow one is the one they will ask for again.

3 min Game · Swim on the mat

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Everybody lies on their front at one end of the room. The blue cloth is the water and it goes the whole way across.

Three or four crossings. Change the stroke each time: front crawl, then back stroke on your back, then the slowest swim in the world. Littles just wriggle and freeze; Bigs call out the stroke before each crossing.

The starfish freeze is the whole game — it is a stop signal disguised as fun, and you will use it in the corridor, in the playground and on Friday with a slice of watermelon in every hand.

1 min Close

Standing, dripping, goggles pushed up. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Froggy Learns to Swim (Jonathan London) — Froggy is frightened of the water and does it anyway. Let them do all the “Frrrooogggyyy!” shouts for you.

2 min Magic Box hook

The box comes out bulging and will not quite shut, and something on top of it is a great deal too big for it: the whole watermelon.

Pull each thing out and hold it up in complete silence. They will supply the word before you can.

The sun hat → “Summer!”  The fan → “Hot!”  The dragon boat → “Sun!”  The goggles → “Swim!”

Last of all, one small thing left in the bottom of the bowl, already half gone. Hold it up so the light comes through it. “ICE!”

4 min Teach · Ice, then the whole week

Every child gets one ice cube in their own hand and closes their fist round it. Nobody puts it down. We say the whole week with our bodies, twice — slow, then fast:

Open every hand together and look: the ice has melted, and the water is still there. Nothing was lost; it only changed. Then the three ice cubes from Tuesday's dishes get their verdict, out loud, from the children.

Littles do the five gestures and shout the five words. Bigs owe you a whole sentence each: “It is hot in summer.” “I can swim in the water.” “The ice is melting.”

Teacher fails: on “my ice is all gone”, hunt for it on the floor, under the mat, behind a child, insisting somebody has taken it. Let them explain melting to you. That explanation, in their words, is the assessment.

Chinese moment: the 粽 card joins the row — 夏 · 热 · 太阳 · 水 · 粽, the whole week on the mat. Then 冰化了, said with the open wet hand. And tell them about 夏至 on the 21st: the longest day of the whole year — and after that day the daylight starts getting shorter again. Watch their faces.

3 min Song · Summer, Summer, Sunny Day — Friday verse, then the WHOLE song

The finale: chorus → Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday → chorus, with the watermelon sitting on the mat in front of everybody and nobody allowed a slice until the last chord. They learned it one verse a morning without ever noticing, and this run-through is the review of the whole week.

3 min Game · Watermelon share

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The watermelon comes in whole. Hold it up, let three children feel how heavy it is, and knock on it so they hear it is hollow. Then it goes out and comes back cut, on the big plate.

Hand a slice to every child, two hands, looking at them: “Here you are.” and they answer “Thank you!” Then count round the circle out loud to check nobody has been missed — the counting is what makes the waiting bearable.

On three, everybody bites at once. Littles say “Cold!” Bigs tell you: “The watermelon is cold and sweet.”

The waiting is the lesson, exactly as it was in December. Twenty children holding a slice of watermelon and not eating it is a harder and better piece of work than anything on a shelf.

1 min Close + awards

Every child gets a “You are a STAR!” award to take home. Then, standing, sticky, all five gestures:

Got 3 spare minutes? Sing the whole song one more time outside, in the shade, with the 艾草 bundle from Wednesday passed round for one last sniff. Then tell them what next week is: graduation.

The four chords

Tempo: bright and easy, like walking to the pool, and a proper rest before “ice-cold lemonade” so the shiver lands. Am appears exactly twice — at the end of the chorus's third line and at the start of Wednesday's dragon-boat verse — and it is the easiest shape of the four: one finger, second fret of the G string. C is one finger, F is two, G7 is three, Am is one.

Chorus — sing it every single day

Sing the chorus twice each time. The actions are the whole point — a two-year-old who makes the sun circle, presses on a hat, drinks and finds the shade has understood the week's three rules, whether or not a single word comes out.

One verse a day — C and G7, with one Am on Wednesday

The build: each day sing chorus → today's verse → chorus. By Friday they know five verses without ever “learning” the song — and Friday's finale, sung with the watermelon on the mat and nobody touching it, doubles as the review of the whole week.

If you're brand new to ukulele

Practice this loop for five minutes tonight: C (4 strums) → F (4 strums) → Am → G7 → C. That is the whole chorus, and the whole song is those four shapes. C is one finger, Am is one finger, F is two, G7 is three — learn them in that order, and if Am still frightens you, play C in its place and nobody in the room will ever know. If your fingers get stuck, put the uke down, give one child the paper fan and do the finger-play instead: the class will not notice, and the actions carry the meaning either way.