Add a pinch of literacy to your science area or activities by including summer literature into your season theme. Read a few summer season books to your students or leave them out in the science area for the kids to page through. Choose books that focus on summer weather, the sun or the heat -- making sure to include concepts that match up with your science lessons. For example, if you are discussing how the mercury rises in the summer months, opt for a book such as "Hot Days" by Jennifer S. Burke -- which features information on how the weather effects a young child over the course of a summer day -- "Summer (Four Seasons Series)" -- with kids engaging in seasonal play activities -- by Nuria Roca or Cynthia Amoroso and Robert B. Noved's "Summer (Weather Watch)."
Engage your young students in a summer story that features beloved characters from TV or the movies. Play to your preschoolers' interests by reading a book such as Norman Bridwell's "Clifford Keeps Cool," Naomi Kleinberg's "Elmo and Abbey's Wacky Weather Day" or "Dora's Summer Parade" by Wendy A. Wax. These pre-k reads feature well-known characters from literature and television that your students, most likely, already know and enjoy. Their prior knowledge of and interest in these characters will make it more likely that the young students will engage in your summer-themed book reading activities.
When the weather gets warm, the birds, bees and all kinds of other creatures come out to play. Help your preschoolers to learn about the animal kingdom, while getting in a literacy lesson, by reading summer animal books. Susan Hood's "Caterpillar Spring, Butterfly Summer" is an easy-to-read book that features the transition from creepy crawly to beautiful butterfly. If you are looking for literature that features fabulous photos, "Animals in Summer" by Jane R. McCauley has colorful real-life pictures for the kids to peruse.
One of the most notable facets of a summer-time vacation is the family beach trip. Explore a summer-time beach theme by reading books on the ocean and activities that kids may do on the sand or in the surf. Try "At the Beach" by Anne Rockwell to help your young students learn about what a typical child does at the beach -- such as applying sunscreen or wading through the water. Patricia Hubbell's "Sea, Sand, Me!" also features a child's day at the beach, looking at everything from seaweed to seagulls. If you want to have your students learn about what is in, and what comes out of, the ocean, Debra Frasier's "Out of the Ocean" is a colorfully imaginative option.