Summer School Theme Packs

Summer School Theme Packs, available with Raz-Plus and Reading A-Z, give you everything you need to deliver skills-based, differentiated instruction that can be adapted to any summer school setting. The packs make it easy to engage your students in learning and developing reading comprehension skills. These theme packs are also available in Spanish, so they’re a great addition to any dual-language and bilingual program.

If you’re looking for resources in English or Spanish that will keep your students engaged this summer, here are some facts to get you started.

What is included in each pack?

Each pack focuses on a specific comprehension skill, such as comparison and contrast, and on a guiding question, such as “What is art?”

Each pack includes printable and projectable materials for daily grammar exercises, graphic organizers, games, a shared reading book, books to read out loud, leveled books and quizzes, and a teacher lesson plan that contains a modeled reading passage, and a practice passage.

What are the themes?

We have summer school theme packs for 1st grade, 2nd-3rd grade, and 4th-5th grade. Each of these levels has packs that center around the following themes: Art, Careers/Technology, Innovation/Technology, Citizenship, Habitats/Adaptations, People in History, People in Stories, People of Influence, Landmarks/Places, and Traditional Tales.

What are the benefits for my students?

Summer School Theme packs provide students opportunities for focused skill practice with multiple text genres in a variety of settings, from whole class and small group activities to independent reading. Students will also benefit from the theme packs’ flexible structure, which encourages them to participate in a variety of activities, such as games and writing responses, to investigate a guiding question in every lesson.

How can I use Summer School Theme Packs in my classroom?

You can center your entire curriculum on these packs, or find ways to include the packs in small doses. Each pack comes with a five-day lesson plan, and has enough activities for an entire week of lessons, but you can distribute the materials and lessons across multiple weeks. All Raz-Plus and Reading A-Z materials are standards-aligned, so you know that however you use them, your students will be working towards state, local and national curricular standards.

You can assign a different theme pack to a group of students based on interest, too. For example, if you have a group of students who love painting and drawing, they can complete the “What is art?” theme pack, while other groups who gravitate towards science or technology will enjoy the Habitats/Adaptations pack or the Careers/Technology pack.