This guest post is written by Alva Sachs. Not only is she an award-winning children’s author, she is a former elementary school educator with sixteen years of classroom experience. Alva holds a MS Ed. and is a Board Member of Reading Is Fundamental of Southern California.
Most people know that the “dog days of summer” seem to occur during the hottest days of the summer season. Webster defines “dog days” as...
1: the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere
2: a period of stagnation or inactivity
2: a period of stagnation or inactivity
But where does the term come from? Why do we call the hot, sultry days of summer “dog days?”
Long ago, when the night sky was not obscured by artificial lights and smog, people from around the world, drew images in the sky by “connecting the dots” of stars. The images drawn were in direct relationship upon the culture: The Chinese saw different images than the Native Americans, who saw different images than the Europeans. These star images are now called constellations. Constellations mapped out in the sky now came from our European ancestors.
In the summer, however, Sirius, the “dog star,” rises and sets with the sun. In late July, Sirius is in conjunction with the sun, and our ancient ancestors believed that its heat added to the heat of the sun, creating a stretch of hot weather. They named this period of time, from 20 days before to 20 days after, “dog days” after the Dog Star.
Now that we have Webster’s knowledge and astrological interpretation of the Dog Days of Summer, I will share my own interpretations: Schlepping, planning, eating, hopping in and out of the car, trying to beat the clock and get from one activity to the other on time with all of the kids. Then racing home for dinner, possibly seeing a movie together, bowling, or other fun family time to enjoy the summer time TOGETHER! If we were lucky, a family vacation would slip in every now and then.
As much as we all want to SLOW down and enjoy the time off school, and other scheduled activities, we do lose sight of some very important cognitive and developmental aspects of our children in this whirlwind society of today.
As a classroom teacher, I so remember the month of “catch-up” time I had to do once school was in session again. All areas of learning were compromised by those Dog Days of Summer. Once the kids were recharged, we were ready to begin anew.
Summer fun often turns into summer loss educationally. Let’s be proactive, keep summer fun going, AND keep summer loss at a minimum!
Reading throughout the summer can take on many forms. Be prepared to be inventive, creative, and have fun with it.
Cook Together: Read recipes on the box with your child, have them read to YOU and get out all the ingredients
Grocery List: Have your child write your list as you take a peek through the refrigerator or pantry. This is good for listening, spelling, writing, and vocabulary
Sunday Morning Comics: This can be great fun for the whole family. Reading the panels of the comics are short, simple, and fun. Take turns picking out your favorite, appropriate comics and read aloud. Take turns being each of the characters in the comic. It is also fun to take the comic, cut it out, glue it on card stock, cut it into pieces, and numbers the back of them. Shuffle them and try to put them back in sequential order by reading the panels. Do this each week and in no time, you will have an activity box filled with smiles.
Vacation Time: If you are planning a car trip together, have maps for everyone. Use a highlighter to mark off your roads, cities, places you are staying, landmarks, and of course, restaurants where you may want to stop to eat or take a bathroom break! If you were flying, it would be cool to have a map of the USA or country you are going to visiting and find the cities you will be flying over.
Journal: I know this can be overused for “trendy” behavior but if done properly it can have wonderful benefits. It can be a combination of writing as well as drawing for the younger kids. Make your own journals ahead of time, there are many templates online or create one with your child. You could include:
Start out your journal:
Packing- What to Bring? Clothes, games, toys, books
Place, Date, Weather, What I Saw, Where We Ate and What I Ate, Clothes I wore for that day, souvenirs I bought.
Check out this site for samples for journals for kids at
Now that we have faced the Dog Days of Summer together, keep that lemonade on hand, refresh yourself with a nice swim, and at the end of the day each of you settle into a cozy spot with your favorite book!
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