During this time of school closures due to the COVID-19 virus, it is important to set up a regular routine for your children to continue learning. This is important because children need routine and regular expectations in order to thrive and they also need to continue to learn despite the obstacles.
Set a routine of at least 4-5 hours of academics per day and stick to it! This could be two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon and one in the evening. Websites like learnalberta.ca, IXL, alberta.exambank.com, k-5learning.com, khanacademy.org are good resources for different subjects. They can provide valuable academic back-up while waiting for your child’s school to provide educational resources and information about how they plan to deliver the grade level curriculum.
Keep an eye out for any assignments posted on various school websites. Ask you children to show you what has been posted so you can verify that they are getting their assignments and also handing them in. A lot of the junior high and high schools have their textbooks online and there are always activities and questions to do at the end of all chapters. Keep going, read ahead.
Pick a novel to read as a family and have discussions about the characters, motive, affect on others, influences, and other elements of the story. Depending on the age level, each child could read their own novel and write about the elements of their story. This could easily take an hour of study time in a day. When one novel is completed, choose another one. If your child is just learning how to read, spend more time reading with them and getting them to read to you.
Practice regular Math facts by playing card games or dice games. For example: throw two dice down and whoever can add/multiply them first gets a point.
Have your child do a research project by finding information about their chosen topic (from a book at home or the internet) and writing at least three paragraphs about three different things within the topic (ex: Blue Whales – Migration, how and what they eat, how long they can stay under water). Make a poster/ mobile or other art idea to go along with it. Older kids could research and write essays about topics of interest, which are at least five paragraphs each. Once done, have them present it to you like they would a bigger audience to practice public speaking.
Practice money skills by gathering up the change around the house and play store to develop money skills. This could also be a valuable time to teach your child how to budget and save money.
Make at least one hour a day be outdoor fun time and get the kids to help out more with the cooking and other daily tasks.
The Literacy Workshop is now offering grade level group and private lessons in Language Arts and Math for grades 1 to 9 via Zoom Video Conferencing. Lessons are available in 40 minute time slots on the hour from 9 am-12 pm and 1-6pm, Monday to Friday.
For best results, we will try to schedule a regular time slot for group lessons. Individual homework support and AB curriculum-based assignments will be provided.
Sign up by calling 403-874-4497, or via email.
