As many parents and students have been discovering, online systems for learning and communication with families are not always completely successful at coping with the many thousands of people trying to simultaneously access them. Welcome to the world of crashed websites, error messages and failed logins!
Frustrating though this can be, it is perhaps time to step back a little and remember what learning and teaching is meant to be all about. This can be the time to make things simple - really simple. If all else fails and information, online lesson plans and video cannot be accessed, it can be wise to think about just what a learning day should look and feel like.
Literacy
Find some literacy activities that are ready to go. These can be printed at home, written on with a pen or pencil and can be stored in a folder for later reference or as evidence of learning. This could be a punctuation task, a point of view exercise, a paragraph that applies a particular genre of writing or a creative or persuasive text on a topic that is interesting for students. Literacy can be made a little easier if you go for a routine approach - some words to spell or practise, a grammar or spelling task and something creative.
If all else fails, find a good book to read or share, or listen to someone reading aloud.
Break
Have a break. Get up from the desk, move away from the Netflix. Move the body in some fashion - this could be a run round the block, some burpees or sit ups on the floor or playing some four square outside in the driveway.
Maths
Maths is ideally a sequential thing. It involves learning at the point of challenge across a range of topics that are suited to the educational needs and abilities of each student. But if you are in a tight spot and you have no idea what that level might be, then go for something relevant and local. Read a recipe and then work out the cost of ingredients, draw a picture of your house from the top looking down, make a graph or table of sports that people like in a house or group. Pop in some kind of reinforcement of skills that have been learnt before - fractions, decimals, times tables, addition, subtraction, solving equations and working out worded problems. Just like literacy, maths can be a combination of some fundamental skills that get practiced each day along with some kind of application task that is fun and interesting.
If you need a helping hand, you could try some of these tasks that are easy to print and go:
Graphs, tables and charts for at home learning (great for around Grade 5-7) https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Maths-at-home-using-data-graphs-and-tables-5423059
Easy to read recipes (perfect for lower reading ability students)
Coffee Cart Maths (suits older learners with limited maths skills who are working on basic addition and subtraction with numbers up to 20)
Up and moving
Can you see the system emerging here? Get up from the desk, move away from the screen or printables! After a burst of learning, it is time for a burst of movement. This could be a board game with siblings, a bike ride as a family or a solo outdoor game like hopscotch or darts. If possible, try and do a blend of fine motor (things that are done with the little muscles in the hands) and gross motor (big, whole body movements with the arms, legs and torso).
Inquiry or project learning
Many kids will be quite familiar with an approach that has some literacy and numeracy in the morning sessions and some kind of inquiry or 'finding out' task in the afternoon. This is a great time to let kids explore on their own - watch something on a history channel or dive deep into a documentary on geography or science. This can be something that is done using a scrapbook for pasting in pictures, comments, ideas or tasks related to a big idea of some kind.
If you are struggling for ideas, you could try one of these:
What do we know about the changes happening to glaciers?
How many animals and plants can you identify?
What are tectonic plates?
Have you ever heard of Mount Vesuvius?
What is the difference between an acid and a base?
How is ice cream made?
What would my ideal house look like?
Some kids will throw themselves into a project or inquiry topic while others will take a little longer to warm to the idea of being able to direct and control their own learning. In these tricky educational times, if you have a learner who is in the 'let me discover on my own' category, let them go. Check in with them every so often to make sure they are still on track and to encourage some accountability, and also to ask some questions about their topic. For less motivated folk, encourage them to use their hands to make, create and explore in relation to an inquiry topic. Allow a little mess and plan for clean up time later in the day.
Creative moments
Everyone has a creative side - some of us just hide it better than others! Make sure each day has some time set aside for unleashing creativeness in whatever form works for the person and the situation. This could be a great opportunity to learn a new art or craft skill, discover an instrument or spend time taking photos with a digital SLR camera or tablet device. Make sure you keep a record of the creations and that you celebrate and cherish all the things that are made that are a reflection of the experiences, ideas and emotions that are a part of this moment in time.
This digital photography scavenger hunt could be a useful option for getting kids exploring their creative side with a camera or tablet in hand:
Photography Scavenger Hunt
Wrap it up endings
This is the time for a pack away, end of the day moment (or two, depending on the level of mess). Encourage accountability for belongings if possible, and show how to pack away and store items for tomorrow. Ask for some feedback and reporting of what has been achieved, and talk a little about what tomorrow might look like. This can be a good time to reach those of us who tend to communicate better when our hands are busy - provide a clean up task and have a chat at the same time.
Thanks for this post! When stressed about work and money, we parents can forget that our children learn so much just from being involved in day-to-day life. I think the advice to use ordinary daily tasks as learning opportunities is exactly what many parents need to hear right now.