August 9-13, 2021 TEACHERS REBECCA AND NADIFA
UPDATES:
OPTION B news:
Classes are winding down and after 8/13 Teachers will be in touch with you to share more about the return to school process and schedule. PLEASE LET ME KNOW if you prefer TEXT/EMAIL/PHONE/or TEAMS calls for updates about return to school.
LAST DAY OF REBECCA’S ONLINE CLASSES: FRI 8/13 Many of you live far from High Point Community Center where my classroom is located so our class will separate and some of you will be in new classrooms in the fall. Please join me online for some stories and dance party celebrations next week at the end of our classes online: Thurs and Fri from 10:30-11:00 Bring your scarves and your favorite books! Wed 3:30 class cancelled.
Newsletter set to 7.5 hours of home learning a week
UPDATES: The rest of this summer before school starts, try practicing self-help skills, conversation, and READING/STORTYTELLING:
-having kids share favorite books aloud with others,
-tell stories,
-and practice D.E.A.R=Drop Everything And Read which is what elementary kids do every day: focused reading every day!
Social Emotional
In the tools of the mind curriculum that we use in the classroom, there is an activity set called “self-regulation and “this is where we talk with children about meditation, breathing, and being mindful to see/share with others. You can try animal moving at home and also look at some tips on self-regulation on the tools of the mind parent links.
Animal self-regulation game from Pinterest
Also See some “Self-regulation/relaxation/self control” ideas from Tools of the Mind curriculum:
- helping your child learn to wait
- encouraging your children to clean up
- Quiet time is important
- Ideas for when you are frustrated
- Think about the day and what you liked/dis-liked/want to do differently tomorrow
SKILLS: conversation about feelings and vocabulary and practicing relaxation/self-regulation skills.
Language / Literacy
BOOK ONLINE: Are You Ready for School? (uniteforliteracy.com)
Expert Answers to Family Questions About Reading for Bilingual Families | Reading Rockets
“Question: I am still learning English myself. How can I help my child learn to read in English?
One of the most important things parents can do is provide lots of language and literacy experiences at home. Language and literacy expert Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan suggests that you share family stories with your child, use descriptive vocabulary in everyday conversations, and try to read aloud for at least 20 minutes each day to model fluent reading and comprehension skills.
Talking counts too!
With young children
- Talk about the things you see in your neighborhood, on trips around town, or on television. These conversations help build a child’s understanding of her world.
- When reading, pause to ask questions or comment on the story. Ask, “Why do you think he did that?” or “What do you think is going to happen next?”
- Use interesting and new words with your child. For example, “This cookie is scrumptious! It is really good!” or “I can see you’re reluctant to leave, but we can come back tomorrow.”
- Tell your children stories from your own life, or about the day they were born. This helps develop their personal and cultural identity.
It doesn’t matter what language you use — a rich language environment creates better readers!”
WRITING PRACTICE:
Watch this alphabet letter video so you can see how to make pictures with the alphabet letters!
SINGING!
Shake your sillies out song
Can you move and groove around your living room?
LANGUAGE SKILLS: Vocabulary/conversation practice
Math / Science
Make marble art in a baking panwI used food coloring! If you tape two pieces of paper together with the tape on the backside and press them into a pan, you can roll marbles around after you dip them with a spoon into food coloring! Don’t have a marble? Use a tiny bead or ball!
https://www.smallhandsbigart.com/shake-rattle-roll/
SKILLS: fine motor skill of taping, conversation skills, vocabulary, and scientific observation.
Math / Science
MATH/SCIENCE:
SKILLS: conversation, counting, observation and recalling details
SCIENCE:
Wonder what your children are learning when they’re playing? Watch them play with things that roll in your house to do some homework for the parent teacher online discussions. Kids are learning so much when they watch things roll. They’re learning how they can:
- solve problems,
- move objects to make things work the way they need to to have a successful ball game or car game,
- and they’re learning a lot about scientific concepts like friction, force, gravity, etc.
Make ramps with things in your house like hand towels, grip matting for shelves, sandpaper or other rough or smooth materials like foil.
https://www.pre-kpages.com/science-kids-exploring-ramps
SKILLS: observing and predicting, problem-solving, vocabulary and FUN!
Problem Solving
THINKING GAME:
Ask kids to spot the difference you can have a lot of fun seeing what your kids notice as they practice!
Safe YouTube video of spot the difference highlights magazine: don’t forget to before the timer starts 🙂
SKILLS: describing things out loud & listening & taking turns, and recalling.
Movement / Play
PRETEND PLAY & MOVING GAME FUN: exercising for 40 minutes a day as it is important for kids’ physical and emotional health. Exercising helps them calm down enough to listen to other seated activities and parent messages.
MON: Mirror each other- Teach your child to copy your movements exactly as you do them while facing each other.
Then invite your child to lead and you copy them.
You can practice this to create some emotional connection with your child plus have physical fun!
TUES: You and your child each think of three different types of movements and create “stations” in your home living room: do 3 to 10 repetitions of each movement at each station. Put quick outline figures doing movements on small papers.
WED: Wacky Wednesday movement: get silly! Get out some scarves and funny costumes and dance around.
THURS: Put on a 30 minute soundtrack and set a timer: invite your children to dance, do the station movements from another day activity, and move around the room in a slow/fast rhythm following the playlist you are playing.
FRI: Family fun day – go for a walk around the block: bring your own “iSpy bingo page“
- Divide the paper into different squares and draw a quick sketch or symbol to show different things you’re looking for:
- stop sign shape,
- numbers you might find on houses or street signs,
- letters yu might find on signs if you know there’s signs in that block,
- the shape of a certain kind of leaf, the picture of a birdhouse, a wind chime, or something else like a flag you might find on the block.
SKILLS: muscle practice & exercise and conversation and recall