Everything's a little strange right now. Including this post, which is going to be written in the first person, rather than from the perspective of the students. For most of us, yesterday's announcement from Rob Fleming, the Education Minister, left us with a mixed bag of feelings. I've been wanting to reach out to parents, but wasn't quite sure how to do it. I trust that behind the scenes, there's a flurry of district personnel communicating and planning, but most of us teachers haven't had a lot of trickle-down information just yet. (I keep having to remind myself that it's only been just over 24 hours since the announcement). And it is Spring Break. Students, teachers and administrators alike are actually all supposed to be taking a breather from all things school-related right now. But since we are mostly constrained to our houses at the moment, time seems to be ticking at a much slower rate, giving us more time to think...to worry...to stress... Or maybe that's just me. I don't do well with the unknown. I'm a planner. Not being able to plan drives me just slightly batty, God bless my husband. So for the worriers out there like me, let's agree to STOP. Take a breath. And remember these words of wisdom... As for my family, our quarantined Spring Break so far has looked like bike rides (my son's skills have improved so much already!)... ...and adventures in Nature's playground... We've kept ourselves and the kids busy by transforming the "baby room" into a "big girl" room, and putting together bunk beds for the boys. Mom and Dad are playing games with them, building LEGO sets, practicing our complete lack of drawing skills, having dance parties, and just trying to enjoy and keep them calm amidst a world turned slightly upside-down. Despite having two parents for teachers, these kids have been doing almost nothing that would be seen as traditionally "academic", with the exception of our 5 to 10 minutes of reading before bed. Miles does his alphabet cards (in English since he's in preschool) and Ella practices a French book that she's been working on for a while. It doesn't seem to matter how tired they are, they never want to skip this. It's just become a part of what we do every day. Of note: Normally I try to really minimize my verbal corrections when my daughter is reading, choosing instead to just keep pointing at a word until she says it correctly, or helping her parse difficult words into syllables by covering and revealing little bits at a time. But that's hard to do while video-ing. ;-) Right now the weather outside is amazing but when the rainy days come, or when the kids need some more down time, here are some interesting links and ideas to keep them busy until we, at the school level, provide you with more information: School's cancelled - what now? 200+ activities you can do with kids at homeMo Willems (author of the Elephant & Piggie books) is hosting a livestream doodle every dayArt for Kids Hub - watch a dad teach his daughter to draw (easy enough for Kindergarten/Grade 1)Non-techy ideas:Teach kids to...
- tie their shoes - follow a recipe - count change (and for an extra challenge, even write down what the total amount looks like) - do chores around the house (because as a family, we are a team and we work together) - how to say their French letter names/sounds - how to read French vocabulary words (you can use the flashcards that I've sent and the pronunciation guide) - how to write their name with the first letter being an uppercase letter and the rest in lowercase letters (a great DAILY activity) - how to write phonetically (have them practice writing a sentence in English or French, dragging the sounds out to make words. You may need to help them with blends: "Which two letters make the 'CH' sound"?) Then they can even draw a picture to go with their sentence! - count to 20 in French - count backwards from 10 (Kindergarten) or 20 (Grade 1) in French - improve physical skills (bike riding, kicking a soccer ball, skipping, jumping...) - improve fine motor skills (draw, colour, play with Play-Doh, sew...) - think outside of the box (use recycled materials or random objects from around the house to create something) - research things that they're interested in (they'll need your help on the Internet or with books) - lose well AND win graciously while playing a game - express gratitude for the simple things ("Thank you for making dinner", "Thank you for sharing your toy"...) Comments are closed.
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