FREE DELIVERY on all UK online orders over £50!FREE DELIVERY on all UK online orders over £50!
The collaboration between parents and teachers is crucial in keeping the wheels of education turning while children are at home during the COVID-19 shutdown over the next few weeks.
“The minutes and hours spent at school are critical to buildingknowledge and fostering motivation,” explains educator, Erin Albee. “But theseare unique times. All of us in education must work energetically to come upwith solutions. By recognising the partnership with parents at home, we willfind a way to get through this together.”
How we as parents structure our children’s time at home inthe coming days and weeks is not only important to our children but will provecrucial to our own sanity. Things may seem upside down in the beginning so it’sessential to put routines in place and let your children know what expectationswill be, and how the family will work together to make this time successful.
To help, we’ve put together an example of how you could planthe day. When thinking about a routine, keep in mind that children wouldn’tspend the entire day behind a desk. There’s a lot of non-academic activity thatgoes on including break time, play time, reading and more. While formallearning is important, it’s equally important to find a balance.
Teachers and creators of Learning Resources tacklingtables, Dennis and Margi Brown, recommend you draw up a timetable with your child that works for both of you. “Mornings are best for lively minds so perhaps block three or four sessions of 30-40 minutes and choose a subject for each. Focused learning is far more productive.
Participatein their learning. Look at what the lesson involves, make sure your childunderstands the expectation and then encourage them to workindependently. At the end of the session, go over what it is they’velearned/done and address any misconceptions.
Enjoy a break between sessions and ensure there’s variety in these sessions. Learning is fun especially if you share it!”
Image: Learning Resources Time Tracker Mini
Tip: To help keep to your schedule, try our Time Tracker Mini. Ideal for home and classroom use, it can be programmed from five minutes to up to two hours.
To get your planning started, here’s an example of how youcould structure the day…
Image: Getty Images
Before 09:00: Keep the before school routine as normal as possible. Eat breakfast, make beds, brush teeth and get dressed. Doing the everyday stuff will make things feel more normal.
09:00-10:00: It’s time to get moving! Go out and walk the family dog. Practise some yoga (try Cosmic Kids Yoga on YouTube). Ride a bike or throw a ball around. Getting the wiggles out is crucial before hitting the books.
10:00-11:00: Academic time! If your school is offering it, now is the time to hop online for e-learning assignments posted by the teacher. For younger children work on flashcards, sorting activities, or educational maths games. If you are floating between several children, remember that during a normal school day, your child is in a class with lots of kids. Your child’s teacher isn’t standing by their desk every second, and your child is used to working independently more than you realise.
11:00-12:00: Time to get creative. Dive into a STEM project. Draw or paint a picture. Bake some biscuits. Practice your instrument. Construct a craft or engineer a design.
Image: Getty Images
12:00-12:30: Everyone is hungry so let’s eat! Have children lend a hand for lunch. Don’t switch on the television or pass out tablets. Just like lunch at school, interact and chat while everyone is eating.
12:30-13:00: Let’s all pitch in and clean up after lunch. Take out the recycling, wipe down countertops, door handles, and light switches around the house.
13:00-14:30: Settle down for some quiet time. Take a nap, read a book quietly or work on a puzzle.
14:30-16:00: Back to academics. Finish any assignments from the morning.
16:00-17:00: Take in some afternoon fresh air. Head outside for a walk or play. Build an obstacle course or create a family treasure hunt.
17:00-18:00: Dinner time. Ask children to set the table or help make dinner. No electronics (naturally) during dinnertime. Talk about the day’s highs and lows. Set goals for tomorrow.
18:00-19:30: Children’s choice: play a family game or watch a funny TV programme together.
19:30 until bedtime: Wind down. Take a bath or shower (especially important to get rid of any germs). Read a book together.
The collaboration between parents and teachers is crucial in keeping the wheels of education turning while children are at home during the COVID-19 shutdown over the next few weeks.
“The minutes and hours spent at school are critical to buildingknowledge and fostering motivation,” explains educator, Erin Albee. “But theseare unique times. All of us in education must work energetically to come upwith solutions. By recognising the partnership with parents at home, we willfind a way to get through this together.”
How we as parents structure our children’s time at home inthe coming days and weeks is not only important to our children but will provecrucial to our own sanity. Things may seem upside down in the beginning so it’sessential to put routines in place and let your children know what expectationswill be, and how the family will work together to make this time successful.
To help, we’ve put together an example of how you could planthe day. When thinking about a routine, keep in mind that children wouldn’tspend the entire day behind a desk. There’s a lot of non-academic activity thatgoes on including break time, play time, reading and more. While formallearning is important, it’s equally important to find a balance.
Teachers and creators of Learning Resources tacklingtables, Dennis and Margi Brown, recommend you draw up a timetable with your child that works for both of you. “Mornings are best for lively minds so perhaps block three or four sessions of 30-40 minutes and choose a subject for each. Focused learning is far more productive.
Participatein their learning. Look at what the lesson involves, make sure your childunderstands the expectation and then encourage them to workindependently. At the end of the session, go over what it is they’velearned/done and address any misconceptions.
Enjoy a break between sessions and ensure there’s variety in these sessions. Learning is fun especially if you share it!”
Image: Learning Resources Time Tracker Mini
Tip: To help keep to your schedule, try our Time Tracker Mini. Ideal for home and classroom use, it can be programmed from five minutes to up to two hours.
To get your planning started, here’s an example of how youcould structure the day…
Image: Getty Images
Before 09:00: Keep the before school routine as normal as possible. Eat breakfast, make beds, brush teeth and get dressed. Doing the everyday stuff will make things feel more normal.
09:00-10:00: It’s time to get moving! Go out and walk the family dog. Practise some yoga (try Cosmic Kids Yoga on YouTube). Ride a bike or throw a ball around. Getting the wiggles out is crucial before hitting the books.
10:00-11:00: Academic time! If your school is offering it, now is the time to hop online for e-learning assignments posted by the teacher. For younger children work on flashcards, sorting activities, or educational maths games. If you are floating between several children, remember that during a normal school day, your child is in a class with lots of kids. Your child’s teacher isn’t standing by their desk every second, and your child is used to working independently more than you realise.
11:00-12:00: Time to get creative. Dive into a STEM project. Draw or paint a picture. Bake some biscuits. Practice your instrument. Construct a craft or engineer a design.
Image: Getty Images
12:00-12:30: Everyone is hungry so let’s eat! Have children lend a hand for lunch. Don’t switch on the television or pass out tablets. Just like lunch at school, interact and chat while everyone is eating.
12:30-13:00: Let’s all pitch in and clean up after lunch. Take out the recycling, wipe down countertops, door handles, and light switches around the house.
13:00-14:30: Settle down for some quiet time. Take a nap, read a book quietly or work on a puzzle.
14:30-16:00: Back to academics. Finish any assignments from the morning.
16:00-17:00: Take in some afternoon fresh air. Head outside for a walk or play. Build an obstacle course or create a family treasure hunt.
17:00-18:00: Dinner time. Ask children to set the table or help make dinner. No electronics (naturally) during dinnertime. Talk about the day’s highs and lows. Set goals for tomorrow.
18:00-19:30: Children’s choice: play a family game or watch a funny TV programme together.
19:30 until bedtime: Wind down. Take a bath or shower (especially important to get rid of any germs). Read a book together.
READ MORE
While your little ones might be out of the classroom for a while, there are easy ways to ensure that they keep learning in the meantime.
We asked learning expert Amy Torf of Noggin Builders to come up with some fun and easy at-home learning lessons and activities you can do with your Learning Resources toys. Here are some of her favourite suggestions:
Imaginative STEM with Gears! Gears! Gears!
Learning Resources Gears are a fascinating simple machine. Just connecting them to see how they spin is fun to watch! In addition to putting on a good show, Gears! Gears! Gears sets also help your kids learn critical thinking skills every time they build. As you and your kids design your own Gears! creations, ask them questions that get them thinking beyond the build. What direction and speed do the gears spin? When you connect different sized gears together, how does that affect their rotations? As you add more gears to your creation, how does it change? The skills in Gears! sets aren’t limited to STEM, either. Ask your kids to tell a story about their imaginative machines – how do they work? What do they do? How might they make the world a better place?
Money Matters with Pretend and Play Calculator Cash Register
When you use your imagination, you can go just about anywhere (even when you have to stay home!) In addition to stretching their creativity, social skills, and emotional development, engaging your kids in fun pretend play is also a great opportunity to practice and build maths skills. Here’s an example to try with the Calculator Cash Register:
Have your kids set up a store with their favourite toys, complete with prices. They’ll be the shopkeepers, and you’ll be the customer. As you shop, have your child calculate the sum (total) for the items you want to buy. Pay for your pretend purchases with more money than the total, and have your child subtract to make change. If you buy more than one of the same item help your child multiply to find the total.
Physics Fun with Tumble Trax Magnetic Marble Run
Physics fun is happening all around us, so it’s easy to find at-home examples of force, motion, and more. One of my favourite physics tools is the classic marble run. They’re hands-on and engaging, and a great way to visualise and explore concepts like gravity and energy. Have your kids design their own courses using the Tumble Trax Magnetic Marble Run, and have them make the following observations: Does the marble always move down? What speed does the marble have at different parts of the run? How tall or long can you make your marble run without the marble falling off?
Much like the Gears! example above, you can also turn these physics lessons into crafty imaginative play; as they build, encourage kids to make more marble tracks out of items you find around the house, like cardboard tubes, blocks, and more. How big will your marble run get?
At Learning Resources, we’re here to help you make the best of this challenging time. Stay safe and healthy, and check back with our blog for more tips and learning ideas as the situation unfolds.
While your little ones might be out of the classroom for a while, there are easy ways to ensure that they keep learning in the meantime.
We asked learning expert Amy Torf of Noggin Builders to come up with some fun and easy at-home learning lessons and activities you can do with your Learning Resources toys. Here are some of her favourite suggestions:
Imaginative STEM with Gears! Gears! Gears!
Learning Resources Gears are a fascinating simple machine. Just connecting them to see how they spin is fun to watch! In addition to putting on a good show, Gears! Gears! Gears sets also help your kids learn critical thinking skills every time they build. As you and your kids design your own Gears! creations, ask them questions that get them thinking beyond the build. What direction and speed do the gears spin? When you connect different sized gears together, how does that affect their rotations? As you add more gears to your creation, how does it change? The skills in Gears! sets aren’t limited to STEM, either. Ask your kids to tell a story about their imaginative machines – how do they work? What do they do? How might they make the world a better place?
Money Matters with Pretend and Play Calculator Cash Register
When you use your imagination, you can go just about anywhere (even when you have to stay home!) In addition to stretching their creativity, social skills, and emotional development, engaging your kids in fun pretend play is also a great opportunity to practice and build maths skills. Here’s an example to try with the Calculator Cash Register:
Have your kids set up a store with their favourite toys, complete with prices. They’ll be the shopkeepers, and you’ll be the customer. As you shop, have your child calculate the sum (total) for the items you want to buy. Pay for your pretend purchases with more money than the total, and have your child subtract to make change. If you buy more than one of the same item help your child multiply to find the total.
Physics Fun with Tumble Trax Magnetic Marble Run
Physics fun is happening all around us, so it’s easy to find at-home examples of force, motion, and more. One of my favourite physics tools is the classic marble run. They’re hands-on and engaging, and a great way to visualise and explore concepts like gravity and energy. Have your kids design their own courses using the Tumble Trax Magnetic Marble Run, and have them make the following observations: Does the marble always move down? What speed does the marble have at different parts of the run? How tall or long can you make your marble run without the marble falling off?
Much like the Gears! example above, you can also turn these physics lessons into crafty imaginative play; as they build, encourage kids to make more marble tracks out of items you find around the house, like cardboard tubes, blocks, and more. How big will your marble run get?
At Learning Resources, we’re here to help you make the best of this challenging time. Stay safe and healthy, and check back with our blog for more tips and learning ideas as the situation unfolds.
READ MORE
