As schools remain closed due to COVID-19, parents are finding themselves with an unexpected and challenging new job title: Teacher. In response, GGP Program Coordinator Kris delivered an online Home-Schooling Information Session to offer online educational resources along with tips for creating routines at home. To share this information with the wider community, we have listed the key takeaways from this session below.
Create a Schedule
- Maintain a structured day to keep children engaged, focused, and on task.
- Follow a routine similar to the one they experienced in school.
- Routine should include daily timed tasks involving schoolwork, recess and mealtimes.
- Three hours a day is a good amount of time for education.
- Build important life skills into education. Involve your kids in cooking, yoga, meditation, exercise and daily tasks around the home.
Here is a sample schedule:
Best practices and helpful resources
- Be sure to communicate with your child’s teachers by email and ask them to send resources. You can also check out this website from Saskatoon Public Schools.
- Explore online resources. We have curated a list for you below.
General resources:
Khan Academy offers well-known courses for adults and their site for kids covers a wide-range of subjects.
Reading is fundamental and FUN! Aesop’s Fables are classic stories that will engage children while helping them build literacy skills. Read them for free here.
Scholastic offers activities and educational resources for children in Pre-K through Grade 9.
Subject-specific resources:
Mathletics: https://www.mathletics.com
Mathletics makes learning engaging, fun, and rewarding. Designed to help learners achieve their best in math. Mathletics help will help your child with catching up on tougher math subjects.
- Hundreds of hours of engaging math activities.
- Exercises that continually challenge your learners to build their knowledge.
- Aligned to worldwide, world-class curricula, ensuring your family has access to amazing education.
Adaptive Mind: https://www.adaptedmind.com/login.php
Various activities-based curriculum for multiple subjects including social studies, math, and reading and writing activities.
- One-month free trial.
60 Second Histories: https://www.squaducation.com/60second-histories
300+ bite-sized history videos covering 20 historical eras. Support notes are provided to aid lesson planning.
- All 60-second films come with transcripts and highlighted key words to learn new English vocabulary
- Each film has a short quiz at the end to aid retention of key information
- About $44 per year for unlimited access to videos after free 2-week trial
Epic–reading resource: https://www.getepic.com
Epic is Digital Library for children 12 and under
- Instantly access 40,000 of the best books, learning videos, quizzes & more
- Join free and receive a one-month free trial
English Club.com: https://www.englishclub.com
Free online resource that is great for EAL students. English resources for K-12.
- Access to activities that are based on grammar and vocabulary
- Pronunciation, speaking, reading and listening lessons, games and quizzes
- The resource also provides business and English for work programs
- ESL Chat
Boggles World: https://bogglesworldesl.com
Free online resource that is great for EAL students
- English activities for children and adults
- Access to hundreds of free printable activities as well as online games
ESL Games: https://www.eslgamesplus.com
Online resource that is great for EAL students
- $59.95 for a single-user for 1-year
You can view additional resources for English learners here.
COVID-19 Resources
It’s the perfect time to teach children the importance of good hand hygiene.
- As always, it is very important to wash your hands frequently, and cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your arm when coughing or sneezing
- Remember to wash your hands for 20 seconds, with soap and running water
- Wash your hands after touching your nose or mouth, blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing, after using the washroom, after touching an animal, before and after preparing food, etc.
The Saskatoon COVID-19 Service Directory offers local information and resources including education and activities, health and wellbeing, arts and entertainment, and more. This site is regularly updated so it’s a good one to bookmark.
Children may be feeling confusion and fear about the virus and changes to their normal schedule. This article from the Globe and Mail has tips for talking to kids about COVID-19.
Himama.com offers a variety of coronavirus resources from activity ideas for different age groups to tips for parents working from home.
Stay involved with GGP
GGP offers a variety of online programs to help newcomers of all ages feel engaged, build skills, and gain knowledge. Consider this your invitation to check out our calendar and join us for a program!
Not a client yet? Fill out our short online form and a GGP staff member will give you a call.
As always, let us know if we can support you. Call us at 306-665-0268 or email info@globalgatheringplace.com.
