We are in some crazy times right now with the current pandemic of COVID-19 or the "coronavirus" spreading around. With schools closing, teachers and parents are finding themselves in an unprecedented situation. Teachers are having to do distance learning with students as parents find themselves sudden thrown into a facilitator role with their children's academics. It's stressful for everyone involved and so I wanted to offer some ideas and resources that might help during this time.
(I am also currently working on getting a few more free resources up to help with other areas besides just math! Stay tuned!)
Math Review Packets with Review/Introduction for each Topic
I have created three "take home" math packets for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. I pulled one worksheet from each topic throughout the year for a total of 10 topics for each grade (keys included). Click on the one you need and it will take you to the download page.
Khan Academy
Don't forget that many parents haven't done long division in AGES. They may be a little frustrated and intimidated by having to review and teach some topics with students. Khan Academy has many ready to go math instructional videos for elementary through high school! If you haven't done a "flipped classroom," and made mini-instructional videos for students before, this is a easy, stress-free option to give parents and students a visual, step-by-step explanation of math concepts (both review and new). Be sure to utilize this amazing free resource! You can find it at this link.
Easy At-Home Science - Web Cam Animal Observations
This time of year is one of the best times for using web cams, especially for birds of prey. You can see nesting owls, hawks, and even eagles this time of year that students (and parents) will be excited to watch. I have another blog post here with lots of links for you to use, as well as a free Web Cam Observation activity you can send home.
More At-Home Science: Parts of a Plant: Seed Observations
The original requires the parent(s) to have a few vegetables or fruits on hand, but there are options here. An alternative could be to have parents show students different fruits or veggies online if they don't have any on hand, or you could choose certain pictures to send in an email or share online with parents! (A quick Google search will provide plenty of images!)
This activity has students looking at different fruits (as in the part of the plant) and seeds. Sketching them and answering some questions about seeds and fruit. Take a look to see if it matches with your curriculum!
Reviewing the Scientific Method
The scientific method is something that most students learn or review at the beginning of the year. Some use it repeatedly throughout the year, but if you feel your students could use a refresher and you haven't used the interactive notebook entry already, here is my free interactive notebook entry on the scientific method!
You can have parents do a simple experiment with students at home to use the flipbook.
One easy one is "Does smell affect taste?" If they have flavored candies like Skittles or Sweettarts you can have students taste each flavor normally and then have parents hand them different flavors while the student has their nose and eyes closed to see if they can correctly guess the flavor, or if taking away their smell affects their taste.
Another is "Does an egg float in fresh or salt water?" where parents can take an egg and place it gently in fresh water, and a bowl or cup containing salt water and observe which substance the egg floats in.
You can download this interactive notebook entry here:
Building up Deductive Reasoning: Logic Puzzles
Logic puzzles are an amazing way to build logical thinking skills and deductive reasoning, which are always useful for testing. I have an entire blog post on logic puzzles here and to get started I have a Logic Puzzles Freebie that starts with the basics. If that goes well, I have some free double and triple logic puzzles (see blow) as well that are more challenging. There are instructions on how to complete logic puzzles in each file.
I hope that these free resources and ideas can get you started! I'm hoping to create some more free take/send home items so stay tuned. Stay safe, stay calm, and cheers!
