Things to do ....when home learning is getting too much.

22nd Mar 2020

_{Dear families,}

_{I hope you are all well. This is a time that we thought we would only view in movies and television. Unfortunately, this is a reality that we have to get through and work towards getting to a successful outcome for our families.}

_{Home Learning}

_{Please remember that home learning is an opportunity to develop your child's creativity and problem- solving skills. I've observed some horror stories online especially of timetables from 9 to 3 each day. That is way too much for the children and parents!}

_{I was sent an article with some lovely activities to stretch your child's imagination and integrate multiple skills.}

These are challenging times for us all, stick to the plan , keep your distance.

Kind regards

C O' Neill

Some lovely Ideas A List of Things to Do During COVID Closures Is Going Viral for All the Right Reasons Choose one a day to get you going ... a few have been adapted.

1. Interview a family member. Taking the time out to learn more about the people in your family might surprise your children. Get them to dig deep and think about their questions and their responses. Save these interviews so you can read them again.

2. Measure the area and perimeter of each room in your home. P6 and P7

3. Make a tally chart of the types of birds that land in your garden.

4. Be completely silent for 20 minutes, then write about the experience. In a world where there are so many distractions, it’s amazing what we notice when we’re silent.

5. Write and email a [real] letter to your principal . Info@stpatsps.holywood.co.uk 6. Build a tent out of blankets and chairs. Camp in it all day while you create stories to tell your family over dinner.

7. Learn Morse Code and use it to communicate with your siblings through walls and floors. P5 ,6 &7

8. WRITE a list in alphabetical order of the spices in your kitchen.

9. Stay up late and stargaze. When you don’t have to go to school in the morning, it can be okay to stay up late once in a while. Stretch out and watch the stars. If kids are curious about them, show them how to learn more.

10. Call a grandparent or older relative. Ask them to teach you the words to a song from their childhood days.

11. Using household materials, build a working rain gauge, barometer, and wind vane. Use this quiet time to tinker and consider how things are made.

12. Measure and record the time taken for different liquids require to turn to a solid in the freezer.

13. Design and build puppets and create a show.

14. Construct an outdoor tent.

15. Learn ten new big words. Make a glossary.

16. Draw a map of your home and neighborhood.

17. Sit silently for 15 minutes while you write down every sound you hear. When you are done, classify the sounds (high/low pitch, high/low volume, manmade v. naturally occurring.

18. Create a Venn Diagram of prime , square and cube numbers to 100 p6/7

19. Learn, practice, and perform a magic trick.

20 Learn, practice, and tell three new jokes. 21. Use household materials to make and play stringed, percussion, and wind instruments. Making instruments can be as easy as banging on a pot with a spoon, or you can try out these other ways to make instruments out of household goods. 22. Learn to shine a pair of shoes.

23. Collect leaves from ten different (non-harmful) plants. Sort them by size, colour, and texture.

24. Put your favorite book, toy, and keepsake on a small table in sunlight. Draw or paint a full color still life. This is a great way to express your love for something. For a variation on this, try out different ways to paint the still life “like” a famous artist.

25. Find, pick, and dissect a flower. Think and act like a scientist when you choose a flower and carefully take apart its parts. Not sure what every part is? Check out this site to learn more about dissecting a flower. Put a daisy flower in coloured water. 26. If you have stairs, walk up and count them. Walk down and count by twos. Walk up and count by threes. Continue through tens. This simple math practice trick gets kids thinking about numbers and exercising!

27. Determine the volumes of ten containers, them display them in order . 28. Write a poem using chalk or whiteboard marker. Writing poetry is freeing because there aren’t a lot of rules. Or you can establish a rule and see how different people think about it. For example, write a poem about snow without using the words white or cold.

29. Classify twenty everyday objects by shape, size, color, height, weight, and material. Learning how to classify and organise things is a skill that’s helpful for reading, maths, science, and history. In other words–everything.

30. Measure the length of your bed using five different nonstandard units. Eg cubits 31. Find out five every day sentences in a different language.

32. Create and use a secret code. In #7, we worked with Morse Code, now make up your own code. Send people messages in code, have them figure it out, and write back!

33. Using one type of paper (constant), build three different paper airplanes (independent variable) and test to see how far they fly (dependent variable).

34. Set a clock for two hours. How many programmes can you watch ?

35. Write down every adjective you say for one full day. Depending on how much your child talks during the day, this might take a while.

36. Colour in a map with every county in Ireland you (or your family) ever visited. Make a map of places of significant importance in Ireland.

37. Write or tell a story titled “What if humans had to leave the Earth and no one remembered to turn off the last robot?” Try using some read alouds like The Wild Robot by Peter Brown as a starting point. 38. Find five rocks smaller , use different sources to identify them .

39. Using card ,paper, tape, and any other materials , design, build a marble run, that lasts at least 15 seconds.

40. Research semiphor flags . Create a message for teachers. Source www.weareteachers.com.

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