These are unusual times. Ordinarily, my children would be at school and I would be prepping for my week as a literacy tutor. Not today, though.
Today is our first official day of homeschool. A new normal is here. No sport or after-school activities, no weekly catch-ups with friends, no cafes, or leisurely walks to the beach. So this is it for the time being, then… I have decided we can’t and don’t want to replicate school at home. I don’t think anyone can really drop everything and homeschool at the drop of a hat. I intend to relieve boredom, keep technology at bay and provide my children with the support and connection they need right now.
For all things Literacy, I will be using my own resources in my store or will use one of the many printables that live in my free stuff area. When I find other resources to use, I will post them on my Facebook page.
For all things numeracy, we will be loosely following The Khan Academy and we have ICE-EM text books.
Today our literacy session was all about creating a fun adjective poem structured by the initial letters of our names
I notice that children tend to chuck adjectives all over the place instead of choosing words with care. Using initials as a scaffold is a great way to structure thinking. Quick activities that involve a chat so you can model the learning will go down so much better than a bunch of worksheets.
When I am working with my students, I always follow the mantra of
I do, We do, You do
I will show you how
We will work together to gain new knowledge and skills
You can now have a go on your own, I am always here to support you
At home, we follow the same thought pattern too. All children feel supported when they have a model to follow.
First, we made a mind map of 6 adjectives and 6 nouns that begin with the initial letters of each of our names.
So in my case, the list was calm, cute, cold, crazy, curly for adjectives and watermelon, world, walnut cake, waves, coffee for nouns. You can read my silly poem on the whiteboard in the first picture of this post. We all worked together on this poem.
A scaffold in the primary years works really well to encourage engagement and motivation. My aim is to make everything we do playful. The time for structured learning will come again when my children are back at school. For now, the plan is simple activities and games with a focus on fun, creativity and skill-building.
Stay safe and take care x