Wellness Activities
- Connect with others. Take time to zoom with a family member or head outside to play with a neighbour.
- Get outside and get active! Go outside for a walk or bike ride to soak up some sunshine and give your body and brain a break from technology.
- Check out the healthy activities for kids from: https://www.actionforhealthykids.org/healthy-activities-to-do-at-home/.
- Spend time being creative. Draw, paint, colour, or work with any other art medium of your choice.
- Head outside to spend time watching the clouds. Do you see any pictures or patterns?
- Try the mindfulness activities from: https://www.5minutefun.com/5-calming-activities-for-children/
Websites for Learning at Home
The following list is a collection of websites that you can access to further your learning at home.
- Check out all of the amazing art activities on Deep Space Sparkle blog! She has numerous fantastic art projects for kids of all ages! You can find the blog by googling, Deep Space Sparkle, or by clicking the following link. https://www.deepspacesparkle.com/
- Visit Starfall at, https://www.starfall.com/h/index-kindergarten.php to play numerous literacy and math games. There is also a talking library on Starfall that will read books to your child. Starfall can also be downloaded as an App onto your devices.
- Storyline Online, accessed at https://www.storylineonline.net/ is a collection of books read aloud by famous celebrities. They are great stories and the celebrities reading them add a lot of emphasis and playfulness to the books making listening to these stories enjoyable for children of all ages.
- Story Place is another digital library that you can access. I like that it provides activities for your children to complete after reading each story. You can access the site by clicking the following link. https://www.storyplace.org/
- ABCYa! is a site that your child should be familiar with because we play the games on this site in class. It has a wonderful mix of literacy and numeracy activities for children of all ages. You can access the site by clicking the following link. https://www.abcya.com/.
- Curious George, funded by PBS kids is another great site full of a variety of activities to keep children engaged in learning. This particular site includes games, printables, videos, and more! Visit, https://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/games/#1 to access these great activities.
- Visit Hidden Pictures, by highlights for kids, at https://www.highlightskids.com/. This site offers jokes, games, stories, and activities for your child to complete. It is a great learning tool with a lot of engaging material to spark inquiry and wonder at home!
- BrainPop Jr. has offered a free account to all schools now that classes are cancelled. This account can be used by students at home. BrainPop Jr. has a large variety of animated videos on a wide variety of topics. Most videos have a quiz that students can take afterwards to check for understanding. There is also a sister site called BrainPop for students in Grades 4 and up! Check out BrainPop Jr. at https://jr.brainpop.com/. The username and password are both drh2020.
- Lalilo is a great phonics website that is free to use right now. Please check it out if you are interested in doing some extra phonics practice at home. You can access the site at https://lalilo.com/ Once you are at the website, click on Log in then I AM A STUDENT. Fill in your school login, YSRJCB.
- Visit Scholastic Learning At Home Play Starters. They have some amazing ideas to play with a purpose at home! You can access the links at https://letsfindout.scholastic.com/pages/sandbox/learn-at-home-play-starters.html.
Important Skills
The following is a list of important skills that you can practice with your child at any time.
- Fine motor skills can be practiced at home in a variety of different ways. To develop your child's fine motor skills, you want to have them complete activities that use their wrist, hand, and finger muscles. This could include practicing scissor skills. Have your child use their scissors to cut up old magazines or other recycled materials around your house. You can also have your child colour or draw while laying on their stomach with their elbows touching the floor. This helps students practice moving their wrist when they print, colour, paint, etc. rather than using their whole arm to make the same movements. Attaching objects to clothespins, completing lacing or beading activities, and building with Legos are all great fine motor skill activities. Try taking the laces out of a pair of shoes or skates that you have at home and teaching your child how to re-lace them.
- Gross motor skills are very important for children at the Kindergarten age to work on. Gross motor movements involve your child's whole body. This includes activities such as skipping, balancing on one foot, doing a crab walk or bear crawl, and throwing/catching a ball. Take a break during your day to complete these fun activities for your motor skills, mental health, and overall wellness.
- One of the skills we focus on the most in Kindergarten is teaching students how to print their name. This is an important skill that involves letter recognition and motor skills. Students in Kindergarten learn that their name starts with a capital letter followed by all lowercase letters. They also learn how to correctly identify, and form, each letter in their name. You can help your child practice this skill at home by making their name out of Play-Doh, using the name mat and whiteboard marker that came home with their school supplies to trace their name, or building their name with Legos.
- Students in Kindergarten learn how to identify the parts of a book (title, author, characters, etc.) as well as the proper way to read a book (front to back and left to right). Please take some time each day to read at home with your child. If you don't have access to books at home, check out the websites listed in the "Websites for Learning at Home" section above. Many of these websites include books that you can watch or read together with your child.
Rhyming
What are rhyming words?
"What is rhyme, and why is it so important? Rhyme is the repetition of certain sounds in two or more words, such as cat and bat, bear and stare, and broke and joke. And rhyme is important because it helps kids to develop phonological awareness—or their ability to hear, identify, and manipulate sounds in words. We really need kids to be able to hear sounds in words so that they will be able to read words on the page down the road." - Amy Mascott, Scholastic
"What is rhyme, and why is it so important? Rhyme is the repetition of certain sounds in two or more words, such as cat and bat, bear and stare, and broke and joke. And rhyme is important because it helps kids to develop phonological awareness—or their ability to hear, identify, and manipulate sounds in words. We really need kids to be able to hear sounds in words so that they will be able to read words on the page down the road." - Amy Mascott, Scholastic
Activities to practice rhyming words
1. Check out the fun rhyming games online at https://pbskids.org/games/rhyming/. PBS Kids has a great selection of rhyming games that will help students identify rhyming words. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will also see some fun reading and ABC games.
2. Turtle Diary is another website that you can access to play rhyming games at home. They also have other phonics activities that you and your child can access through their website, https://www.turtlediary.com/games/phonics.html.
3. Check out the Jack Hartmann videos below to dance, sing, and practice rhyming!
1. Check out the fun rhyming games online at https://pbskids.org/games/rhyming/. PBS Kids has a great selection of rhyming games that will help students identify rhyming words. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will also see some fun reading and ABC games.
2. Turtle Diary is another website that you can access to play rhyming games at home. They also have other phonics activities that you and your child can access through their website, https://www.turtlediary.com/games/phonics.html.
3. Check out the Jack Hartmann videos below to dance, sing, and practice rhyming!
|
|
4. Reading Rockets has numerous rhyming videos, games, and stories on their website that you can access at home. There website is, https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/rhyming_games. I love this site because it gives parents some great information about why learning rhyming words is so important for young readers.
5. This Reading Mama is a great blog full of PRINTABLE rhyming activities that you can use without being on the computer! You can find all of her wonderful rhyming activities at, https://thisreadingmama.com/printable-rhyming-activities/.
6. Check out the fun ANYTIME, NO PREP rhyming activities from Scholastic at, https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/3-best-rhyme-games-kids.html.
5. This Reading Mama is a great blog full of PRINTABLE rhyming activities that you can use without being on the computer! You can find all of her wonderful rhyming activities at, https://thisreadingmama.com/printable-rhyming-activities/.
6. Check out the fun ANYTIME, NO PREP rhyming activities from Scholastic at, https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/3-best-rhyme-games-kids.html.