Extended Learning During the COVID-19 School Closures

Families are waking up today to a new reality – school closures. Although school districts have put together protocols for distance learning, it is still incumbent on families to supervise children during this time at home and hold them accountable for learning. While there are expectations in some school districts for teachers to schedule time to connect with families virtually, others have simply assigned packets to be completed at home. Below is general guidance for families to use while kids are at home:

If you or another adult are staying home:

• Request your child’s daily class schedule and ensure that the s/he follows it
• Email your child’s teacher at least twice a week for support
• Be available by phone to speak with your child’s teacher should s/he reach out
• Do not relax expectations
• Build in time for play and exercise during the day
• Do not alter bedtime

If you are at work:

• Request your child’s daily class schedule and ensure that the s/he follows it
• Email your child’s teacher at least twice a week for support
• Promptly return calls from your child’s teacher(s)
• Call home during your break and check in upon return from work.
• Build in time for play during the day
• Do not relax expectations
• Build in time for play and exercise during the day
• Do not alter bedtime

Resources

In addition to whatever resources might have been shared by the school, the following are suggested educational sites that students at all levels can use at home. While these are not exhaustive, they certainly are enough to add to the work packets that your local school might have shared with you.

http://www.scholastic.com/learnathome – This free resource provides your children with exciting articles and stories, videos, and fun learning challenges. Children can complete them anytime, in any order. They can work on their own or together with you and your family.

https://freerice.com/ – This is ideal for math, language learning, social studies, healthy eating, and science.

http://www.classzone.com/cz/index.htm – This free resource is linked to secondary language arts, social studies, math, science, social studies, and world languages textbooks published by McDougal Littell.

https://learn.khanacademy.org/khan-academy-kids/ – This free resource can be used on any device and contains a curated collection of activities, books, videos, and coloring pages.

https://mpt.pbslearningmedia.org/ – Designed for K-12 students, Maryland Public Television and Public Broadcasting Service have partnered to create assignments, projects, and classes for students of all grade levels. I particularly recommend this site for kids in the early grades (prek-1).

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