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Here are a few fun learning activities for kids you can do at home:
1. Read. Read. Read some more.
The number one thing I tell parents to have their child do if they are going to be absent for any reason is to read.
2. Play Games
I have found in the classroom that the more I have my students play games to learn, the more they love learning! You can play just about any traditional board game to practice social skills such as turn taking and cooperation, but my students also love playing academic games like the ones below.
You can also just have your child throw a pair of dice to practice a variety of skills from basic math facts (rolling two dice) or long division (using multiple dice).
3. Provide Daily Spiral Review Practice
One of the reasons why students fall behind when they miss school, is because they miss concepts that may or may not ever be introduced or practiced again. I like to give my students spiral review practice throughout the year so that not only will the students who are absent will not miss instruction, but also, so that ALL students will have repeated opportunities to practice skills throughout the year.
I use these workbooks in my class as daily homework. You can also purchase them to use at home with your child as well. If your child is behind, you may want to order the grade level one year below as well. If your child needs acceleration, get a grade level ahead.
4. Provide Practice For Essential Skills
When students know essential skills such as math facts, letter sounds, spelling, etc. it makes it so much easier for them to learn new skills in class.
I encourage my parents to practice math facts with their students using games like the ones above or with color by number math fact worksheets. My students LOVE these!
You can grab an addition and multiplication sample of my Unicorn math facts sets free here.
The full unicorn math facts sets are listed below:
There are also a lot of great apps on cell phones to practice facts as well!
Practice spelling using the things around you. Ask your child to spell microwave, refrigerator, cell phone, etc. As they are spelling focus on the sounds they hear in each word. Are their any other words that use those patterns? For example, what other words have a ph that make the "f" sound they hear in phone. They might say, "photograph, nephew, or dolphin."
When your child asks you how to spell a word, don't just tell them, but see what sounds they can figure out on their own.
5. Write!
When I was a child, I loved carrying around notebooks and writing to my heart's content! Many of my students do too, but many really struggle with writing. One way to encourage those students to write more is by keeping a journal that you and your child each write notes to each other. Start with smaller notes and gradually increase the length of your own responses to your child. You will see theirs grow as well.
Another way to get them writing is to ask them to write a story about their favorite tv show or video game. My reluctant writers really love writing about Minecraft or Pokemon!
You could also write interactive stories with your child with each of you taking turns writing sentences for the same story.
Some of my other Teacher friends have shared some ideas for learning at home as well! Head on over to read their ideas!
Melissa from Peas in a Pod (Resources for K-6)
