Guidance: Look for opportunities for lap reading with your child. Listening to books helps children become readers themselves! Students will benefit from listening to the same book multiple times throughout the week, as this helps them with being able to predict the text while enhancing their comprehension and retell skills. While you read, students can state where the story starts, point to pictures, find letters they know, and label punctuation such as periods, exclamation points, and ellipses.

You can continue to build your child's rhyming skills by giving them two words and asking if they rhyme. For a challenge, see if your child can produce words that rhyme with a word that you give to them.

Guidance: Children become writers as they develop the ability to hold a writing utensil to make pre-writing strokes, create something from simple shapes, draw a person and eventually write their name and create simple pictures. Grab some crayons, markers or even sidewalk chalk and let your child explore drawing. Students even benefit from coloring simple pictures to help build wrist mobility.

The age appropriate pre-writing strokes children should be working on at this time are a line down, line across, +, square, /, \, and a triangle.

Guidance: Building a mathematician can be done through many different activities. Look for opportunities to count aloud as children go through their day. For example, have children count aloud how many steps it takes to get to the couch, pantry, etc. Additional ways to build mathematical thinking include asking your child to count objects randomly in your house, have them give you a certain amount of something when asked and counting objects while outside.

Other fun opportunities for mathematical thinking include putting together puzzles and playing simple games such as Go Fish using cards. Consider using sidewalk chalk to write numbers and have your child stand on the numbers when called, or have them name the number they are standing on. Keep it simple, and fun!

Guidance: Look for opportunities to explore the world around you. Consider discussing and investigating different topics such as trees, clothing, exercising, bread, insects, and more!

Head out on a walk and see what you notice around you. Stop to look at the trees to discuss the trees parts, while looking for evidence if any animals are living in or nearby. Observe people as they walk by and take time to notice their clothing. Ask yourself what size their clothes may be, where they got it from or notice their designs.

While in the kitchen help make dinner while exploring different measurements, colors and smells. Scientists are constantly asking questions, investigating and learning more!

Use the resources below to find many opportunities to create and think like scientists.

Guidance: Consider using the following cards and exercise video to get your kids moving at home. Anything can be modified to work in your home. Encourage 30-60 minutes of movement each day.

Guidance: Look for opportunities to help your child explore their world using art. This might mean slowing down and using observation to look at the things in or around your home. Perhaps students have a time set aside to capture the likeness of an object using paper and pencil or even play-doh. Engage your child by asking them to point out the things they notice as they draw or sculpt, and help them think critically by asking them about the choices they make as they create their art. You might even take this idea and apply it to online resources such as the Decorah Eagles Cam found below.

Observation is a skill that can be applied to looking at artwork as well. There are many museums that have virtual components and online galleries, which can be found on the Google Arts and Culture website and app. You could search for a museum such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the National Gallery, or you could search for a specific artist or medium. While there are links that provide information for you to learn more about the artwork, you don’t have to be an art history expert to talk to your student about art. Find an artwork that interests you and take turns sharing your observations about the art and talk about the message that the artist might be sharing with us through their art!

Guidance: This time in our lives can be stressful, we understand! Try to model happiness and a positive attitude as much as you can. As a family, participate in stress-reducing activities like exercising, coloring, playing games, and listening to music. Encourage children to spend some time with your family and alone each day. Alone time can look like reading or listening to music in a quiet spot or taking a rest. Alone time and mindfulness can help all of us cope with our unusual circumstances.

The resources below are optional ideas that could be supportive to your family that mirror what students are used to experiencing from a guidance lesson at school.

Notice: The purpose of this website is to provide parents and students with optional resources that could be used during the current school closure due to COVID-19. Students are not required to use the resources and information found on this site. Information and resources on this site do not constitue "educational services & opportunities" being provided by the ADM Community School District. Please use the following link for more information about why ADM is not providing distance learning educational services and opportunities: ADM COVID-19 FAQ