Guidance: Encourage your student to read independently and out loud to you each day. Your child should work to read and comprehend both fiction and nonfiction texts. Work with your student to identify the main idea/theme of the text and utilize comprehension strategies such as: frequent summarizing, making connections, identifying new words and looking them up right away, visualizing, inferring, questioning, etc.

To encourage deeper understanding, have a discussion with your students centered around the plot, theme, an interesting part in the story, and/or an essential question.

Students can read/share what articles, books, or podcasts they have seen on Flipgrid to open discussion between teachers and peers!

If your child has a library card and is in need of books to read, have them download the Overdrive or the Libby apps onto their tablet or phone. These apps will allow students to check out e-books or audiobooks through their device for free using their library card!

Additional ways to make reading fun include starting a family read aloud and thinking of ways students could create a virtual book club.

Guidance: Encourage your student to do any kind of writing: journaling, free writing, writing a response to articles, etc. Once finished, students should revise/edit their work paying attention to sentence structure, verb-tense agreement (past/present tense), spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

Students can also work on writing formal written responses. A formal written response consists of responding in writing to something the student has heard, watched, or read. Students can use the ACES method: (A)nswer, (C)ite, (E)xplain, (S)ummarize to help format their response. When students are writing a response to a questions, encourage them to answer the question, cite a piece of evidence from the text, explain how the piece of evidence ties to their answer, and summarize key ideas.

The links below provide access to fiction and non-fiction that students can read and respond to through writing.

Guidance: Encourage your child to use math as much as possible while they are at home in everyday life. Examples include following recipes (talking about doubling or halving recipes), playing logic and strategy games (such as Chess, Cribbage, Stratego, etc), or talking about mathematical terms like angles, parallel and perpendicular, etc while out for a walk.

Below are two resources that students can use to continue their growth and review of their mathematical knowledge while at home.

Guidance: Encourage your student to see science everywhere, be curious, and investigate their questions. This could occur by providing open-ended questioning to your student, such as:

• “What would happen if…”

• “How does…”

• “I wonder why…”

• “To what extent..”

• “Have you ever noticed…”

Engage your students to record observations and results. Keep repeating this process of observation, recording, analysis, and discussion. From a science perspective, the more we learn the more questions that we have; this can become a repeating process of questioning and investigation.

Parents and students can use Amplify (linked below) to view online lesson videos for students. Consider following along with the videos and complete the work using student's Amplify login and webpage. Additionally, parents and students can use the teach engineering resource linked below to access at-home science and engineering activities that can be executed using supplies commonly found at home.

Guidance: Even though most places to workout or exercise are closed, it is important to remember that students should still find ways to be active. Consider taking advantage of the soon-to-be nice weather and outdoor resources that are available such as tennis courts, running/walking/cycling paths, parks, etc.

Keep in mind the advantages of eating foods that boost the body's immune system and exercise indoors when unable to go outside. The following resource provides simple to make meal ideas, indoor exercise tips, fitness challenges, goal setting and tracking, and more!

Guidance: Encourage your student to spend some time being creative during the day. Creativity helps us see things differently, provides stress relief, and allows us to better deal with uncertainty.

Drawing is the single most accessible form of art available as all you need is a pencil and a sheet of paper or you can experiment with different drawing materials depending on what you have on hand. Students can practice their observational skills by drawing things that they have at home such as their pets, fruit, or items in their room. They can draw the view out their window or research a reference picture on their chromebook to draw.

Students can always free draw or sketch as well to engage their imaginations. Drawing challenges can be a fun way to allow students some ideas for inspiration. Below students and parents will find a link to some drawing prompts to help inspire students.

Building and creating things out of Legos, cardboard or other materials that you may have on hand are also great ways to engage their creativity.

Consider encouraging your student to look at and be inspired by the creativity of others. They can use Google Arts and Culture to explore different art collections from around the world. I have provided a link to this below. Have fun! I miss you all and can’t wait to see what amazing things you are creating!

Guidance: Without a doubt, these current times feel unprecedented and historic! Being a teenager provides its own unique set of challenges even in the best of times! This outbreak has thrown in the unusual hurdles of school closures, cancellations of preferred events/activities and has possibly even physically isolated teens from their friends. It is important for all of us to remember that this challenge is temporary and that there is ALWAYS a silver lining to be found, if we are willing.

One of the most obvious positives that students (and many parents) can take away from this situation is that we have a large amount of unanticipated free time. What we decide to do with this unique and unscheduled gift, is going to be very important for both our physical and emotional wellbeing. Now more than ever, it is important for all of us to FOCUS ON THE ASPECTS OF THIS SITUATION THAT WE CAN CONTROL versus stressing over the items that we cannot. Consider using the link below to find 6 helpful ideas for for teens to navigate a new (but temporary) normal.

Routine is still important! Along with your teen, it may be helpful to create a schedule for each day to break up the time and to help promote productivity (giving them input in this plan will help create buy in). You may like the idea of implementing some “class time” where they complete school work or learn something new, dedicated time for play or time out in nature, maintain physical exercise regimens, and seeking out emotional & mental health activities (see “Coping Kit“ ideas on the section, “My Kid’s School is Closed, so Now What?”...link below). Though there’s no need for a rigid agenda during this break, ALL family members can be aided by a fluid, but predictable structure.

Mr. Mager doesn’t Tik, Tok or Snap much, but he does Tweet! Since the start of our school closure, he has been tweeting daily, short videos about ways that teens can continue to stay positive and productive in these challenging times. His “Counseling COVIDeos” are meant to be both helpful and, perhaps, even a bit entertaining. :-) If you are interested, feel free to follow on Twitter @aaron_mager.

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