• Find time for your reading life! Find a cozy spot and read, read, read!

• Narrative Writing: Ask your child to tell and write a story about a time at school. Be sure to have a beginning, middle, and end and include pictures with each part of the story.

• How To Writing: Ask your child to write a how-to paper for something they can do on their own. Have someone follow the directions and talk about how it turned out. It might be how to make a friendship bracelet, how to ride a bicycle, how to make a bed, etc.

• Opinion Writing: Ask your child, Would you rather eat healthy food or junk food? The child will write a topic sentence and three supporting sentences. Be sure to convince your audience of which one is better to eat and explain why. Convince them why they should eat the type of food you chose and include details.

• How To Writing: Ask your child to write how they would make a fort. (ex: use pillows and sheets) Have someone follow your directions and talk about how it turned out.

• Expository Writing: Ask your child to tell you about their favorite dessert? The child will write a topic sentence and three supporting sentences. Be sure to convince your audience of which dessert is the best to eat and explain why. Convince them why they should eat the type of dessert you chose and include details.

• Have your child choose 5 high frequency words. Write these words, write a 4 under the vowels, and a 3 under the consonants. Add the letters together for each word. Circle the word that has the highest sum.

• Have your child choose 5 high frequency words. Write these on a piece of paper. Pick one to write a sentence using as many words that start with the same letter.

• Have your child write 5 or more words. Think of as many rhyming words as possible for each word. Write the rhyming words next to the word you chose.

• Choose 10 words from your book you read today. Write the words down and write how many syllables are in each word.

Example:

1 2 3

Cat rabbit elephant

• Have your child write 25 words. Then put them in ABC order. Be sure to look at the first letter of each word. If it has the same letter look at the second letter.

• Count and write the steps from your room to the kitchen. Try counting from your room and other locations too.

• Explore kids’ yoga (search youTube for “kids yoga” if you need guidance) and see if you can bend your body and make shapes like a triangle or straight and tall like a line. Can you and a sibling or parent create a square or rectangle with your bodies? What about a circle?

• While doing physical activities, (hoping, jumping, going up stairs) have your child keep track by counting both forwards and backwards. Then try skip counting. For an added challenge, start on step 4 or hop 4 and see if they can count on from there.

• If you have space outside, create a hopscotch path with chalk or items in nature.

• Look for patterns in your house and go for a walk and look for them in nature.

• Build a maze with pillows and practice giving and receiving directions, “go to the left, walk back 2 steps, go to the right”.

• Create some inventory bags with things around your house (paper clips, pasta, coins, spoons). Use lunch sacks or sandwich bags as containers. “How did you know which bag to put the item in? How many do you have? Which bag has more/less? Estimate if the pasta bag has more or less than the shells?”

• Have your child help you make a grocery list and estimate how much things will cost? Choose a favorite snack and find out the cost and use coins or dollar bills to count out the amount.

• Trace your foot and use non-standard measuring tools like color tiles, paper clips or q-tips to measure your foot. Trace members of your family’s feet and measure them. “Who has the largest foot? The smallest?”

• Explore spatial reasoning as you build with blocks, legos, or other household items such as coins, rocks, shells. Ask questions like, “Which structure is taller? Can you add another piece or take one away-how many do you have now? Does the right side look like the left side (symmetry)?”

• Keep adding pictures to your weather journal. What is your favorite kind of weather?

• Imagine you are a raindrop just formed in a cloud and are about to fall down to Earth. Write or draw a story of where you go once you land on Earth. Do you fall into the ocean? A lake? A rooftop? Where will the raindrops end up? There are SO many places water can go!

• Inside the house in a container or outside in a pot or the ground, plant some seeds with your child. The seeds can be from a seed packet you purchase or the seeds from the fresh fruits or vegetables you are eating. What do plants need to survive? Your student can keep a picture journal of the growth of the new plant.

• Read aloud or listen to Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni. Discuss the differences between the real mouse, Alexander, and his wind-up toy friend, Willy. What do living things need that wind-up toys do not? Different endings to the story can be discussed as well.

• Gather an assortment of coins. Make sure there are shiny new coins, as well as older, tarnished coins. Foreign coins can also add to the discussion. Allow your child a few minutes to compare, sort, and stack the coins. Have him/her complete this sentence about their coins:

This _______ is (shinier, duller, bigger, smaller, heavier, lighter) than this _________.

• Find a set of A to Z alphabet cards that have pictures that go along with the letter, as an example. Hold the cards up (in random order or alphabetically) and ask, “Can this make another or have a baby? Crayon? No! Apple? Yes! Lion? Yes! Xylophone? No! Sort the cards into living or nonliving stacks and discuss what each pile means.

• Gather several magnets from around the house. Ask your child if the shape or size of the magnet makes a magnet stronger. Ask for a few explanations. Have a bowl of small metal items like paper clips. Demonstrate how a paperclip is attracted to each magnet. Ask your child to predict how many paperclips each magnet can lift and hold. Make a tally chart of the predictions on a piece of paper, then test the magnets.

• Cut a piece of medium-grit sandpaper into a 4 inch by 4 inch piece for your child. Provide an assortment of old crayons and direct your child to color a picture on the rough side of the sandpaper, the more colors and the heavier he/she colors, the better. Place each square face down on a stack of paper, and with an iron on high heat, iron the back of the square. Allow a few seconds for the wax to cool. Flip the picture over to see how it has changed due to the heat.

• Every superhero has a great power. Pretend you are a superhero, and you get to choose your power. You can choose light, thermal (heat), or sound. However, whatever power you choose it is the ONLY power you have! Captain Light has no thermal energy or sound in his/her world. Captain Sound has no light or thermal energy. Talk about the problems this would cause and how you would solve them. Draw a picture of you as your superhero.

• Choose a few items that have been in plain sight in your home daily. For example, the television remote, a stuffed toy, your coffee mug. Place the item in a large box, a black plastic bag, or a pillowcase. Put your hands in the container, and start describing the hidden object by touch. Your child is allowed to ask yes/no questions. He/She can also look around the room to see what is missing. Your child can become the describer with another object.

• Go back and complete any activities from the previous weeks.

• Keep adding pictures to your “Quarantine Calendar”. What new skill have you learned?

• Pretend to be a police officer and have your child pretend to be lost. Have him/her give you the correct information, like full name, address and phone number, so the “officer” can help him/her.

• Go on a Scavenger Hunt in your neighborhood then talk about the items with a family member. See if you can find:

  • a flag. Why do people fly flags at their houses?

  • a bear in a window. People are putting bears in their windows just for you to find them. Why do you think they would do that?

  • a license plate not from Texas. What state would you like to travel to?

  • a dog. What is your favorite type of pet?

  • a plant with flowers. Why do you think plants have flowers?

  • a statue. What is the statue made of?

  • a service worker, like a postman, delivery person, telephone company, plumbing company or electrical company worker. How do service workers help people?

  • 3 different types of transportation. What is your favorite way to travel?

  • a street sign. What does the sign tell people?

  • a change in the neighborhood, like a new building or a closed store. Why did the change happen? Do you think it is a good or bad change for the neighborhood?

• Make a list of all the holidays you can think of. Which is your favorite? Draw a picture of your family celebrating that holiday.

• What are some rules at your house? Why do you have rules? Are there any new rules since everyone has to stay in the house? Draw a picture of you following a rule.

• Cut apart large pictures, like those on a calendar, into puzzle pieces and have your child put the puzzles together.

• Go back and complete any activities from the previous weeks.

• Let’s learn hand clapping games!! https://theinspiredtreehouse.com/activities-for-kids-hand-clapping-games/

• Keep raising your heart rates - Go for a walk or jog, ride your bike!

• Continue to earn stars on your Family Nutrition & Physical Activity calendar on the link below. See how many stars you can earn this month!

• 4/20 Heart_Health_Home_Play.pdf