Mrs. Morrison's Optional Online Classroom
Welcome to our Online Classroom
I hope everyone is staying healthy and happy at home this week. I miss everyone so much already!
This is Mrs. Morrison, a Kindergarten teacher at Del Rio Elementary. This website is to help parents with distance learning activities for the next few weeks. I recommend following a schedule for at-home learning because it will be a comfort for your child in these strange days. Ms. Diverde and Mrs. Sebastian also do similar activities, but every classroom is a bit different. I am using activities that the children in J-3 are familiar with.
My intention is to provide meaningful learning opportunities that are already in your child's school routine. Hopefully this will allow your child to have a relatively predictable schedule and be able to do many of these things independently. I will be checking my email during the day, so please share any questions, concerns, and celebrations. Many of the online programs we regularly use are offering freebies for distance learning, and I will send those along to parents as well.
NOTHING I post is mandatory, and I completely understand the stresses some families may be having in response to social distancing. Please use this as an optional resource if it is helpful to your family. Older children can help younger ones. Still, it is essential that your child maintains skills during the next month. At the very least, please practice Rainbow Words every day!
Thank you.
Name
Writing
Write your name neatly.
Remember all letters start at the top!
Practice using the lines.
Alphabet and Rainbow Words Practice
Our Typical Daily Schedule (click here)
8:55-9:00 Handwriting: Name Practice (Followed by Breakfast)
9:15-9:25 Songs, Nursery Rhymes and Poems
9:25-9:40 Alphabet and Rainbow Words
9:40-9:50 Word Family Work
9:50-10:05 Read aloud a Story
10:05-10:25 Independent Writing
10:25-10:45 Independent Reading
10:45-11:00 Phonemic Awareness (Play with Words!)
11:00-11:45 Recess then Lunch
11:45- 12:15 Physical Education, Library, or Art (Weekly Rotation)
12:15-12:30 Read aloud a Story
12:30-1:10 Math Activities
1:00-1:20 Science or Social Studies
1:20- 1:40 Recess
1:40-2:15 Work Stations (blocks, playdough, computers, Rainbow Word games, counting games, etc.)
2:15-2:30 Clean Up, then Shared Reading
Songs, Nursery Rhymes, and Poems
- Sing the alphabet song.
- Recite and act out some nursery rhymes.
- Sing some favorite songs with motions or dancing.
Rainbow Words
Move through them quickly. If your child doesn't know one, tell them and move on.
The list is below, in the writing section.
Check out this incredible Playlist that your child already loves!
Click on Heidi Songs at right and your child has access to learning songs that teach:
Letters
Sounds
Handwriting
Some of the Rainbow Words
Read Aloud
If you don't have books at home, there are plenty of online resources, or even play a read aloud on YouTube! Students will see the page turning and illustrations by the author. You can sign up for a free 30 day trial at Epic.com. It's an online library - tons of titles!
Search: Elephant and Piggie read alouds, or Dr. Seuss read aloud books, etc.
Independent Writing
Use the journals that were sent home or plain paper. Drawing a picture first is important! Our goal for this trimester is 3 sentences.
Spelling should be phonetic, using the sounds the child hears. They may need help stretching sounds out to hear them, but they do not need words spelled for them. It's essential that children apply their knowledge of the alphabet to spell for themselves at this stage. As long as they can read it themselves, their spelling is fine.
That being said, there are words they should spell correctly, and those are the Rainbow Words. Depending on where your child is on their way to mastery, they may only spell purple words correctly, or the whole list.
After writing, have your child read their writing to someone, even the family pet.
Independent Reading
Have your child choose a few books to read to themselves.
There are 3 ways to read:
Read the pictures (good for books above their reading level).
Read the words (good for books at their reading level).
Retell the story (good for familiar books).
Please don't expect silent reading in Kindergarten!
Go outside!
Take a walk, ride a bike, run around, experience nature,
watch the birds, look for bugs, fly a kite, skip, jump rope,
put on your rain boots and slosh in the gutter.
Lunch: 25 minutes
FREE To-Go lunch is available at Libby Elementary, Mission Elementary, El Camino HS, and Oceanside HS from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm Tuesday and Friday.
Students 18 years and younger can pick up free lunch and breakfast for weekdays.
Read Aloud Another Story
I saw this in a bookstore.
It may be my favorite reading quote!
Math Ideas - Children should...
Practice counting up to 100 objects.
Practice making combinations of up to 10 things and describe what they did: "3 and 4 makes a group of 7."
Practice building the teen numbers: "one group of ten and four leftover ones is 14."
Practice building a group and taking some away: "nine minus four leaves five."
Practice writing numbers up to 20.
Math Card Games I would soon be teaching:
Make 10: Lay out an array of cards, setting aside the face cards. Ace equals 1. Have your child(ren) take turns picking up two cards that total 10. An easier version is Make 5.
Go Fish
Go Fish for Tens: Like Go Fish, but you ask for the card that will make a total of 10.
I Spy: Lay out an array of cards, setting aside the face cards. Ace equals 1. Tell your child to pick up a certain number card, which they find as fast as they can.
Top-It: Use only the number cards. Ace equals 1. Divide into 2 equal piles. Each player turns over their top card at the same time. Whoever has the greater number takes both cards. If the numbers are equal, keep turning cards until one card is greater. Play with more players by dividing into more stacks and maybe more than one deck.
Less Than Top-It: The only difference with top-It is that the lowest card wins.
Get Active!
Here are some indoor activities for you to try. (You will need to sign up for GoNoodle at family.gonoodle.com.)
Art Opportunities: When Possible
Some ideas from Del Rio's art teacher: http://www.artwithtaylor.com/
Social Studies
Continue talking about long ago:
Tell stories from your childhood or play games that you loved as a child.
Tell stories from their grandparents' childhoods or play games they did.
Tell stories from your grandparents' childhoods or play games they did.
Read fairytales, folktales, and fables to your child.
Science
Continue learning about Force and Motion:
Build ramps and roll cars and balls down them. How does changing the ramp change the movement of the thing that rolls down? (Yes, Hot Wheels tracks experiment with this!)
Roll balls against each other on the floor. How does the force of the collision change the motion of the ball?
Roll canned foods across different flooring. How does that change their motion?
Check out the available lessons from Mystery Science and Mystery Doug!
Shared Reading
I modified this for you parents. The goal is to teach Concepts About Print, letter and word skills, and punctuation. Use a short book that repeats, has rhyme, and has just a few words on each page.
Read the whole or the same several pages of a book every day for one week.
Each day, pick a page. Ask your child to show you 3 things from this list:
Where we start reading and how we continue.
A space between words.
A capital letter.
Ending punctuation.
A word they can read or a word you give them that you know they can read.
A letter they can name or a letter you know they can name.
Count the words on the page.
Tell you which words rhyme.
2 words that are the same.
PHONICS LESSONS
These slides are phonics lessons for the week.
Scroll through the slide deck before working with your child. The final slide has tips for you.
I will update these with new word families on Mondays.
Repeat these lessons with your child as needed.
Keep each session less than 10 minutes long, light and fun!