Elementary project: Travel scrapbook

No one can travel right now, so why not let kids take an imaginary trip? The project below is modeled on one I completed in second grade. I took an imaginary trip to London, and I remember loving this project so much that I still have it 31 years later to share with my own children.

I talked about this project with my kids today -- kindergarten and second grade -- and they are excited to dig in, so I decided to create a planning guide for them that I'm sharing via Google Drive and with you below. (The format is weird on Blogger, and I'm not taking more time to fix it, so I recommend using the Google Doc.) Happy travels.

Travel scrapbook

Directions:
1. Choose a country you would like to visit
2. Learn as much as you can!
3. Find answers to the questions below

Name of my country: _______________________________

My country is on this continent: _____________________________

My country is near these bodies of water: _________________________________

What is the climate like? Describe it in 3 words:
1. __________________________________
2. __________________________________
3. __________________________________

Population of my country: _____________________________________

Language(s) spoken: _________________________________

How do you say:
hello ________________________  
goodbye _________________________

please _____________________________
thank you ________________________________

Name of currency: _________________________________________

What is the food like? List 3 dishes that sound good to you:
1. ___________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________________

What are 5 sites in the country you would like to visit?
1. ___________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________________________
5. ___________________________________________________________

How would you get to this country? _______________________

How much would it cost to get there? ______________________

Where would you stay in this country? ________________________

How much would it cost to stay there? _____________________

What are some other facts you learned about your country? List 3 below:

1)__________________________________________________________

2) __________________________________________________________

3) __________________________________________________________

Now it’s time to make your travel scrapbook!

Your scrapbook must include:
1. A map of your country

2. Fun facts (at least 3)

3. Travel information -- your ticket(s), reservation(s), packing list,
language guide (how to say hello, goodbye, please, and thank you in your country’s language)

4. 5 pictures of you at different places in your country. Write a caption for each picture. Include at least 3 facts in each caption.

5. A letter you’ve written to someone at home describing the best parts of your trip. Be sure to mention the climate and the food!

Indoor recess: GoNoodle

Recess and physical education are a super important part of the day, particularly with kids spending nearly all hours inside. Today, my kids decided to stretch out their morning language arts time by writing their own stories, so language arts and math time nearly collided. I needed a break, so I figured the kids did, too.

At their elementary school, they will sometimes use GoNoodle on YouTube for indoor recess time or for rewards for positive behavior. So, when I asked the kids today how they wanted to get some energy out between language arts and math, they both chose GoNoodle.

This is their current favorite video: PopSee Ko 2.0.

It's catchy, it's short, it's kind of funny, and it encourages movement and a much-needed break. I'll admit to joining my kids in a couple rounds of this, and it lifted my spirits, too.

Check out the GoNoodle YouTube channel for lots of other songs and games that are free and encourage kids to move and play.

Coronavirus cleaning schedule

It's a Friday night, but we're all stuck inside, so what better time to write about cleaning?! With everyone home 24/7 and our homes serving as our offices, schools, restaurants, gyms, movie theaters, and maybe even dance studios and soccer fields, things are getting messy.

Many years back in 2013 when I was pregnant with our second child, I wrote about our decision to hire a cleaning service. They have consistently cleaned our home every other week since then -- every other week, until now. We will resume our cleaning service once this global pandemic declines and we are comfortable having other people in our house, but for now we are going to clean everything on our own. (And, though we decided to temporarily suspend our cleaning service, we are continuing to pay the ladies who run it so that we do not contribute to the shuttering of their small business.)

We are pampered by this cleaning service luxury, and though I've contemplated at times canceling the service because of the little voice that tells me "we should be able to handle this job ourselves," 15 days in our house without them has unequivocally proven that would be a bad idea.

We are getting the whole family involved with daily, weekly, and bi-weekly cleaning. Clearly, some of this stuff we will always do, global pandemic or not, but some of the bi-weekly chores are more difficult to achieve in the absence of extra help.

Here's the schedule we are attempting (all organized in a Google Sheet):

We are trying to use some time on Saturday mornings to recenter from the week. Last Saturday, I clearly never got to the showers nor to the dusting, so I'll try to tackle those tomorrow morning. Like everything right now, the goal is not perfection but rather holding ourselves accountable and motivating ourselves during a time when it's probably easy to let things slide. Honestly, if I vacuum and dust rather than spend an hour reading the news, that's going to be better for my house, my family, and my soul.

One small win the other week involved turning doorknob and light switch sanitizing into a little game for the kids. They had to work together to find all the doorknobs and light switches in the house, and then take turns giving each a little Lysol spray. They seemed (mostly) happy in the process, so I'll take it.

Homeschooling schedule

With one full week down (11 total days into social distancing), we have revised our homeschooling schedule. I know when many people started homeschooling, they started posting schedules. I hesitated because I wanted to set us up for realistic expectations. 

Here's what we did:

Step 1
Kid meeting -- what does your day at school normally look like? How can we do some, but not all, of that at home?

I got out a clipboard and took notes. The kids actually loved this activity last week.

Step 2
Initial test run -- we tried out our schedule for a week. It was clearly too ambitious. So, we adjusted. Because our kids have a reliable wake-up time of 7:30 a.m. and a reliable bedtime of 8 p.m., we just worked to fill in the blanks that way.

Step 3
Revised version -- here's where we are a week in. The most noteworthy adjustments are the time I gave us for each activity. Over time, I'll share what we are doing during each activity time. The general idea is that we complete our most "structured" work in the morning, and we are less structured by the afternoon.

I'm a believer in consistency as a way to keep kids feeling more secure in times of uncertainty. 

BUT, huge disclaimer!:  I do not expect us to follow this perfectly, and I don't think that's the point. It will all still be a little aspirational, and that's OK. I work from home running my own business; my husband is now completely working from home too as a teacher and school administrator. Everything about our jobs and our lives has changed dramatically in less than two weeks. There will be days when we have to get groceries, when we both have work calls at the same time, when we may be sick and need to rest, when we don't have energy, when we have "too much screentime." But on days when things are relatively calm, we will aim for this. 

Do not hold yourself to perfection, but do find a flow that helps maintain feelings of security as much as you can.

To keep us focused on our goals, I've hung this schedule on cardstock in our homeschooling area.

Continuing to wish everyone health and safety.

Educational songs: States and presidents

I am convinced we have a superhero for a classroom kindergarten teacher. In the last two months, she taught every kid in her class (26 kids total! 20 of them are boys!) the two songs below. Now my 6-year-old knows every state name (in alphabetical order) and every US President (in chronological order). 

States song
The "50 States That Rhyme" is one of many versions out there. I like how the video shows the outlines of each state along with the name of each state.

Here are some basic activities you can do with this video as a starting point:

1) Memorize it!

What better time to play a song on repeat :)

2) Alphabetize it 

Today my kids alphabetized the states using this song. They each had a piece of paper and paused the song at each state name. So, they were practicing writing, spelling, and geography (and they were working together to share one iPad, another great life skill).

3) Map it

Find each state on the map. Print and fill out one of these free printable maps. Learn state abbreviations.

4) Game-ify it

Use index cards, cut up cardstock, or even cut up notebook paper to make flashcards. Create a big "flashcard map" on the floor, putting each flashcard where the state is roughly located in relation to the rest of the country.

5) Research it

Choose a state to learn more about. Lots of choices here.

I'll share more specific ideas about larger projects in a future post.

Presidents song
There are a lot of these songs, too, but this happens to be the one my kid memorized.

I would recommend similar activities with this song as I would with the states song. Knowing all the US Presidents in order is an amazing party trick -- I still haven't mastered it myself. It's also going to make learning AP US History a lot easier in high school. My heart bursts when my kindergartener reminds me that Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President or that Grover Cleveland was President twice (but not in a row).

What educational songs do you love on YouTube? Please leave a comment to share ideas!

FaceTime writing: Elder stories

Everyone I know is FaceTiming, Google Hangout-ing, Skyping, so here's a way you can do more than just have your kids yell over you (or at their grandparents).

Try the Elder Story! 

This activity gets kids talking to adults about their lives. Then, kids write stories from what they learned. 

Subjects: history and English

Grade levels: all -- preschool through high school

Time to complete: 1-2 weeks -- don't do this all in one day! Spread it out!

Adaptations: lots -- see the bottom of this post for adaptations.

Step 1: 

Choose an elder to interview. 

Grandparent? Another relative? Neighbor? Maybe even your classroom teacher...

Step 2: 

See if your child's preferred elder is down for this activity. If so, schedule a time to video conference or simply talk over the phone.

Step 3: 

Brainstorm!

Have your kid brainstorm a list of 10 questions they want to ask the elder. 

Here are some general questions:

• What were your favorite things to play when you were a kid?

• What was school like?

• What was your first job?

• What was your favorite job?

• Have you ever been in love? How did you fall in love?

• What is your happiest memory?

If you know the elder, you may be able to give your kid a little guidance. For example, if the elder lived through a special moment in history, like a war, you could give some quick age-appropriate background to your kid about that event. Then, if appropriate, your kid could ask a couple questions about that event.

Step 4: 

Conduct the interview! 

Not only does your kid get to FaceTime and hopefully spread joy, but they also get to practice conversation and interview etiquette:

• Speak slowly, loudly, and clearly. 

• Ask for clarification. 

• Take notes. If your kid is too young to take notes, you could take notes or record the interview.

• Thank your elder for sharing their stories.

• Make a plan to follow up (and share your writing!)

Step 5: 

Write. 

There are infinite ways your child can honor their elder and write a thoughtful keepsake from this experience. Here are a few ideas:

• Preschool: Draw a picture (or series of pictures) showing your elder at different times. Label your picture with letters and words (phonetic spelling).

• Elementary: Draw a picture and handwrite as many paragraphs as is reasonable for your kid. Then, practice typing your story.

• Middle/high school: Write a narrative. Focus on a theme. For example, my elder is courageous, and here are three examples from their life that show why. 

Help your kid revise and edit as much as you feel comfortable with -- no rules here.

Writing adaptations:
For more advanced students of different ages, they could:

• research a time period discussed during the interview and add historical context to their narrative. For example, my elder fought in the Vietnam War, so I'm researching the causes of the war.

• write in different genres -- a poem, a newspaper article, a diary entry written from the elder's perspective

Step 6:

Share.

Call, FaceTime, email, whatever -- spread joy by sharing your writing!

Starting homeschooling: Teachers Pay Teachers

With the world currently on fire, everyone I know is starting to homeschool their kids. Rather than feeling completely overwhelmed, let me recommend starting by buying some no-prep packets on Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT).

My personal favorite seller for preschool through early-to-mid elementary school is The Moffatt Girls. I love their no-prep packets. (Here's a link to the 1st grade no-prep bundle.) You can buy a month's worth of math and literacy worksheets for about $6-8. A monthly packet is 40-60 pages, depending on the month. Or, if you're ready to commit, you can buy an entire year's bundle (all the months) for about $50-60 (prices change depending on if they're running a sale).

What packets you should buy for your kid is a very personal decision. Fortunately, you can preview materials from all TPT sellers before you commit. In The Moffatt Girls' packets, my 2nd grader is currently working on the November materials of the 3rd-grade year-long bundle. My (advanced) kindergartener is in January of the 2nd-grade bundle.

So, start here!

I recommend hole punching a month's worth of worksheets and putting them into one three-ring binder per kid. You can do way more advanced organizing, but we're in survival mode, people. More ideas to come. Stay tuned!