One of my favorite ways to build a lesson plan is the Hook, Book, Look, Took guide. Whether you have Kindergartners or high school students, it can help you as you help your student with their online education. If there is one thing that the spring showed us is that we are partners with our hard working teachers and administrators. They are developing lesson plans and instructing online, but we as parents will need to help guide our children. These are some things you can implement to overcome online learning.
HOOK — Capture Their Attention
Think of a dynamic way to start the day that will capture your student’s attention. It could be an experiment or hands-on activity. One of our favorite things to do is to “go on an adventure.” We might travel back in time and learn about history or venture to another country and start our lesson by sampling a food from that country we are going to learn more about. We might travel to space by watching the launch of a spaceship and catapult our science lesson.
Don’t feel overwhelmed thinking that you have to create something “new” for each day. There are lots of great resources out there. Quarto STEAM Club has FREE STEAM activity downloads and videos, a curated list of STEAM books picked out by panel experts, and an online community for parents and educators to share tips and tricks. Quarto has a great selection of STEAM books that have activities and projects to couple alongside what the kids might be learning online. One of our favorites is Animal Exploration Lab by San Diego Zoo Maggie Reinbold. It has 52 family-friendly ideas coupled with the science behind it. We pick out one to two activities per week to try. Another favorite is Chemistry for Kids. Each section highlights the chemists coupled with a project that is inspired by their work. The majority of the projects use items that can be found around the house too which we love. With online learning, it is going to be important to balance time away from the screen and being outdoors, Nature Play Workshop, Experiment with Outdoor Science, and The Unplugged Family Activity Book are all great options to get your student learning about science while experiencing the outdoors.
Another fun item to couple with geography or world culture studies is the Educational Insights Geosafari Talking Globe. Students can learn alongside Bindi Irwin. They use the pointer and she shares geography, life science and more. This is also great for some independent learning time and discovery.
BOOK — Dive into the Subject with FREE Resources
The thought of online learning can be overwhelming. While many schools will be providing resources for students, we know that learning at home can be challenging and that sometimes it can be helpful to tailor the lessons to the individual student. Thankfully so many education-based companies are supporting the community with free resources including curriculum, question guides for books, worksheets and suggested schedules. One of our favorites is San Diego-based Kane Miller and sister company Usborne. They have Quicklinks which is a curated page with over 40,000 links to free content that go along with their books. From activities and games to virtual tours and video clips, picture galleries and quizzes, it is all organized by subject and themes. You don’t have to spend hours thinking of a lesson plan. It is all right there for you. And the best part is that it is designed to bring a book to life! You can use it alongside their titles by searching with the title or you can use it coupled with what your student might be assigned by their teacher and search by subject.
LOOK — Create a Learning Space
The look aspect is when you give your student the opportunity to look at something deeper. It might be their assigned worksheets or reading. We have found it helpful to create a learning space to support this. Whether it is the corner of the garage or part of the kitchen, it can be helpful to create a designated area to do assignments. While teachers may be able to get the students to sit in a desk for 7 hours, we have found it helpful to keep their attention by rotating work areas. It could be having a desk or table to do worksheets, having a different area to read in that is comfortable. It is also important to keep it “fresh,” so when you see your students struggling don’t be afraid to venture out and do a lesson outside in the backyard or in a field.
We love using our Asweets RV camper and teepee and going on “trips,” to far off places. The kids love reading in this space. You could even have them make a fort of their own. If your kids are able to work on their own, Educational Insights Hot Dots is a great activity. I love it because I can give them a workbook or set of cards and can hear when they are making the correct choice. A wrong noise to me indicates they are either having trouble and can help them with that part. From phonics and math to science, there are lots of great options to supplement learning at home. Make math practical for your kids by creating a store or restaurant. I take the math worksheet and use the equations alongside their store or cafe. So they are still getting the worksheet done, but having fun and understanding how it can be used practically. We love the Asweets Doorway cafe, coffee set and cash box to help us with our math lessons.
TOOK — Put the Lesson into Action
In the traditional classroom, this often means homework, but with online learning, you can identify what your child’s learning style is (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or reading/writing) and tailor their take away to this.
We love the idea of getting outside and and putting lessons into action. Since we live close to the beach it’s just a short drive to explore the ocean and Educational Insights GeoSafari Jr SubScope allows us to explore the coast in and out of the shoreline. But if you don’t live near the sea, Educational Insights Jungle Crew Lab is a great set with simple scientific experiments that you can kids can do using ingredients found in your kitchen or backyard!
Of course you want to remember to mask up when going outdoors (especially since it’s still a mandate in California), and we love Little Navy masks because they can be personalized, they are comfortable and can even match their wardrobe!
Boys tend to be kinesthetic which is a physical activity so we love creating obstacles courses or challenges that involve some type of physical activity. Whenever we head outside, you can usually find us in our pediped shoes because they are healthy for growing feet, machine washable and oh so stylish!
One of our favorite physical activities involves math! We typically think of math as sitting at a table and doing worksheets for hours, but the brain can actually understand concepts better when we are operating in our learning style. There are some great sites like We are the Teachers that have Math physical activities, where you combine a math and movement. Go hiking and climb a set of stairs. You can practice math equations as you climb.
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We received items from Asweets, Coolibar, Educational Insights, Kane Miller, Little Navy, Pediped, Quarto, and Usborne for review. All of our thoughts and ideas are our own.
