Our Distance Learning and Keeping Our Minds Active During Spring Break
We are now one week into distance learning and we have seen some incredible learning taking place at home and being shared with teachers. We are about to go into two weeks of Spring break and with our civic duty leaving us unable to travel or explore beyond one daily piece of exercise, some might be worried about how they can fill those days. This blog aims to demonstrate some of the great activities that have been going on and provide ideas to support families through the next two weeks.
Distance Learning: The Journey So Far
The first week has been marked by a real variety of activities for the students of Landmark. Students and teachers have interacted in a number of different ways, which have included:
google hangouts conversations
using videos that can be viewed at times convenient to students and families
collaborative google documents, slides and sheets
email conversations
google classroom
The range of activities and the quality of work coming back to teachers has been fantastic. Here are a few of the different things going on:
collaborative class diaries using google slides
videos of the days activities
photography
science week poster competition
written tasks
plenty of reading (sometimes in dens created by students)
MyMaths, nrich, corbett maths and Khan Academy have been keeping our students mathematically busy
creating musical instruments
recipe writing
Toucan Classes collaborative Diary using google slides
A photography project
A colour wheel created using items from around the house
A news paper article written by a primary student
Children of key workers made Lego volcanoes
We received some incredible entries for the Science Week Poster Competition
Spring Break: Opportunities to learning
Spring break is now here and we have just over two weeks until we return and we have our next weekly task sheets. This is a chance to relax, but if you need activities to support with learning, I would suggest reviewing the additional resources on the school distance learning website. There is a lot there already and we will continue to add to the website. Here are a few of activities from the website that can be fun for a range of ages:
Check out the theatre productions online page, there is a full production of Wind in the Willows and a link to the National Theatre Online YouTube channel which will be showing a different full length production each week.
Find a podcast for all the family, there is a great selection on the Extend: Podcasts page which will cover you whatever your interest
Select an activity from the great indoors resource from the scouts
Listen to one of the many free books available on Audible
Stretch your mathematical knowledge using Khan Academy
There is much more to explore on the website. Including lots of ways to access reading resources or learn a language.
Spring Break: Follow a Passion
An additional suggestion is to spend the time to follow a passion. Support your child in setting a SMART goal around the passion. This is a great opportunity to explore the learning that is intrinsically motivated. By setting it up as a goal, you have parameters to guide the passion. This is similar to what students do in project lessons in the lower secondary. The list of goals that could be set is endless, but here are some thoughts that could be formed into SMART goals:
learning to cook or writing a cook book
building a model or a robot
starting an art portfolio
learning photography
learning a language
starting a blog (on almost anything!)
giving acts of kindness in a time of need
learning code
This is a really positive way to spend time constructively, doing something that inspires learning.
Stay Safe and Distance Learning will Return on April 15th
Over the next two weeks the most important thing is that we stay safe and continue to follow government guidance, this simple infographic from the BBC is informative.
We will return with guided distance learning on April 15th, but if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
