Lower Elementary - At Home Learning

Due to legal considerations, it is prohibited to share, download, or alter any of this site’s information, including but not limited to videos shared on said site.

Sharing Contact Info: Please click here for a PDF of the information families have shared via the Google Form to facilitate student work sessions and other virtual meets.

Check out these pictures submitted from families showing learning at home during the month of:

WELCOME!

We have put together support materials to help our community during this disruptive and difficult time. All levels of RPMS will be helping their families in a similar way with a child’s development in mind.

We are closing our campus due to an illness outbreak/prevention in compliance with state mandates.   We have organized materials and resources to support learning at home. These include: “Bridge books,” reading books with extensions, maps, a list of fun and educational sites, a google folder with additional support material and a schedule for parent support video meetings.  

Summer Bridge books  are an excellent resource and we routinely recommend them over the summer.   The purpose of the books is to ‘bridge the gap’ between the end of a grade and over the summer before the next academic year begins.  The workbooks offer a balance of curriculum areas and are appropriately paced, but there are some drawbacks. It is assumed that a student has finished a year, therefore some of the concepts in these books may not have been taught yet.  Some curriculum mismatches exist, for example our math concept sequence is addition, multiplication, subtraction and division and in the book it is assumed that a traditional sequence of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  If your child is unsure how to work on some of these skills, it is acceptable to skip sections. Also, if you are able to teach concepts in a more traditional way, similarly to how the concepts are presented on these pages, please do.  

 We would also encourage and suggest daily reading of 30 minutes (either independent reading or reading to an adult) and to start keeping a reading journal in which your child would date the page, write the title of the book they are reading, and write and draw about the passage read that day or session.  In addition, we would also encourage daily read aloud time where the adults read aloud a chapter book and have discussion time afterwards. While it may be tempting, screens are not a substitute for reading or educational opportunities that involve the hand, and this work should take priority.

There are online resources for you to use as well as if you see fit as a supplement.   Be careful that as always when using online resources, that it does not overtake your child and that moderation is exercised. We have several sites listed below.

ONLINE ZOOM MEETINGS

We will be offering twice daily “Zoom” meetings for each level.  Invites for each daily meeting will be sent out via email. During that time Ms. Kris and Ms. Michelle will be available to answer questions or give guidance on a subject or exercise that is covered in the workbook. 

Zoom meeting times:

First Grade: 9:00-9:30 am and 2:30-3:00 pm

Second Grade: 8:15-8:45 am and 1:45-2:15 pm

Third Grade will meet from daily 10:00-10:30 am and 3:30-4:00 pm

Whole community lunch meeting will be offered daily from 11:30-12:00.

Parent meetings will be daily from 6:30 - 7:15 pm

We will start at the assigned time and if no one joins within the first 15 minutes, the meeting will be concluded.

A list of items in your child’s kit, links to suggested educational sites, as well as a suggested schedule, follow this note.   If you have specific questions about the resources, workbooks, or anything else, please contact us.

Thanks much,

The Lower Elementary Staff

Items in Lower Elementary Kits

  1. Summer Bridge Activities book

  2. Outline maps of Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America and the United States.

  3. Guided Reading (reading group) and Independent reading (silent reading) materials

  4. Travel Journal

  5. Level 1 and 2 students have Biome readers an example of the paper they can use.  More paper can be found in google folder.

Items in the Lower Elementary Family Google Folder (Listed on the Right of this page)

  1. Copy of this letter

  2. Leveled activity suggestions

  3. Daily work plan template

  4. Nature Journal template

  5. 6 Mindfulness Practice cards

  6. 8 Research Cards

  7. Level 3 research guidelines 

  8. Leveled writing paper to be printed at home

Video discussion agendas and topics

The daily agenda will be:

  1. Welcome 

  2. Daily topic

  3. Questions or concerns

Topics

March 19 How to use Bridge Book and online resources

March 20 Importance of Schedule and Routine

March 30 Reading 

March 31 Math 

April 1 Culture 

April 2 Mindfulness

April 3 Transition back

A schedule to consider, to keep consistent with the typical day at RPMS:

Morning (after breakfast):

  • Mindful Focus before starting work (meditation, deep breathing, make a daily work plan, etc)

  • Math Practice (20-30 minutes)

  • Map/Culture Work (20-30 minutes)

  • Reading Work (20 -30 minutes of leveled book reading/written response)

  • Workbook page for the day (15-30 minutes)

  • Learning Apps (30 minutes of screen time, MAX)

Lunch Break

Large Motor/Movement time (hiking, biking, rollerblading, playground, be creative)

Afternoon

  • Spanish online work see links (15-20 mins every other day)

  • “Specials”: baking/cooking, crafting, art projects, Spanish practice, music, instrument practice, puzzles (logic, jigsaw, word searches, crosswords, etc), board games, extra time spent on large motor movement, journaling, time outside in nature…

  • Silent Reading (20-30 minutes); journal responses (write 3-5 sentences about the book or chapter, including character changes, plot twists, big events, little details, lists, and an illustration)

  • Read Aloud (an adult reading a novel/chapter book). Discussion after each chapter or session is important.

Educational links

Online free Spanish - is a fun site that also offers printables that correspond with the lesson.  You can still complete the lessons without printing the coloring pages and worksheets.  Ms. Ellen recommends starting at Level 1 and then progressing to Level 2. https://www.onlinefreespanish.com/ 

National Geographic Kids  - great resource for animal research  https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/  

World Atlas - Fact monster 

Free rice - fun quiz type games to practice math facts, countries and capitals and more, for every correct answer rice is donated to World Food Program   https://freerice.com/game

Brain Pop Jr.- is designed to cultivate critical thinking skills and encourage children to ask questions and make connections. It is easily navigable by kids ages 5-9. You can request a free subscription at this time.   https://jr.brainpop.com/

Fact Monster- is a free reference site for students, teachers, and parents. Get homework help and find facts on thousands of subjects. https://www.factmonster.com/

Education.com - Unlimited access to an expanding library of resources that cover 800+ skills.  Step-by-step learning with fun, interactive games for Preschool-5th grade with progress tracking. https://www.education.com/

Storynory   An online treasure-trove of free audio stories. You can listen to a mixture of original stories, fairy tales, and specially adapted myths and histories. Storynory has published an episode every week since 2005, so there is plenty to love and something for everyone. https://www.storynory.com/


The following blogs/sites have some additional ideas.

https://blog.reallygoodstuff.com/11-free-reading-websites-for-kids/

https://www.weareteachers.com/

http://kidsactivitesblog.com/135609/list-of-education-companies-offering-free-subscriptions/

https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html

Earth Day is celebrating its 50th Anniversary on April 22, 2020! Wisconsin’s own Gaylord Nelson is responsible for this special day. Look at Nelson, Gaylord, 1916-2005 to learn more about this man and his efforts.

Arbor Day is also celebrated this month, on April 24. The biggest and best thing you can do to celebrate Arbor Day is to PLANT A TREE! Go to https://shop.arborday.org and order 10 ‘free’ trees; for a $10 membership you can choose 10 trees and receive a tree guide book. Our planet is worth that investment.

Ideas to celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day: