COVID-19 Spring Break Day 1

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COVID-19

#CoronaBreakDay1


As of yesterday, I am on a 3-week Spring Break mandated by the Ohio governor, Mike DeWine.  I brought home half of my 3 classes’ portfolios to work on, my computer to write lesson plans, and my 2 class pets:  one hedgehog and a rabbit.  I am in a great position because as a teacher, I am able to be home with my 3 children while we are all on our extended Spring Break.  My husband, however, will be working through the COVID-19 outbreak as he is a police officer.   I am also NOT in a great position as I have asthma, an underlying condition that professionals have advised to avoid contact with people during this pandemic. 

As we all watch social media and new outlets for updates on how many cases there are and how many people are going to be tested, we are all trying to make sense of the unprecedented closures that continue to go on around us.  We’ve been at stores where shelves are bare, and people are wearing masks and gloves and it all seems a little surreal. 

Most of all, as a teacher, I am struggling to figure out how to re-write my college syllabus as an online class as I was ordered by Cuyahoga Community College to continue teaching remotely.  I work as an adjunct instructor teacher Early Childhood Education courses.  Monday through Friday I am a preschool teacher for children ages 3 to 5.  I know that my students, like many others, are going to be missing school.  I also know that many parents will begin to worry about how they will keep their young children busy during this 3-week closure.  It is for this reason that I decided to start blogging ideas of how to keep children busy and engaged during this time.  Please feel free to share these ideas and this blog with others who may benefit from it.

My ideas come from my teaching style and Reggio-inspired philosophy of child-led learning.  I teach with a project-based curriculum that incorporates all of the learning domains daily and do so based on the children’s interests.  Although I am an Early Childhood (birth to age 8), these ideas are all “winners” as decided by my own children (ages 4, 8 and 11).  If you have any questions, please reach out to me on here or on my social media accounts:

Instagram:  @preschool_professor  

Twitter:  @PreK_Professor


ACTIVITY:  Scavenger Hunts


Do you know how valuable spending time outside can be?  Research shows that ADHD, anxiety, and even Autism symptoms diminish once a child spends time outside.  Social distancing calls for 6 feet away from others.  This means that we can and should still be playing outside!

Use one of these simple scavenger hunts to keep your child(ren) focused, on task, and out of your hair for a bit. 

There are SO MANY different scavenger hunts.  You can challenge your child to find something of a certain color, one thing from every color of the rainbow, or something you can see, smell, and/or touch.  Alternatively, you can send your child on a scavenger hunt with a piece of paper so they can cross off, tally, or circle the things as they find them.  I have an INDOOR HOME hunt and a SPRING FLOWER HUNT.  There are also two more scavenger hunts here.  One can be done indoors or outdoors and the other is a neighborhood hunt.  

LEARNING:
When children conduct a scavenger hunt, they are:
·      following directions
·      reading
·      practicing attention and focus
·      practicing reading skills
·      practicing writing skills as they check off the items found
·      exploring the natural world (science standards)
·      counting, sorting, or tallying things found (mathematical standards)
·      checking of things, they find (reading and writing applications)

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