Tag: first time homeschool

How to Embrace Back to School Season

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Over the past few months, we’ve discovered a new appreciation for our schools and teachers, especially as we look ahead to back to school season. This time of year always feels like the holidays for many parents and students. While this year likely continues to look and feel different for many students and families, we still believe back to school can (and should!) be celebrated. No matter if you’re prepping to learn virtually from home or return back to the classroom, below are four tips for embracing back to school this year. 

Start Incorporating Learning: 

Depending on where you reside, you’re either days away from returning to school or you have another month filled with summer fun. Either way, one of the best ways to start getting into the school mindset is to ease it back into your everyday routine. Set aside time for your kids to read, switch to an educational game on a computer or iPad, dive into a math game, or complete a science experiment. By welcoming learning back now, students will feel more ready to fully embrace a school schedule in the days and weeks to come.

Create a Schedule: 

The summer is when we all relax our schedules and embrace a go-with-the-flow mindset, but schedules are key during the school year. Take a moment to revisit first grade teacher Mrs. Lamb’s tips from the spring. She and her kids discovered how they can best learn while at home. Mrs. Lamb said sometimes that involves incorporating more focused work during the morning followed by an increased emphasis on play in the afternoon. Start determining how you think your family’s ideal school day will look and feel now. Then give it a try in advance of your official start date.

Shop for School:

We know how much students love shopping for new school supplies, and this year should not be any different even if you’re planning to learn virtually from home. Purchase new folders, notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons, markers, tech, and more just like you normally would. This nod to normalcy will feel comfortable, familiar, and exciting to your kids, and we think you will enjoy it too.

Also, consider shopping for back to school clothes! We’ve found it’s best to make a concerted effort to get dressed every day even if we’re working at home, and we think the same is true for kids. Think about shopping for new tops, pants, dresses, and shoes from their favorite stores, like Carter’s, OshKosh B’gosh, GAP, Kohls, Dicks Sporting Goods, and more through your Shopkick app as you embrace the fall season together. You’ll earn kicks, and your kids will keep up with their fun school year style. 

Embrace the School Season:

Just as you did during the spring, now is the time to embrace the school season whether it involves learning from home or returning back to the classroom. The more you and your student lean into learning, the more fun and normal it will become. Many of us are facing the same challenges, so keep this in mind: We’re all learning together, Shopkickers!

How are you and your kids embracing back to school this year? We would love to hear your thoughts on Facebook! 

P.S: For more on our “How to Homeschool” series with Mrs. Lamb, click here!

How to Homeschool: 3 Engagement Tips

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Did you catch the second installment in our How to Homeschool series on Facebook Live this morning? First grade teacher Mrs. Lamb was back on our channel sharing more tips. Today, she highlighted three great ways to keep your students engaged in their work at home. And, we loved seeing comments rolling in from parents who said they were trying her calming techniques right along with her and seeing results! Today, let’s dive into energy, stamina, and poetry.

1. How to Release Energy

Kids are naturally energetic, and sometimes their energy levels feel even higher when they’re at home. Because they still need to complete their schoolwork (and parents need to work!), the best thing to do is to encourage your kids to release their energy through movement breaks. Here are a few of Mrs. Lamb’s top suggestions:

Go Noodle: Go Noodle specializes in educational games and activities for students, especially those who are in elementary school. The best part is each game requires students to move their bodies in order to reach the next level (think: waving arms, jumping, dancing, and yoga).

Yoga: If you want to encourage your student to release their energy and practice relaxation at the same time, turn to Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Flashcard Stair Race: Mrs. Lamb said she frequently writes a sight word on a flashcard and places one flashcard on every stair. Then, her kids have to run up and down the stairs and read while they get their wiggles out. This trick would also work well with math problems!

HIIT Workout: Many adults have learned the positives about HIIT workouts, and they’re great for kids too. Frog jumps, bear walks, cheetah runs (running in place!), and elephant stomps are all part of the workout. Kidokinetics has great videos on their website!

Wall Pushups: Rather than doing pushups on the group, encourage your student to do them against a wall. Place hands shoulder-width apart and lean into the wall as though you’re doing a pushup. Think about completing these in reps of 5-10.

Resistance Bands: Mrs. Lamb said she has placed resistance bands around chairs for her kids to use to exercise their legs while working on their schoolwork at the table.

Calming Techniques: These were definitely the fan favorite!

  1. Belly Breathing: Breathe in for 5 counts and out for 5 counts.
  2. Smelling Cake & Blowing Out Candles: Imagine you’re smelling cake. Then blow out the candles. The idea is a fun visual one, and you will still want to breathe in and out for 5 counts.
  3. Starfish Hands: Spread your hand out on the table. Then trace it with your other hand. You could also trace your hand with a pencil onto paper.

2. How to Keep Stamina Up

If you decide you want to run a marathon, most don’t go outside and run 26.2 miles the next day. Instead, you need to train in order to build up endurance and stamina. In order to learn to spend more time reading, learning, or working independently, kids need to build up their stamina in the same way. Mrs. Lamb offered these great tips!

Set a Timer: Mrs. Lamb used the idea of encouraging students to read independently. She said she will set a timer, and ask her kids to choose a book to read or look at the pictures until the buzzer sounds. Think about starting with 5-10 minutes, depending on your child’s age, and add 2 minutes to the timer each day to build up to longer stretches.  

Celebrate Small Wins: Mrs. Lamb related this suggestion back to the Gem Jar from our last post. Decide with your child what you would like your goal to be (maybe it’s 3 consecutive days of independent reading). Then celebrate the win! Mrs. Lamb mentioned her students love flashlight reading. Turn out the lights in a room and read a book with a flashlight.

3. How to Celebrate Poetry Month

April is Poetry Month, and many students would have been celebrating at school. So, celebrate at home and keep your kids engaged in reading and writing! Here’s what Mrs. Lamb suggests.

Read Poetry: This is the easiest way to celebrate! Check out famed (and fun!) poets, like Shel Silverstein, online.

Try Writing a Poem: Writing a poem in the shape of an object or writing about a color are great ways to introduce poetry. In terms of writing about colors, a go-to prompt is to describe a color using all five senses:

  1. What does the color look like?
  2. What does the color sound like?
  3. What does the color smell like?
  4. What does the color taste like?
  5. What does the color feel like?

Submit to a Poetry Contest: Mrs. Lamb noted there are plenty of contests kids of all ages can submit to! Try searching in your local area or find a contest online.

At the end of her Live, Mrs. Lamb answered questions from how to celebrate Earth Day to the books she loves for elementary school students and more! Make sure to watch the complete segment on our Facebook page.

Great news! Mrs. Lamb will be back for another segment on Thursday. We’ll see you on Facebook!

How to Homeschool Your Kids: Tips from a Teacher

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In an effort to continue to share content that can make an impact in your lives, we have been sharing tips for keeping kids busy at home. Combined with your requests and requests from our own families and friends, today we thought we would tackle a new topic with help from an incredible educator: homeschooling!

Students, teachers, and parents are currently trying to navigate completely uncharted territory as many jump into homeschooling for the first time, and we knew first grade teacher, Mrs. Lamb, would offer great insight. So, we went live with Mrs. Lamb today on Facebook! Did you catch it? If not, make sure to watch the replay, and take a peek at the comments. There are so many great learning ideas from fellow Shopkickers who are homeschooling for the first time just like you!

A few of our favorite takeaways from Mrs. Lamb about how to homeschool:

1. Prep the Night Before

For parents who are also trying to work from home, we think this tip is especially meaningful! The night before, review the schoolwork your child needs to accomplish. Then, set initial assignments aside, especially those your child can complete without guidance from you. When you spot work that will require hands-on help, pull that from the pile and save it to do together to prevent interruptions during your work calls.

2. Create a Schedule

Kids (and adults!) are used to schedules, and it’s important to keep that going at home. Of course, you’re free to make modifications depending on how you and your family feel the day is going. However, having a general plan works wonders! Mrs. Lamb mentioned she and her kids have found it’s best to complete work that will require them to sit at the table during the morning. Then, they switch to a special, like art or music, during the afternoon and sometimes do a science experiment together. The freedom to play is especially important after lunch when energy levels rise and the desire to sit still starts to fade.

3. Encourage Independent Work

Mrs. Lamb was quick to point out students are asked to work independently at school, so they should be able to do the same thing at home! As we mentioned above, starting the day with independent work or scheduling it for times when you need to attend meetings works well. Mrs. Lamb also said Go Noodle is one of her go-to sites for younger kids who need fun activities that they can do on their own.

4. Set Up a Reward System

Mrs. Lamb mentioned a few different ways to offer rewards during her Live. She said she and her kids have been filling a mason jar with gems – they’ve named it The Gem Jar. Mrs. Lamb also mentioned choosing a word and then spelling it out with stickers each time a child (or parent!) has an accomplishment. A key takeaway: “wins” can be things like completing work or doing well on an assignment, but they can also be even more simple like being kind to a sibling or getting dressed for the day on their own. Once your goal is met, do something fun together at home!

5. Explore Activities at Home

Whether you’re planning how to explore specials together or thinking of a fun family reward for a full Gem Jar or completed work, you definitely don’t have to look further than your home! A few ideas that stood out to us: build a fort, camp in the living room, create chalk art with painter’s tape (here’s a tutorial), or enjoy a family movie night. 

BONUS: Stay Connected

We’re all missing the everyday connections we typically make without effort, so it’s more important now than ever before to make sure to stay connected to friends and teachers. Turn to Zoom, FaceTime, and more to stay in touch! While you’re talking, share what you and your family are doing during your school time together.

Mrs. Lamb sent us all of her go-to resources for at-home learning, and we wanted to make sure you can access them too. Here’s the full list:

Movement

Reading: 

Math Tools:

Enrichment Activities

Virtual Field Trips:

Communication Tools:

We’ll be sharing more tips and tricks from Mrs. Lamb, but don’t hesitate to chime in on Facebook in the meantime!