When I taught professionally, I had emergency lessons. You should, too! Create files marked Emergency. Some large families also have an emergency snack box when mom just can’t face cooking another meal. Put the emergency files there. There will be days when your three year old decides to have a two hour melt-down or the baby is vomiting with a fever. While your older kiddos are delighted to build with LEGOs or bake, consider emergency lessons—at least to keep you from feeling guilty about missing the regular lessons.
Money: Currency, coins, and money combines several subjects. Let’s start with coins. Watch Money and Magnets before you read The Captivating Chemistry of Coins. Here are the student questions. Younger kiddos might enjoy the NCW issue, Marvelous Metals, which has articles, a game, activities, and terms. Assign the terms to the kiddos. They can copy the vocabulary and definitions. In fact have them research the definition and record any unfamiliar word. Tell the children they can clean copper pennies (older than 1981) with vinegar and salt or Ketchup; however, they need to find the pennies by themselves and do the experiment in the kitchen. Here is the U.S. Mint’s Coin Classroom, with videos. Ask the younger kiddos to hunt for change and count it. Here are counting money worksheets to print.
Currency is another interesting topic. Here is the currency academy. Cash, Currency, and Counterfeit (guide) and Counterfeiting Countermeasures, are fascinating. Here are U.S. currency videos. HST has a Counterfeit Money Project kids can do independently if they have a magnifier. Ask the kiddos to hunt for yours when they are searching for coins. If you have a hand-held microscope, paper currency is fascinating under the microscope.
Science NCW and ACS Issues: Celebrating Chemistry (scroll down) has annual issues full of articles, activities, vocabulary, etc. Look at The Sweet Side of Chemistry: Candy. Print the articles and save the experiments for another day. Kiddos can summarize articles or just write a few facts, depending on their ages. Do you want dire emergency science lessons? Use Bill Nye Movie Sheets and Bill Nye Episodes. My emergency lessons were Chemmatters articles and teacher’s guides, such as Crochet Chemistry, which dovetails well with Fabulous Fibers. The teacher’s guide is on the same page as the article. Students should write the answers in complete sentences. Voila! An instant lesson!
English and Math: Pick a writing prompt. The kiddo is practicing handwriting. Have Editor in Chief and Easy Grammar on hand. Pull out any sheet. By all means read a book! Ask your kiddo to add the title in her reading log. Similarly, print math drill worksheets. Try to train your kiddo to pull out math of his own and work on the next lesson. 3-Act Tasks have videos, such as The Candyman, with questions. Kids can estimate the number of pieces of gum from the gum ball machine and see the answer in the link or video below.
Geography and History: I like Daily Geography. Pull any lesson. For high school teens I’ve used Land and People: Finding a Balance. The focus question provides a guide. For example, have the teen start with the poster, review the Teacher’s Guide, and read the lesson. I’ve used this as a research project. What is the current state of water quality in Cape Cod? How is Cape Cod addressing the water quality issues? For History, try Five Minute History Lessons or pick a Sesquicentennial Lesson! What does freedom mean to you? Try Dissecting the Revolution and worksheet from the Museum of the American Revolution. Save these crafts for a rainy day.
No comments:
Post a Comment