IMPORTANT: Structure Your Day 3/30, #3 of 3

March 30, 2020 Ms. D

Hello Division 5,

It is hard to be learning at home without any structure. Even I have found that hard! I mean, sure, we could stay in bed until 12 PM, watch movies all afternoon, and then make dinner…..but, then I feel like a marshmallow on the couch, and I have a hard time getting rid of my anxious energy and going to sleep!

So, one of the teachers I follow on Twitter, who also loves project-based learning, recommended a way to schedule the day.

We will be using this to help schedule our days of distance learning together. Here is how it works:

Every day, you will have a choice of activities to do in six categories.
You may do the categories in any order, as long as you do all of them.
Tasks need to be done for the amount of time given.
Select any activity from the list under each category. Don’t repeat activities, unless you are finishing an activity from the previous day. It is good to finish what you start before moving on.
Complete tasks at any point in the day between the time you get up to the time you go to sleep. Talk with Mom and Dad about the best schedule. Maybe from 9 AM to 3PM, so you stay in school hours.
You can provide suggestions to add to each category, too! Just email me your suggestions to add to the coming week’s list.
Some tasks are mandatory and some are optional. Mandatory tasks need to be completed by end of day Friday of each week, and I have put them in italics.
Our first week, we will just try this out. Second week, Ms. D will provide instructions about how to document the choices you made, as I would like to be able to give you feedback on how you are using your time.
I recommend making posters or a schedule to put on your fridge.
Ms. D will be doing this, too! Parents are welcome to participate.
I will add options as we go along and re-post each week.

Here are the categories:

MAKER HOUR (60 minutes) Do something creative! Make something new! Take a picture of it to document your work!

Paint something
Make a mini model of your home (extra challenge, make it to scale). You could also just measure the area and perimeter of each room in your house, as a review from our last math unit.
Create a cartoon
Make a marble roller coaster out of found objects in the house
Make prints using paint and found objects
Read about and create a 5 Clue Video Challenge for us
Make a puppet show and present it to your family or us
Create a website, blog, art journal
Do SCRATCH online or find something on Code.org to do coding
Do Tynker coding for free
Bake something
Take a box and make something out of it
Make a mini catapult out of found objects
Do a Science-U science activity at home
Make a newsletter for your home
Do napkin folding for your home
Do the Getty Museum Art Challenge — Read about it here.
Grow some plants from food scraps. See how here. or on this website too!
Create something from the MAKE Magazine Maker Project Library (most materials can be found in the home)
Make instruments from things in your home
Find, pick and dissect a flower to learn its parts
Make paper airplanes that fly very far.
Exploratorium California Science Snacks with home supplies.
Do edible science projects.
Do a fun science experiment creation using office supplies.
Make a homemade weather measurement instrument
Watch a GEERING UP UBC Engineers Science Activity online, which is live streamed at 11AM every weekday.

FITNESS HOUR (60 Minutes) Get moving, get some exercise, get your heart pumping!

Go walking outside
Or, if you can’t go out, go walking a mile on YouTube with Alana
Create your own fitness routine
Do Just Dance on video games or YouTube
Look up Fit with Frank videos to do a fitness routine in the home
Do Pilates for Beginners (was recommended by my daughter’s dance instructor)
Do the New York City Ballet Warm Up Level 1 if you like dance
Do Yoga for Kids for beginners, shorter class with basic poses
Do Yoga for Kids for a bit longer class
Do the Scientific 7 Minute Workout from the NY Times
Go for a bike ride outside with someone in your family
Use the Healthy Living 25 Ways to Get Moving At Home
Face Time or Zoom with a friend while doing a workout. Do it together! Just need two devices.

INDIE READING (30 minutes) Reading, preferably offline but if you are out of books and need to go online, at least not news or current events articles.

Build a fort with a blanket over a table or chairs and do some reading under it
On Amazon.ca, if you have the Kindle App, there are lots of free books to read
With your library card, check out online resources for Burnaby or Vancouver Public Libraries
Use Audible for free right now to listen to tons of online audible stories.
Use the Burnaby School District’s Tumblebooks Account to access books online. Press the ebooks tab at the top.
Ms. D is looking for more options!

SERVICE (30 minutes) Clean and help!

Unload or load the dishwasher
Sweep or vacuum the house
Call a grandparent, family member, or friend to help them feel connected during this time of isolation
Help with the laundry — loading, folding, putting things away
Dust the house or blinds
Clean windows
Help with the garbage or compost runs
Clean off counters
Wipe doorknobs and high-touch spaces with cleaner
Take care of a pet
Clean the toilet
Organize recycling
Watch your younger sibling so your parents can have a break

GENIUS HOUR (60 minutes) Learn something new and document your learning in some way.

Learn morse code and practice using it with a sibling through the walls.
Learn magic tricks for beginners
Learn about Animation Pixar in a Box on Khan Academy
Play Chess online with Masters
Learn how to Beat Box, creating new sounds with your lips
Study Yourself — Experiments to Learn More About Your Body Exploratorium
Mandatory: Keep working on independent project, document your notes and resources used. What new questions have you added since the first 10 you created? What new questions do you have after doing research since before break?

UNIT, NUMERACY, LITERACY HOUR (60 minutes) Specific learning opportunities at our grade level or connected to our unit….more to come.

Use the grade 4/5 Resources on the Burnaby School District’s Continuing Learning Website for literacy, numeracy, or ADST
Play or create math games using cards.
Play math games or do literacy activities with dice.
Make a graph of something — for example, which birds come to visit your backyard, or the objects everyone owns in the house, or make a graph by collecting information from friends online.
Write something using a picture prompt on The Learning Network, NY Times
Make a 15 second Word of the Day Video and share it (NY Times)
Do a Math Activity on YouCubed Home Activities, Stanford University
Do the Weekly Waterloo Math Challenges by Grade then check answers later
We talked about blood types in our first unit — try out this module to learn about blood typing and how they match up patients. Fun game!
Practice your online research speed skills. Do the Google a Day challenge.
Use other general online math and literacy learning RESOURCES from the Burnaby School District’s Continuing Learning Site, including Prodigy.
Do a writing prompt: Mandatory task this week, E-Port Documenting History

Questions? Email me!

With kindness,

Ms. D