May Study Guide Update: 2020

It’s May. We’re still in the thick of our “Stay at Home” order due to COVID-19, though we’ve been practicing “social distancing” for much longer than the mandate. It’s a wait and see situation. The tone around here has been low-key and online.

This is what we have on deck learning-wise this month. For reference, both my kids are roughly at a first and second grade level. Many of the resources I’ve linked to reflect that.

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For more family fun inspiration, check out my May list.

Download my free traceable calendar (plus a grid to chart the weather) for the month of May.

Ballet classes continue! We were given the opportunity to bow out this season, be we decided to keep on going until the season wraps at the end of the month. The recital is still up in the air but postponed indefinitely. Our ballet instructor put together resources through an app called “Band.” She has been posting coloring sheets, music files, videos and other things to keep her classes engaged and learning each week.

Forest school continues at home… The stack of Forest School books I was able to get before the libraries shut down have inspired us here. So far, we’ve learning knots and are making adventure sticks.

Monthly kids book club was cancelled but… The children’s librarian for one of our clubs has started offering virtual story times for the kids via Zoom, Facebook Live and Skype. We have also stayed in touch with the kids and parents from our other book club through Zoom.

In other learning news:

Language arts

We’ve started to lean on technology a bit more during this time. The kids have a game called Teach Your Monster to Read that I have them play for twenty minutes or so before they can play the other games on their tablets. The game is geared towards the K-2 set and the adventure play is right up my youngest’s alley. (Update: he cleared all of the levels on the game! So I need to find another LA app for him.)

We take advantage of the learning games from Education.com.

We try to read together as a family every day and at bedtime and continue our poetry teatime (inspired by Julie Bogart’s Brave Learner) continues. It is our special time to read our library book selections and talk about literature over a tasty beverage and treat.

We’re continuing to learn ASL (American Sign Language) but in a reduced capacity. We have a copy of “Helping Out Around the House” from the Signing Time series sitting by the DVD player that we play on occasion. And we quiz each other with our flash cards.

Music

I like to start the week with music appreciation. Usually, I play my Mozart station on Pandora before we move to other music. It’s a calming way to start the week.

General music appreciation is part of our everyday. We often have music playing in the background — from reggae, bluegrass, opera to a motivational playlist of favorites. The kids love playing the keyboard freestyle and dance parties with different music.

We’re continuing to learn piano but mostly informally. Since the kids have expressed learning how to read and write music, I’ve started to introduce them to basic music theory.

• Learn to Play Piano Worksheet from Education.com
• How to Read Music Worksheet from Education.com

Movement

While all of our out of home activities have ceased for the time being, we’re still wracking up hours for our 1,000 hours outside challenge. Other activities:

• Go Noodle – a fun app we found that helps to get the kids moving
• Ballet
• Yoga

Arts and crafts

We discovered a free online video series from children’s book author Mo Willems called “Lunch Doodles.”

We usually have a few crafts tied into our learning during the month but the kids tend to go off on their own and create what they see in their heads. They’ve even taken to designing their creation beforehand. It’s a fun process to see.

Social emotional

We found this resource for watching older episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and the kids enjoy that.

We also turned blank notebooks into gratitude journals. Every few days, the kids draw a picture of their current mood and a few of the things they are grateful for.

Another resource:

• 13 Fun Improv Games and Exercises for Kids

Social studies

We started doing “morning announcements” with other kids in our family during this “stay-at-home ” order across the country. It’s been fun to keep each other updated with what’s going on in our area.

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, so we’ll be learning about that.

• Interactive Lesson (PBS LearningMedia)
• Grade 2 Word Search (PBS LearningMedia)
• Hawaii study (pictures from vacations, culture)
• Multicultural coloring: China (Education.com)
• Japanese Traditional Clothing Coloring Page (Education.com)

Cinco de Mayo is May 5

• Interactive Lesson (PBS LearningMedia)

Memorial Day is May 25

• Interactive Lesson (PBS LearningMedia)

Health

With our current situation, managing stress has been top of mind. And I’ve been looking for ways to help engage the kids in learning about this important skill. I’ve found a section of Go Noodle that’s dedicated to mindfulness exercises.

Besides helping us in the kitchen, we’ve backed off health for the time being. Handwashing and good hygiene are encouraged daily but this particular subject has taken a back seat for now.

Science

With the garden in full swing, the kids have plenty to learn with us out in the yard. This month, we’ll be direct sowing many seeds and planting out our tomatoes and pepper plants. We’ll learn about good bugs and bad bugs, what to do with some of the early fruits of the garden.

With Forest School on hold indefinitely, we’ve been pulling from the forest school themed books I have on hand from the library. Some activities we’ll be continuing and/or trying out: knot tying, making adventure sticks, make a bug hotel and mini beast hunting.

To keep things lively, we’ll most likely do a Kiwi Crate box and or science experiments from the Magic School Bus Chemistry Lab.

This month, I thought I’d start a new thing with the kids. We’re going to pick an animal they’re interested in and do a brief study on them. Their first pick is a Komodo Dragon.

• Animal Research Graphic Organizer (Education.com)
• Komodo Dragon Coloring Worksheet (Education.com)
• Info worksheet: Komodo Dragon (Education.com)
• Wild Kratts episode (PBS KIDS)

I decided to take a break from Exploring Nature with Children so we can focus more on the above. I think we’ll revisit the curriculum later on this year.

Math

The kids have been more interested in math lately. We cover a lot of math (especially fractions) when the kids are in the kitchen cooking and baking. The kids work on number tracing daily with calendar practice and through their math sections in their workbooks.

Still love:

• Prodigy is an adventure-based math learning platform.
• Bedtime Math has been a fun way to teach practical applications and story problems. Each story ends with several math questions geared toward different age groups. They have an app, as well.
• LEGO challenge cards
• Math dice game – practice number combinations
• Moose Math – basic operations practice

Here’s an overview of what our typical week looks like:

Mondays: music, movement, arts

Tuesdays: language arts, social studies

Wednesdays: math and science

Thursdays: language arts, social studies, health

Weekend: catch up, math

I have the following grid printed off so I can write our plan every day on our whiteboard.