School work - inspiration please!

[Jellybelly15]

As it's back to home schooling tomorrow after half term I'm looking for some inspiration. Dc9 does the basics - maths, bitesize lesson on the TV, handwriting practice and some reading. Between working full time I try and make time to go over some of the schoolwork he's sent via the app but mostly we wing it a lot with our own stuff and work books from Amazon! I want to try and set him daily challenges that are fun and creative but also educational - maybe like write an acrostic poem or make your own wordsearch, something like that. Has anyone else got any other ideas? Trying to formulate some sort of lesson plan tonight!

I like Pobble365. It give a picture each day to inspire some creative writing. I try and keep a stash of them to one side. Then if I can find one that can be linked to whatever we have read at bedtime I use it. So there was a library one and we had just finished Harry potter. So I asked dd to write about her first visit to the Hogwarts school library and that this was a picture of it.

There's also a Lego activity thing going the rounds (maybe a month of Lego challenges?) I'll look it out.

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I'm basing some stuff on SpaceX and ISS this week.

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Have you had a look on Pobble365? It's a great resource, my ds is only 6 but will look at the pictures and plan /write stories for ages on it.

X posted with you Bernadette, I was just about to recommend the Lego challenge too!

We have done the Lego challenge. But I haven't heard of the Pobble thing I will take a look :-)

My dd’s school did a choose a country thing for a few weeks. She’s only yr 1 but I think could work well on older kids. We did geography, history, art, dance, animals, food, science (volcanos), language and had a great time.

Sorry in case it wasn’t clear, we learned about all of that from the one chosen country.

Thinking of maybe popping some educational tv shows on. He already watches bitesize but maybe something like Blue Planet could be good for downtime. He's sick of horrible histories

DS2 school are doing fortnightly topics and then setting work within 6 areas based around that topic.
So far we have had countries (pick a country to base everything on), myths and legends and now dinosaurs
The 6 areas are: literacy, maths, science and tech, expressive arts, humanities and then health and well being.

DS chose Australia so did comparing a basket of groceries to the U.K., map of major. Cities, landmarks and geographical features, worked out distances and times between major cities for driving, trains and flying, learn some phrases, cooked an Australian dish (BBQ!), designed a typical Australian house using the sims, wrote a story about a crocodile, kangaroo and a magic sword,

What are their interests? I have 1 pupil who is really into minecraft so I do bespoke minecraft work for them, other into animals etc.
Use pictures for an imaginative or formal writing stimulus, e.g. Tell the story of the picture or research the picture or interesting parts and share the information in various ways. For maths get an argos catalogue and say plan your perfect bedroom, price it up how much would it coat, can you find a better price online?

Dd9 loves this website for inspiration
www.onceuponapicture.co.uk/

What's the link please cuckoo?op could you do a map study?

Not meaning to be rude but can I ask why you are trying to plan so much yourself, are the school not providing enough? You say you are trying to make time to go over some of the school work on the app but wouldn’t it make your life easier if you prioritise what the school are sending? I’d assume his teacher will be setting tasks that are relevant to year 5 learning?

If he's been into Horrible Histories before he might like Operation Ouch. Have you had a look on Teachit?

The problem with the work that school sends via the app is that he needs a lot of help with it. Not just the work but operating the app itself. I'm trying to get him doing things that he can do independently as I'm still having to work all day. Things like stories, poems, little projects he can get on with alone.

Maybe contact his teacher and let them know this. Some children at my school are being given printed packs of work if they don’t have internet access.

Pobble 365 is awesome! The pictures are completely surreal and very inspiring. Very much recommended as a creative writing prompt!

For maths we've been doing White Rose.

We've done a fair amount of BBC Bitesize (not just the new Daily stuff. The old School Radio section has tons of intriguing resources and activities)

Have you had a look at Oak Academy? We haven't tried that one yet but it looked intriguing.

Oh, if you have books at home, he could write things like book reviews. And more generally write guides or reviews of stuff he enjoys (games, sports, TV series, etc.). Or quizzes.

You could have him watch an educational program on the BBC, then write a report about key facts, with some illustrations, etc. Maybe do some craft too, e.g. some models out of lego or recycled containers, etc. Just make sure it's a topic he enjoys.

Does he have access to a computer? If so, could he work through a touch typing course?

DD needs a lot of help/direction with her work (year 3) but she does The Maths Factor on her own, it starts off quite easy and has games which she likes doing.
Ted Ed is worth looking at too, DD likes watching all sorts of random videos and some of them have questions at the end.
DD has watched a couple of lessons on Royal Oak Academy, they are good and I assume structured how a normal school lesson would be.
Tate Modern Kids has art activities

Also, have a look at other schools' websites, my job share and I shared links from our respective schools as there was different work.

J.K. Rowling has been releasing her new book, a chapter a day, online and is running a competition for children aged between 7-12 to illustrate it for her.

The competition is available for those living in the Uk and the US.

It's already up to chapter 10 but all previous chapters are available on the website and it's incredibly easy to navigate.

A lovely opportunity for reading AND creativity.

www.theickabog.com/?fbclid=IwAR3iXOvsQwbYCSnuC_6ofhbCKLTbeWkqY7reiYCsSCSkMD9vL2mLddudMcs

The month of June is the Wildlife Trust's annual 30 Days Wild challenge where you try to do something in nature / to benefit nature each day of the month. Maybe build in challenges around this? action.wildlifetrusts.org/page/57739/petition/1