DRIVER PRIMARY SCHOOL
ADDITIONAL AT HOME IDEAS
This page has been designed to support families who:
- are keeping their children home due to COVID-19 and want extra home schooling ideas
to accompany work packs provided by the school
- want some ideas to tap into particular interest areas of their children
- want additional homework ideas for their children
The ideas below do not all require your child to access online materials. There are plenty that don't require them to be online at all.
English (Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking) Ideas for Home
If you have online access:
- Children’s books read by famous- people https://www.storylineonline.net/
- Young Explorers is a magazine designed specifically for young children. Children can listen to the magazine being read to them as they follow along with the highlighted text.
https://ngexplorer.cengage.com/ngyoungexplorer/index.html
- Short videos and texts that answer various burning questions for children. There are vocabulary challenges and comprehension questions. http://wonderopolis.org/
- Work on the 8 parts of speech. https://www.grammaropolis.com/
- Boost writing confidence with Storybird. http://storybird.com/
- Listen to astronauts read Story Time From Space. https://storytimefromspace.com/library/
- Learn the 'Oxford Sight Words' https://www.oxfordowl.com.au/oxford-wordlist
Don't forget that all Driver Primary students have a Reading Eggs login. If your child's login is not working all you need to do is contact the school and we will check it for you.
If you do not have online access:
- To help younger children explore oral language you could:
Go for a walk outside and name objects you see. Repeat this several times. Describe the object. Ask the child what he or she thinks about the object. You are looking at a butterfly! That is a beautiful butterfly, isn’t it? Do you like the butterfly? That butterfly is yellow. And look, over there, there’s another one—do you know what to call it?”
OR
Point out words you see in your environment, point out colours and ask your child to tell you the colour or tell you what letter of the alphabet something starts with.
OR
- talk about past experiences, perhaps using photos as a visual aid. “Ask, ‘See, here’s a picture of—yes, Grandma. Do you remember what we did last time we visited Grandma?’” Take a while and stay on a topic … getting your child to elaborate on who, what, when, where, how, and why something happened, and how the child felt about it.” They may even then be motivated to write a letter to Grandma or write a poem or story about the experience.
- A way to encourage critical thinking could be to tell the children you are going to watch a movie together, but first read the book together. That way you can do a comparative analysis between the book and the movie (at whatever level the child is ready for): ‘What changes? Which one do you think is better? What things did they have to leave out because otherwise this movie would have been too long?’”
Don't forget to look at the reading ideas in our parent information booklet that you can access on the Information Tab on this website.
Mathematics Ideas for Home
If you have online access:
https://drpaulswan.com.au/teaching-at-home/
- Maths as a fun part of your daily family routine. http://bedtimemath.org/
- Maths games galore. https://gridclub.com/
- Short videos about numbers that help kids explore complex math topics and make math more fun. https://www.numberphile.com/
- Kids numbers. http://www.kidsnumbers.com/
- Maths Frame. http://www.mathsframe.co.uk/default.aspx
- Good hands on examples of math activities that can be done at home.
If you do not have online access:
- sending kids who are learning math basics on a mission around the house or the building to count something (such as all the windows) and then asking them the average number of windows in each room or apartment.
- cooking to learn about measuring
- adding amounts of money and working out change
-identifying shapes and numbers
- counting
- skip counting or practising time tables
Art/Craft, Cooking or Learning a Language Ideas
If you have online access:
- Crafts and activities- https://www.allkidsnetwork.com/
- Fun games, recipes, crafts, activities- https://www.highlightskids.com/
- Kids Think Design explores careers in fashion design, graphic design, interior design, book design, product design, film and theatre, architecture, animation, and environmental design- http://www.kidsthinkdesign.org/
- Illustrated recipes designed to help kids age 2-12 cook. Recipes encourage culinary skills, literacy, maths and science- https://www.nomsterchef.com/nomster-recipe-library
- Help children learn to appreciate the arts by providing them with the opportunity to play games, conduct investigations, and explore different forms of art- https://artsology.com/
- Red Tent Art- step by step instructions on art projects including origami, Easter, 3D cards, clay pots, etc- https://www.youtube.com/user/redtedart
- Carson Ellis' Art Club- Carson Ellis, author and illustrator will be posting art assignments on her Instagram page every weekday morning. They’ll be designed for kids and grownups alike. If you want to share them, you can use the hashtag #quarantineartclub. She’ll also provide individual hashtags for each exercise so everyone can see each other’s work. https://instagram.com/carsonellis?igshid=1urg2g0rg5r4b
- Mo Willems, the author of ‘Don’t let the Pigeon Stay up Late’ is uploading daily drawing lessons-
- A wonderful, endlessly detailed way to get kids engaged in the world of art
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/metkids/
- Learn a language- https://www.duolingo.com/
- Driver Primary students in Years 3-6 already learn Indonesian once a week. This can continue at home. Click on the image below to find out how.......
If you do not have online access:
- Cooking can be a science lesson (let’s talk about how yeast works), a math lesson (what’s a half cup plus a quarter cup?), or a reading lesson (does this label say “baking soda” or “baking powder”?)—and it provides opportunities for kids to learn about nutrition as well as foods and flavors from around the world.
IT & Science Ideas
If you have online access:
- Make your own animated videos with Go animate- http://goanimate.com/
- Prezi (make your presentations zoom) http://prezi.com/
- Create interactive avatars to showcase children’s learning- Voki: http://www.voki.com/
- Go Geocatching- https://geocaching.com.au
- This NASA initiative covers a wide range of topics including weather, climate, atmosphere, water, energy, plants, and animals- https://climatekids.nasa.gov/
- Coding for ages 4-10- https://www.kodable.com/
- For budding Marine Biologists- take a deep dive into ocean life. https://ocean.si.edu/
- This NASA initiative covers a wide range of topics including weather, climate, atmosphere, water, energy, plants, and animals- https://climatekids.nasa.gov/
- Science podcasts to listen to with your kids- https://medium.com/kidslisten/19-great-science-podcasts-you-can-listen-to-with-kids-6fe46ac506b8#.rb23iuaw6
- If you have a curious child who is interested in world events, scientific concepts and generally has an inquiring mind, this is a great site to check out- https://thekidshouldseethis.com
- Learn to code- https://www.codecademy.com/
- Lots of science experiments that you can do at home-
https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/
- Scratch teaches students all about coding- https://scratch.mit.edu/
- Microsoft Family Learning Centre
https://education.microsoft.com/en-us/resource/755e5a8b
History/Geography/Civics Ideas
If you have online access:
- Virtual Excursions-
- Visit museums. Google Arts and Culture partnered with over 2,500 museums and galleries around the world to offer virtual tours of their spaces. Some of the options include:
New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum- https://artsandculture.google.com/partner?hl=en
- The San Diego Zoo has a live webcam for animals- https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/live-cams
- Melbourne Zoo also has live webcams
https://www.zoo.org.au/animal-house
- This iconic museum located in the heart of London allows virtual visitors to tour the Great Court and discover the ancient Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies
https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/
- Geography with National Geographic- https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
- Online history classes for all ages preteen through adults- https://school.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive
- Type in any city, state, or country to view an archive of historical photographs and other documents. It’s a unique way to help children learn about history
- 35,000 pages of online content on the cultures/countries of the world
https://www.countryreports.org/
- Live video of the National Zoo and Smithsonian Learning Lab
- Electoral System of Australia-
https://education.aec.gov.au/teacher-resources/
- Tests kids’ geography skills. Using images from Google’s Street View, it plops players down in the middle of the street and asks them to figure out where they are
- Google Earth. All sorts of learning here
If you do not have online access:
Music, Dance and Physical Activity Ideas
If you have online access:
- Lady Gaga’s former backup dancer, Mark Kanemura, is hosting virtual dance sessions on his Instagram page
https://instagram.com/mkik808?igshid=xp9gywx8gc02
- Fly a kite!
- Lets kids play instruments online. Instruments include the guitar, piano, pan flute, drums, and bongos
https://www.virtualmusicalinstruments.com/
- A large selection of fun songs to help teach preschool students
https://www.songsforteaching.com/preschoolkindergarten.htm
- Movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts
- Kid-friendly workouts — choose from Strength for Kids, Agility for Kids, Flexibility and Balance for Kids, Warm-Up for Kids, Cooldown for Kids, Stand Up and Move for Kids, OR create your own custom kid workout
https://app.sworkit.com/collections/kids-workouts
- Music is for everyone
https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Experiments
- Yoga and mindfulness for kids
If you do not have online access:
Websites that provide activities exploring a range of subjects:
- Educational games K-12- https://www.breakoutedu.com/funathome
- Range of English and Math Activities for all ages and ability levels. https://www.k5learning.com/what-is-k5
- ABC- Educational resources- https://education.abc.net.au/home#!/home
- Projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing- https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
- Online classes for kids- https://outschool.com/#abk7vott3k
- A range of projects from Preschool - Year 9
https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
- A great list of ideas from a teacher.
https://www.weareteachers.com/things-to-do-during-covid/
- 100 challenge ideas for home learners
https://www.teachingpacks.co.uk/100-challenge-ideas-for-home-learners/
- Top Marks helps teachers save time by finding excellent online educational resources
and some fun ideas that families may like to explore if your children do not have online access:
- https://parade.com/1009774/stephanieosmanski/things-to-do-with-kids-during-coronavirus-quarantine/
- Challenging children to pitch a tent or create a play fort in the yard or lounge room can teach kids innovation and resourcefulness.
- Turn your home into a space station and explore what you would need to survive if you were astronauts in space for a length of time.
- Turn your dining room and kitchen into a restaurant. Make menus, dress as a chef or wait staff, set the table and serve your family a 3 course meal.
- Share stories from your childhood, work together to draw a family tree of your own family, turn some of your family stories into mystery, fantasy or adventure stories.....you could even make/write a book together about your family and send copies to family members interstate.
- Don't forget to stay in touch with loved ones by writing/texting or skyping/Facetiming as often as you can.
- This pandemic will be part of history so children could create their own historical record of what this time is like for their family (a written account or photos, drawings, journals, interviews, they coud interview and video family members or just record daily happenings/fears/feelings).
We encourage parents to stay informed about what children are accessing online by checking out the e-safety guide and other great resources at: