Hi Windsor Students and Parents,
I hope everyone had a restful and fun albeit different Spring Break with your family, despite Covid 19. It’s times like these that bring us closer together (metaphorically speaking) and make us appreciate each other and our family time together. During this time of social distancing and learning from home you obviously can’t visit our school library and take books out during your weekly book exchange with your class šĀ However, businesses and authors everywhere are generously offering free resources until the end of the school year, to lighten the load and support students, parents and teachers as we begin our digital learning journey together. I hope you’ll take advantage of these and READ READ READ!
During scary and uncertain times, a powerful story can keep our spirits up, give us hope and create joy in our currently confined lives. As a parent, I hope you will consider reading with and to your child once a day. Reading a novel out loud to your child allows your child to access books and ideas that might not be at their reading level yet and allows the two of you (or your whole family) to bond. Asking questions and making connections to the story with your child will improve reading comprehension. This shows your child that reading is valuable, provides an escape during times of stress and anxiety, and ultimately helps your child develop into a lifelong reader. A great book can truly be uplifting!
āBooks allow us to travel when we have to stay in one place.”
Here is a list of some of these digital resources:
1.Don’t forget good ol’ Tumblebooks š — Sorry I’mĀ not able to make the link work.
This is an awesome resource that you can either access by going to the Windsor homepage and under the library button click on web resources and click on tumblebooks in top left hand corner. Do not use the tumblebooks button below web resources as it doesn’t work at the moment. If you have lost the username and password sent home earlier in the year, you can email me and I will email it to you. Unfortunately, I can’t post it here. Check out the daily e-book, and story book of the day at the top on the homepage. Also there is an extensive graphic novel section (I know you all love your graphic novels!) and all of Kate Dicamillo’s (MY HERO!) books can be found on tumblebooks too. My absolute favourite is The Tale of DespereauxĀ found under the green e-book button at the top. If you’re a younger reader, check out the Gollie and Bink and Mercy Watson series by Kate Dicamillo found under the storybook section.
2. Scholastic — http://scholastic.ca/education/free_digital_resources/
Scholastic is offering free access to their digital resources. These include: BookFlix (K– 3), Shared Reading (K–3), TrueFlix (3 –5), Science Flix (4 — 9) and Scholastic Go (2– 12).
The Science Flix looks particularly useful as there are lots of Science topics, a video for each topic, projects found under āScience Labā and questions to answer under āshow what you know.ā There are also careers in Science and experiments to check out as well. In addition, Bookflix offers a pairing of a fiction and non-fition book on a topic and then there are word matches, fact or fiction and sequencing for each pair. Check out a classic and popular favourite āDonāt let the Pigeon Drive the Busā and āRoad Safety.ā You can watch or read the book and then try out the fact or fiction puzzler. Finally check out True Flix featuring lots of non-fiction texts on lots of different interesting topics such as extreme science, ancient civilizations, great discoveries, disasters and many more.
3. Audible — https://stories.audible.com/discovery
There are lots of online stories that you can listen to for free here. Iām excited to listen to Library of Souls (3rd novel of Miss Peregrineās Peculiar Children) by Ransom Riggs, since I couldnāt put down the first two books in the series. The titles are all organized by age: littlest listeners, elementary, tween and teen. There are also books in several different languages if you scroll down towards the bottom. Another book on my quarantine list is Interview with the Robot. The story is about a young girl who is actually a robot on the run from a medical facility that created her and she’s guarding a deep dark secret. The synopsis captured my attention and this one is a short 3 hour listen for intermediate students.
Curio.ca is offered by CBC for free right now. Check out Monster Math Squad (Season 1) and Gumboot Kids Curriculum.
5. UBC Geering Up — https://geeringuponline.apsc.ubc.ca/families/daily-activities/
On Wednesdays at 11am there will be a new STEM activity/experiment to checkout. This looks fun! On April 4th there is a free online workshop for grades 4/5 and 6/7 to learn how to build a website. You need to register, but it is free! Check out this amazing opportunity under online weekend events. Also check out this link on their website for more online STEM resources:
https://geeringuponline.apsc.ubc.ca/online-resources-for-kids/
6. Books Read Online by Authors and Other Zany Personalities and Art Lessons — https://padlet.com/nordingc/yvr1988dkgxz
I did not make this resource, but I do have permission to share it. Here you can find lots of different picture books being read online in many cases by the author him/herself! A favourite of mine is The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors written and read by Drew Daywalt. You can also take an art class with Mo Willems (thatās right the beloved author of the pigeon books!)
These are just a few of the online resources currently available. I hope you enjoy them. Happy online learning! Donāt forget to READ READ READ!!
Thinking of all of you during these difficult times,
Ms. Ward