PARENTING

MAKING THE MOST OF VIRTUAL SCHOOL

TEACHERRECOMMENDED RESOURCES FOR PARENTS

WRITTEN BY REBECCA FISCHER

One of the many challenges stemming from the recent pandemic is the need to keep kids home from school. Here are some teacher-approved resources for all of you multitasking, extraordinary parents out there to use to make the most of virtual school.

Jack Hartmann

While working with autistic children at a hospital in Florida after earning his B.A. in Child Psychology, Jack Hartmann met a kindergarten teacher and began writing songs for her classroom. They later married, and Hartmann has gone on to create dozens of albums and more than 1,500 “Super Fun Learning Songs” for young children. “Jack Hartmann is my favorite online resource for younger learners,” says Bethany Vokac, kindergarten teacher at Liberty View Elementary in Olathe, Kansas. “He creates music videos for literally every subject. The silly tunes get stuck in your head, which is exactly what many kids need!” Kids can jam along with Hartmann on his website, which offers free videos on a wide range of topics (“Back to School” and “Phonics Songs,” for example) as well as free flash cards and arts and crafts projects.

Newsela

Current events provide an awesome opportunity to teach kids about the changing world around them as well as how to decipher between fact and fiction (check the sources!). “I recently discovered Newsela, which has news articles and activities matched to different subject areas,” says Vokac. “It’s especially good for current events, and you can get the same articles written at different reading levels, which helps me differentiate for different learners. This site is really good for upper elementary, middle, and high school.” Newsela is used by 2 million teachers and more than 25 million students throughout the vast majority of U.S. school districts (90 percent of them, to be precise). It was recently fea-

tured in a TIME Magazine article for its launch of the Newsela LGBTQIA+ Studies Collection.

Khan Academy

You might know Khan from your own online education experience. The popular nonprofit educational organization has been offering online courses for all ages since 2008, with a recent focus on COVID-related resources.

In addition to more standard tools, such as those based on subject matter and grade level, Khan also offers resources for helping your day-to-day go smoother, such as the “Daily Schedule” based on your child’s age, and “Homeroom with Sal” featuring live chats with “the world’s most fascinating people.” “Khan Academy is one of my favorite resources,” says Vokac. “First off, I love it because it’s free. It covers everything— you can search a specific skill or objective and it will link you to video lessons and practice problems. I use it all the time for math, but it covers language arts, science, and social studies too.”

PBS

Perhaps the original “at-home educator,” Sesame Street was launched in 1969 along with the Public Broadcasting Service itself. Over the years, the nonprofit organization has become America’s most prominent provider of educational television programming, and currently offers a robust array of online resources for parents of kids ages 2-8 on its website under “PBS KIDS for Parents.” (It also has resources for teachers of grades K-12 under “PBS LearningMedia.”) Its “Learn at Home” program offers a new at-home learning topic every week, with activities, games, and articles featuring familiar PBS KIDS characters like Elmo, Daniel Tiger, and the Kratt brothers. You can search by topic (math, science, arts, emotions, self-awareness, etc.) and by age—and even by favorite PBS KIDS character.

In addition to general homeschooling resources, the site also offers tips and practices for bolstering kids’ feelings of confidence and security, such as through creating routines.

Just for the fun of it…

(because everybody needs a break sometimes!) Swap windows with people around the world at WindowSwap.com. See live footage of the cutest animals from around the world at Explore.org. Practice patience watching the Old Faithful cam at Yellowstone National Park (yellowstone.org)—okay, it has an estimated time it will go off, so you can mark your calendars! Find your favorite live-streaming webcams at EarthCam.com.

Proud to be providing board certified, compassionate pediatric dental care to KC and Johnson County since 2005.

Schedule an appointment at one of our four convenient locations today! for more information or to visit our blog, visit us online at www.kidsmilekc.com