It was such a busy Wednesday that we never even got around to daily routines like the Lexia ELA platform online. But innovative ideas prompted by Travis’s K-to-1st summer workbook kept things fun and tantrum-free.

9-9.30: Math. Travis’ workbook page involved coloring in shapes (both flat like a square and 3-D like a cone), on an ice cream truck image. We made it hands-on with an ice cream playset the kids have. Travis even turned baby sister’s food truck into his ice cream truck! I had hoped to use the opportunity for more math (like addition or subtraction problems), but he just wanted to play. Not worth a battle…

9.30-10: STEAM. After an encyclopedia page on bugs (creepy-crawlies!), we watched the QR video and then made a firefly craft. We also pulled out an old bug set with a magnifying glass for further exploration.

10-10.30: Snack/recess. Travis got involved with some of little sister’s tube play.

10.30-11: ELA. Travis loved writing in his Star Wars book, thrilled that he was forming complete sentences. There was also a quick page on letter H in the summer workbook.

11-1: Lunch/free play.

1-1.30: Outside: In honor of National Frog Jumping Day (yes that’s a thing!) we played “jump like a frog” hopscotch.

Veronika learned to ribbit and hop, too!

1.30-2: Class Zoom! The class went around sharing what they are thankful for, and Travis thanked the bees and pollination.

2-2.30: Counting. We finished the day with a return to math because his 1st Grade Star Wars math workbook arrived and he was so excited. (I hadn’t even intended to open this up until summer!) After filling in numbers up to 120, we played “Light Saber Interrupted Counting”. One person started to count, but if tagged by the opponent’s light saber, the tagger took over. This was a great way to trick him into counting so high, purely for fun!

After that we traded in lessons for cooking! His bedtime story was a video of his teacher reading Peter’s Chair.

Technically today was Travis’s half day, but we were incredibly busy!

9-9.30: STEM. Both of Travis’s workbook pages today inspired lots of hands-on play. The first was about mapping, specifically with an ant colony. He colored in the picture according to directions, and then I surprised him with… a real ant farm! I’ve had this in my back pocket (so to speak) for a while, but have always been nervous about it. Well, the time seems right. Our ants are actually still on their way in the mail, but Travis helped set up the sand for their habitat and we can’t wait for this science project to begin!

The second workbook page counted toward the E in STEM: imagining how to reuse boxes. After he drew ideas on the page, I surprised Travis with a collection of boxes I’ve been saving. What could we make them? A robot was up first with toilet paper tubes for arms.

But then the robot turned into a rocket with a little help from tissue paper and a coffee filter cone!

This was perfect for blasting toys into space. Travis also colored a few boxes to be background sets for play, like a fiery volcano in reds and oranges.

9.30-10: ELA. Travis did 20 minutes on Lexia. I asked if he wanted to write a story for Writers Workshop about our box play, but he said no. Instead he happily did a few pages of his Star Wars writing workbook.

10-10.30: Snack/recess.

10.30-11.30: Science. We read two pages in his encyclopedia, on electricity and sound, with a QR code video to watch about each. Both pages featured balloon experiments! For electricity, I demonstrated the classic balloon-on-sweater static electricity trick.

For sound, we held a balloon in front of a speaker to feel the vibrations.

This prompted Travis to remember his old record player, which led to almost an hour of musical fun!

11.30-1.30: Lunch/free play.

1.30-2.30: Outside. We turned an afternoon in the park into a lesson on spring poetry! Plus we played shadow tag.

2-2.30: Social/emotional learning. There was a nice prompt from Travis’s teacher to read the book In My Heart and begin to fill in a self-esteem worksheet.

To get moving real quick, I asked him to do 10 jumping jacks, 20 push ups, and run in place for 20 seconds.

2.30-3: Every school specials teacher will have a Zoom with the class now, and today was Library! This was a good reminder on how to sit and pay attention for a full 30 minutes. The librarian led them through Simon Says, a read-aloud, and a song before Travis got to share a favorite book.

His bedtime story was the non-fiction I’m a Caterpillar, a cute book about the butterfly life cycle that doubles as a great easy reader.