Organize learning for your kids at home

Aline Yamashita
Pacific Daily News USA TODAY Network
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Aline Yamashita

To organize learning in your home, integrated planning is helpful. Develop a table with four columns and nine rows. On the left hand side, in each row, list each of the content areas — language, math, science, music, arts, CHamoru, health, P.E., social studies.

Determine a theme to organize the learning tasks. It could be flowers, firefighters, space, travel; anything your kids are interested in. Place the theme at the top of the page.

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Then, brainstorm what they can do. Base your activities on what your kids were learning in school. Write the corresponding activity for each content area in the next column. In the next column, write needed materials and, in the final column, write the day/time for the tasks.

As an example, let’s take flowers.

For language, find books around the house about flowers. Have them read the book and answer the “W” questions — who, what, where, when, why. Have them write a report and read it out loud. Have a vocabulary list for each theme. Interpret in different languages.

For math, have them look around the yard and count all the flowers they can find. Have them graph the different types. If you don’t have any flowers, have them recall flowers. List all the uses of flowers, such as cooking, medicine or decoration. Which category has the most uses? Calculate sums, percentages, differences.

For science, have them research how seeds grow. Grow some. Discuss weeds and flowers. Think about what is needed for flowers to grow. What happens when typhoons occur? How do we protect flowers? Which flowers withstand storms better than others? Why?

For CHamoru, teach the names of local plants and what they’re useful for. Interview grandparents about flowers. What flowers are no longer seen here? We used to have wood roses, elegant flowers with petals that resembled wood. What other plants no longer exist? Why?

For music, sing songs about flowers. Create a song about flowers. For art, create flowers. Use whatever items you can find — paper plates, yarn, buttons, construction paper. Decorate the walls. Create flowers with straws and cotton balls; whatever you can find around the house.

For health, discuss why people give people flowers. List situations. Cover a table top with shaving cream. Have them create flowers with their fingers. Smooth over and do it again. This is a great emotional development activity.

For P.E., have everyone do a circle dance. Make up the instructions. Make up the music. Laugh. Have fun.

For social studies, identify Guam’s official flower. Discuss why places have official flowers. Identify the state flowers throughout Micronesia.

Integrated planning ends with a cumulative activity. At the end of the week, have the kids present a business plan for a flower business. What would they sell? For whom? Why? What would they call the business?

For the next week, plan another theme. If you have internet, your activities can be extended by exploring. If not, there are still many activities you can do.


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