By Maria Gurevich.
Part 1.
The recent school closures and quarantine have caught many parents off guard. Keeping the children busy, amused and learning is a challenge when there is nowhere to go. To fight boredom and frustration, I have compiled this state-of-emergency reading and writing activity series. Each activity can be adapted for use with one child, a family or a group. Feel free to print the charts included here or make your own.
Potluck stories are a great way to entertain the family and enrich the vocabulary of our children. On thin strips of paper, write random words that are a level above your child’s natural speech. You can include words from their recent reading, science homework or any words they don’t already use. Start with ten words. Put the strips with words into a bowl. The first player picks out a word and uses it in a sentence to begin a story. Players take turns picking out words and adding to the story sentence by sentence, making sure to use the word they picked. If your story is not finished when the words run out, put them all back in and go for another round.
Words we used with grade 3.
| erosion | accommodate | alternative | vandalism | foreign |
| devastating | inform | respond | anonymous | resources |
Vocabulary 5 by 5
Make a 5×5 table where the columns are different categories, and the rows are random letters of the alphabet. For categories you can use anything from nature, animals and fruits to construction or things found in the ocean. Give your child a letter and they have to write one work starting with that letter for each category. If more than one child is playing, the first one to complete a row gets a point. This activity helps with spelling and vocabulary enrichment since you will likely have to look up some of the words.
Ending sentences
Ask your child to pick a number between one and five. Reveal the sentence that corresponds to that number in the list below. Ask the child to plan, outline and write a story, ending it with that sentence.
- And little Tim never left home without his magic umbrella again.
- And there they stood with the entire world beneath their feet.
- The children were finally home, safe and sound.
- The queen smiled kindly from her throne.
- She would never forget that lesson.
Connecting words
This exercise is part of a series of exercises on logic and coherence in paragraphs. Beginners can probably succeed at it with some help from a parent, a tutor or even an older sibling. Children can use the following connecting words to write a paragraph teaching someone how to do something; for example, play a game, cook a meal or simply get ready for school in the morning. They can begin with a title and continue, using a new sentence starter for each step.
Title
The first thing you need to do is
Right after that
Next
After this
Your next step
Now you are almost done, all you have left is
Finally
Four-digit story maker
Ask each player to write a four digit number. Then show them this chart or make your own. The first digit in their number corresponds to a character, the second to a setting, the third to a situation and the fourth to an object. Each player has to write a story incorporating all the items that correspond to the digits in their four-digit number.
| character | place | situation | Object | |
| 1 | A giant hamster | A mysterious lighthouse | Turning into another person | An invisibility cloak |
| 2 | A secret agent | An amusement park at night | Objects come alive | A magic carpet |
| 3 | A talking frog | A spaceship | A broken arm | A bicycle |
| 4 | A soccer team | A bee hive | Taking the last train home | A traffic light |
| 5 | A violin player with a superpower | A farmers market | A lost ticket | A submarine |
| 6 | A flight attendant who can see the future | The oval office | Lost in the rainforest | An aquarium |
| 7 | A science teacher with a secret | A basement of an old library | A strange noise downstairs | A talking tree |
| 8 | A girl who can read minds | A famous landmark | Spaceship malfunction | A magic sword |
| 9 | A magic bird | A school | A wedding | An empty birdcage |
Hopefully your family can enjoy these activities as we try to do our best in a tough situation. Don’t hesitate to share your stories on social media. And I will post more activities while the quarantine continues.