What resources are people finding good to occupy the kids educationally?

ellee

Am pondering whether to subscribe to the www.ixl.ie website. I've set them up on Khan and will see how that goes first as it is free (but seems to be American?)

They have access to Manga High through the school.

Would love any feedback people have? I view this as educational maintenance at best. I'm not a teacher!

We are both (thankfully) working at home FT so need something they can be beavering away at without piles of guidance from us. They are 4th and 5th class.

ShamoBuc

Mangahigh is very good as is Khan. Many schools have put a list of website resources on their homepage, have a look at a few. Let them pick a novel, get to read and do a report on it, orally with a few prompt cards or get then to write it out. Libraries are online now also and are free. Kindle might be an option also, Tom Sawyer for example. Pick a country and do a research project include famous people, sportspeople, buildings, history, major cities, population, rivers etc
There are too many websites to list if I'm honest. Scoilnet is a great resource as it links to many other top sites.
Their school should have something up and running work wise, seesaw or some other such site.
Given they are unlikely to be back until late May at the earliest, but probably not at all, I wouldn't stress about it. Get them cutting the grass, washing the car, cleaning the windows or like Tom Sawyer, painting the fence.

LARGElittle

Twinkl is Irish and packed full of resources for all the classes and subjects.

They had an offer on a few weeks ago for free access to all levels, usually you'd have to pay a subscription but they'd offered it all free due to coronavirus - unaware if its still free but defo check it out.

jlm29

Has the school given you any guidance? Ours didn’t give a huge amount, but from the last email we got just before the Easter hols, I get the feeling that there’ll be a bit more structure after the two weeks, so I’m not stressing about it right now.

byhookorbycrook

LARGElittle wrote: »

Twinkl is Irish and packed full of resources for all the classes and subjects.

They had an offer on a few weeks ago for free access to all levels, usually you'd have to pay a subscription but they'd offered it all free due to coronavirus - unaware if its still free but defo check it out.

Twink is English.

byhookorbycrook

Ellee,you could consider doing the free trial with https://readingeggspress.com/
Is it all online resources you want or do you want some printables?

Already exists

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Twink is English.

Twinkl is English but they have loads of resources for the Irish curriculum.
They've extended their free subscription for another month.

byhookorbycrook

The biggest issue with Twinkl is that it's so widely used in schools, you'd need to check with your child what they may have done already.

kandr10

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

The biggest issue with Twinkl is that it's so widely used in schools, you'd need to check with your child what they may have done already.

Also that it’s all worksheet based. I don’t find it worth the printing, be it for class or for my own child. You get maybe 5-10 minutes work out of each sheet and it’s expensive to print for that kind of payoff.

Tails142

kandr10 wrote: »

Also that it’s all worksheet based. I don’t find it worth the printing, be it for class or for my own child. You get maybe 5-10 minutes work out of each sheet and it’s expensive to print for that kind of payoff.

Yeah I got stuff from twinkl last month and thought wow this is going to be great! But at the end of the day it's just work sheets and it didn't offer any advice or guidance on how to get the kids to engage with the material and learn from it, it's really resources for teachers

byhookorbycrook

https://www.writinglegends.com/
Good for creative writing


https://labyrinth.thinkport.org/www/
A kind of “ graphic novel” where children have to solve logic puzzles throughout the game . I use it with my exceptionally able students , but a 5th class child should be able to have a good crack at it .


https://www.sfi.ie/engagement/discover-primary-science-and-maths/activities-search/
All kinds of science experiments

kandr10

They could also try some coding apps like scratch, lightbot, hopscotch. They could make movies using a basic app (iMovie if you’re apple users, or equivalent). There’s also a few apps for making stop motion movies which are fun to do. If they’re into Lego for example they could build something and use it in the movie. They could draw/write a storyboard first. it’d be a good long term project.

Access to world book online is now free through scoilnet. They have interesting project tabs. Might be of interest for browsing.

https://www.scoilnet.ie/scoilnet-services/world-book/

National geographic kids is now also free online through the libraries website.

It sounds like you have maths covered with khan and mangahigh. Revising and making sure they know tables inside and out is the only other thing I’d advise.
For literacy as another poster said, reading is invaluable. They could write about it afterwards but just reading as much as possible can’t be underestimated.

afkasurfjunkie

You can’t beat puzzles and problem solving practice. There are a few going around on social media at the moment. Or base them on real life. How much paint would you need to do up a room in your house? Or how many tiles would you need? Measure the area. If there’s a leaky tap, how much water is being wasted per hour/day? Do up a shopping list for the week and add up what it would cost. They usually love that type of maths. It’s practical and useful in real life. Interest in reams of worksheets dwindles very fast.
Sudoku and crosswords are great too.

ellee

Thanks a mil everyone, some great tips and ideas there. It’s just one has dyslexia and ADD so consistency and “over” learning is needed. I’m worried this gap will really impact on him. The other I’ve no doubt will be fine. She’s quite naturally industrious also.

He is mad into YT and Lego, trying to make a movie might really appeal! I’ll check out the reading resources too. Any tips for moving him on from Wimpy Kid?!!

I won’t bother with ixl for now.

byhookorbycrook

https://whatorderdotheygoin.com/series/tom-gates Might be worth a try , it seems to appeal to boys in particular and has the illustrations that make it more dyslexia friendly.
Nessy Learning is free at present and is excellent for children with dyslexia as well.

alexago

I do the crosswords.today puzzles with my kids. It is easy to find ones, according to age there. It's a game and study at the same time, and it is really effective. And my children like it. I noticed that they learn a lot of things this way. Moreover, it is fun and there is some kind of competition as everyone wants to answer first.

iniscealtra

If you go to your local library you can get a bundle of free books in English or Irish.

iniscealtra

This is the poster - Irish version.

byhookorbycrook

For children that age, I’d be concentrating on off line activities, board games , games and activities to improve motor skills , sharing and turn taking .

mrGoody308

What programs can be used on a computer so that you don’t need supervision or anything else?

byhookorbycrook

There are apps/programs for almost everything. What areas are you interested in?

If you are using a program, you'd need to be very careful about supervision. Apps are safer in that regard.

mrGoody308

I'm interested in program on the computer for my little one. At the same time useful, safe and age-appropriate. So as not to overwhelm.

byhookorbycrook

You could try Reading Eggs , Maths Seeds and Nessy Learning but all are subscription based.

mrGoody308

After research I've found Magic Desktop - the platform that provides age-appropriate educational content in a safe environment. Looks very promising. Does anyone have experience with it?

gameoverdude

I'll say some of those are excellent resources.

I know this will sound "go away with yourself", but parental engagement is the best resource.

Between myself and my wife, we have different strengths.

What's important, to us, is enthusiasm and encouragement. Plus being available.

byhookorbycrook

I think Magic Desktop is expensive for what it is, but I will be interested in how you find it.

mrGoody308

It looks like it may worth it. It's not just an app, but rather a complete system that includes a sandbox, parental controls and a content library.

You may find a more detailed overview here: https://www.magicdesktop.com/explore

Already installed it and started exploring its features. And I like it so far.

Mark Hamill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121036434#Comment_121036434

I would agree with board games. There are many genuinely good board games (i.e. not snakes and ladders or monopoly) that teach good educational skills like numeracy, strategy and creativity. My daughter is 6 and I have nieces and nephews of all ages and from playing with them I would suggest the following (most or all can be found in Easons or Smyths or easily online):

My 6 your old can play of these:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/9209/ticket-ride

Ticket to Ride - Collect coloured cards, then spend matching sets of them to place your trains on the same colour tracks. Young kid version available (Ticket to Ride: First Journey), but normal version is for 8 and up.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/194655/santorini

Santorini - Simple strategy game were you move a meeple one space on a grid board and then place a building level (bottom, middle or top, as appropriate) on an adjacent square. If you manage to move your meeple onto the top level of a building, you win. But other players can block off the top of buildings with blue domes on their turn.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1219/labyrinth

Labyrinth - Pathfinding maze game were you push tiles into the sides of a maze to change paths so that you can reach the particular treasure on your current card.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/822/carcassonne

Carcassonne - Tile placing game were you collect points if you complete landmarks that you have put meeples on (eg walled towns, roads, abbeys).

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/92828/dixit-odyssey

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181304/mysterium

Mysterium and Dixit - Both very creative card game, with very similar mechanic using card with unique art.

In Dixit you place a card face down and give a description, then everyone else adds a card face down and they are mixed and revealed and everyone else must get yours. You wont get points if everyone guesses yours (your clue was too easy) or no-one guesses yours (clue was too hard). Tons of expansions with new cards. Get Odyssey version first if possible, has enough components for up to 12 players.

In Mysterium, one player is a ghost giving clues (cards very like dixit cards) to the other players who are trying to figure out the murderer, location and weapon (NB: it's violent or gory at all). The ghost can't talk at all, the rest of the players work together. Goes up to 7 players.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/157969/sheriff-nottingham

Sheriff of Nottingham - Bring goods past the Sheriff, but can take a chance to smuggle contraband. Put cards in your bag and declare to the Sheriff (rotating role each round). If Sheriff believes you, you can go through. If they don't and open your bag, you pay fine if you lied/there is contraband, or Sheriff pays you compensation if you were telling the truth. Can also offer bribes to let your stuff through, or to encourage Sheriff check other peoples bags.

The following require decent writing and spelling so my 6 year old is not quite ready for them, but if your kids can play scrabble, then they can play these no problem

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/191982/knit-wit

Knit Wit - Word game were you come up with words based on word cards attached to spindles. You don't score anything if someone else comes up with same word so you need to be creative.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/294294/letterpress

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/141572/paperback

Letterpress and Paperback - Similar card games were you try to build words out of letter cards. In paperback you start with the same set and buy more cards into your deck during the game. In Letterpress, you draft each round (deal 5 each, keep 1 and pass until hand until 5 are kept). I prefer Letterpress a bit, as I find it has a bit more variation earlier in the game.

DriversEd

Anyone got suggestions for computer learning on the childs PC, online or program/app based? Like word and excel courses suitable for kids around 10-12 years old.

We want to increase theirs skills in general pc work and improve their keyboard skills and knowledge..?

byhookorbycrook

Can they touch type?