Tag: education resources

Overcoming Learning Gaps: Strategies for Parental Guidance and Support

Overcoming Learning Gaps: Strategies for Parental Guidance and Support

Overcoming Learning Gaps: Strategies for Parental Support

Bridging learning gaps is a crucial endeavour for parents who want to provide their children with the best educational opportunities. These gaps can arise from various factors, making it essential for parents to actively engage in helping their children overcome them. In this blog, we will explore practical strategies, for overcoming learning gaps with tools and parental guidance, to assist parents in supporting their children on their educational journey.

Understanding Learning Gaps

Learning gaps represent areas where children may not have grasped specific concepts or skills at the expected level for their age or grade. These gaps can result from varying learning styles, missed lessons, or challenges with specific subjects. Recognizing and addressing these gaps is essential for ensuring a child’s academic success. These gaps can be particularly pronounced in subjects requiring hands-on learning or face-to-face interactions. Recognizing the unique circumstances and impacts that the pandemic had on their children’s education, parents must approach learning gaps with empathy and flexibility. While also understanding that their children may have encountered unprecedented obstacles in their educational journey due to circumstances beyond our control.

Now, let’s explore some practical ways parents can assist their children in overcoming learning gaps.

Open and Effective Communication:

Learning gaps

The foundation of any successful parental support strategy is open and effective communication with your child. Please encourage them to share their academic struggles, fears, and frustrations. Listen attentively, without judgment, and reassure them that asking for help is okay. When your child feels heard and understood, they’ll be more willing to seek assistance; your search for the proper parental guidance will help them.

Identify Specific Learning Gaps with Parental Guidance:

To effectively address learning gaps, it’s crucial to identify the specific areas where your child is struggling. Review their recent assignments, tests, and teacher feedback. Are there recurring themes or patterns of difficulty? This assessment will help you pinpoint the exact areas that require attention. Schoolio Learning offers free Math Assessments for Kindergarten to grade 8.

Free Math Assessment
Click For A Free Math Assessment

Seek Professional Guidance:

Sometimes, learning gaps may be beyond your expertise, and that’s perfectly fine. Consider seeking professional guidance, such as a tutor or educational therapist, who can provide targeted support tailored to your child’s needs. These experts can offer fresh perspectives and teaching methods to bridge the gaps effectively.

Utilize Online Learning Resources:

In today’s digital age, a wealth of online learning resources are available to assist children in catching up on missed concepts or reinforcing their understanding. Platforms like Schoolio Digital, Khan Academy, Coursera, and educational YouTube channels can provide interactive lessons and tutorials on various subjects. At Schoolio Learning, we offer a 14-day complimentary trial to see if our learning platform is the right fit for your child.

The Schoolio Digital Platform
Click Here to Start Your 14 Day Free Trial on Schoolio Digital

Foster a Supportive Learning Environment:

Creating a supportive learning environment at home is essential. Establish a routine that includes dedicated study time, free from distractions. Ensure your child has access to necessary school supplies and a quiet, comfortable space to work. Your encouragement and positive reinforcement can significantly boost their motivation.

Encourage a Growth Mindset:

Teach your child the importance of a growth mindset, emphasizing that intelligence and skills can be developed with effort and perseverance. Encourage them to view challenges as opportunities for growth rather than setbacks. This mindset shift can empower them to tackle learning gaps with resilience.

Are you a work from home – homeschooling parent? Click here

With the Right Tools and Parental Guidance, Overcoming Learning Gaps Becomes an Achievable Goal.

Overcoming learning gaps may seem like a challenging task, especially in the wake of the pandemic. However, it becomes an achievable goal with the right tools and parental guidance. Remember that every child is unique, and your strategies should be tailored to their specific needs and learning styles. Be patient, stay involved, and celebrate every small victory. You and your child can conquer learning gaps and pave the way for a brighter educational future.

Learn about Fostering Confidence: A Learning Platform’s Role.

Running Records: How to Assess Your Child’s Reading Level

Running Records: How to Assess Your Child’s Reading Level

By Chelsea McLeod

Reading is a fundamental skill; it is an essential building block that supports all other types of learning. If reading is not developed, a child will struggle with other things in their schooling experience, which is just as crucial in a homeschool environment as in a traditional one. Therefore, while we all know that teaching our children to read is vital to their proper development and learning, it can be overwhelming to dive into and assess.

Running Records: Assess reading

 

Determining reading level is an integral part of the learning journey. Your learner should be reading differently levelled books depending on what situation they find themselves in. When reading on their own, they should be reading at an independent level, but when reading with you and learning, they should be reading at an instructional level.  An excellent tool used to assess reading levels is called a Running Record. This type of assessment can give a lot of information about your child’s reading skills; a running record can provide a whole picture of your child’s reading, what level they are reading at and how to move forward in teaching them. 

What is A Running Record?

A running record is a great tool to assess your learner as a reader. It is a snapshot of their reading. A running record evaluates a student’s word identification skills and fluency level. These are essential pieces of the puzzle of building strong, confident readers. Completing a running record involves writing down everything happening in the order it happens. Limiting the amount of editing you do as an observer as you record is essential. The idea is to record as much as possible so that you can gather a lot of information in a relatively short period and perform this type of assessment without much prep time. 

Choosing a Passage 

When completing a running record, ideally, both the observer/teacher and the learner/student view a copy of a passage. Also, because this is a tool often used for assessment purposes, the passage being read should be new to the student. When ready, the student reads his/her passage out loud; the instructor records any errors on their copy.  It is also important to time the student for one minute to measure reading fluency, and finally, the instructor calculates reading accuracy. If your learner/reader can read a section from a book of choice with an accuracy between 90-95%, then that passage would be a great choice to use for a running record.

To calculate accuracy, you will need to have them read 50-100 words from the text. Then count their errors as they read. Finally, subtract the number of mistakes they made from the total number of words in the passage. When you have this total, you divide this number by the total number of words. For example, if the passage has a total of 50 words and they made five errors, 45 words are correct (50 – 5 = 45). Then, 45 divided by 50 times 100 (45/50 = 0.9 x 100 = 90) is 90. Therefore, the reading accuracy is 90%. 

Running record

 

How Running Records Can Help Guide Instruction

Running records can give you real-time insight into your learner’s strengths and struggles, which can help point you to what they need to work on. The information gathered from this type of assessment can be used to determine if your current reading instruction methods are effective concerning word identification and fluency; if the time spent on reading instruction in your homeschool day is enough, and finally, if any other areas require further assessment or if more focused intervention is necessary. Therefore once completed, you should be able to create a more well-rounded picture of what you are doing well, what needs more attention and how to proceed during your reading instruction time.


How To Complete A Running Record

First, you need to sit down with your learner, and you both need to have a copy of the passage to be read. You can use a typed copy on white paper or get free templates for this purpose, like this one. Second, since a running record is not a standardized assessment, you can mark the information in any way that makes sense. 

 

Here are examples of some of the common coding that you can use:

  • Incorrect word or mispronunciation – write the word said above the printed word
  • Inserted word – draw an arrow where the word was inserted and write in the word inserted above
  • Omitted word -draw a line through the skipped word
  • Self-corrected word – write the word said above the printed word and write SC over it. Or I place a slash mark after the word and SC beside that. 
  • Repetitions – underline the word or phrase that was repeated however many times it was repeated.

Finally, some of us like to check off each word that is read correctly. Some of us have an easier time following along and being present when doing this during the assessment. Also, be sure to time the passage and include a mark after 1 minute of reading. You can use a slash mark or a straight line after the last word read at one minute. This will provide the student’s fluency rate when you are completing your final calculations.

 

How to Calculate and Assess

When counting errors, it is common practice that mispronunciations, repetitions, and self-corrections are not included in the error count. Repeated errors are calculated as follows; for example, if the child always says “to” every time they come to the word “the” in the passage, this is only counted as a single error. When you have all the mistakes tallied up, you will calculate the reader’s Accuracy (Please see above).

Once you have an Accuracy percentage, you can calculate the fluency rate. Look at where you marked the passage after the 1-minute timer, then count all the words that were read before this mark. For example, if there were 100 words before this mark, the student reads 100 words per minute. Reading comprehension is also essential to reading skills but is assessed separately. 


Running Record: Assess

Deciphering the Final Results 

Now that you have your reader’s accuracy, you can determine their reading level. As stated during the opening of this piece, a learner must be reading at an independent level when they are reading alone. This is a book at a level they can read with 95% accuracy and above. This is because they need to read fluently (without interruptions) and with minimal word decoding to clearly understand the text and comprehend the message they are reading.

If there are too many misunderstood words, they may not get the intended meaning when they are reading with you, during the homeschool day or whenever they can read a more challenging text that falls into the Instructional level. This is usually a text they can read with 90-94% accuracy. This is because they now have the added benefit of reading with a partner who can fill in the missing pieces or answer the questions that come up when they do not know all the words they are coming across. If a book or text falls under 90% accuracy for your learner, it is too complicated and should be set aside until they are better prepared to read it. 

Lastly, once you have determined your child’s reading level, you can better cater your teaching to their needs. You can also look at the marks you made on the running record to determine if there are any patterns to their mistakes. For example, if they are continually having trouble with double consonants or the long o sound. You can use this data to inform your next steps during your teaching day. Hopefully, this has been informative, and you feel better prepared to assess your learner. Happy Reading!

 

Book a Concierge Call.

If you aren’t sure how to get started or what programs would best suit your child’s learning needs, then you can chat with one of our experts on a one-on-one Concierge Call, completely free!
Click here to book a Concierge Call. 



 

How to Schedule Lessons on the Schoolio Digital Platform

How to Schedule Lessons on the Schoolio Digital Platform

Now that you have successfully added a course for your student on the Schoolio Digital Platform, you are ready to customize your learning schedule. In this blog, we will learn how to schedule lessons on the Schoolio Digital Platform.

There’s more than one way to add to your schedule on the Schoolio Digital Platform.

Did you know there is more than one way to add courses and lessons to your child’s schedule on the Schoolio Digital Platform? Let’s walk through both the options.

Option 1: Click Schedule on the Course or Unit

Option 1: Schedule

When you select the student you’d like to schedule, you can click ‘schedule’ at the bottom of the unit or course you want to add. Once you have selected the unit it will take you to the lessons page where you can schedule the course.

Select the date and time

You can now select the day and time you want your student to complete the lesson. Additionally, you will have the option to repeat the lesson plan with how you’d like. Then you are able to select the interval for 1 week, 2 weeks or more.

Option 2: Schedule from the planner

Calendar Overview

Once on the Calendar overview, you can schedule a lesson by selecting the ‘schedule lesson’ button.

Calendar Overview

When you click ‘schedule lesson,’ you will see the menu to select the lesson that you’d like to add to the schedule. Select the course, unit and lesson, then select the day and time. You can either click ‘save’ and continue on or ‘save and new’ to add additional lessons to the planner.

Now you can get started!

Now that you have added a lesson to the planner, you are ready to start learning! Enjoy and have fun!

If you aren’t seeing all the courses you’d like for your child, you can always add more! Click here to learn about adding a course to the Schoolio Digital Platform.

We hope you and your student will enjoy The Schoolio Digital Platform with over 4,000+ videos, interactives, and pre-made or custom lessons to suit your student’s learning style. If you need clarification about how to get started, we are happy to help.

Book a Concierge Call.

If you need help with how to get started or what programs would best suit your child’s learning needs, then you can chat with one of our experts on a one-on-one Concierge Call, completely free!
Click here to book a Concierge Call. 

Do you need further information about how to schedule a lesson?

Check out this thorough explanation video on adding to the planner on the Schoolio Digital Platform!

https://youtu.be/v0hpiwRJwLU

Click here for video.

Teaching Multi-Grades? Schoolio Can Help.

Teaching Multi-Grades? Schoolio Can Give You Your Life Back.

By Chelsea McLeod

Teaching multiple grades

Look familiar? Are you spending all your spare time doing prep that seems neverending to keep up? Are you overwhelmed with student needs and classroom outcomes? Are you struggling with teaching multi-grades?

Let me paint you a picture. You teach in a rural area; your school is K-12, and each homeroom is multi-graded. Some grades only have 1 or 2 kids, so while you may only have a class of 8-10 students, you have four grades at once and hundreds of outcomes to cover and assess. So not only do you have to try to differentiate for student interest, but you also must plan, teach, assess and grade the outcomes from each separate curriculum.

You teach several grades simultaneously, unlike your friends who work in nearby larger city centers,  but you are given equal prep time. Therefore, much of your work comes home because even if there isn’t time in the school day, these things need to get done. So once you are home, you are taking time away from your family or hobbies to keep up with your day-to-day classroom duties. If this rings true for you, then Schoolio can help give you your life back. 

While many still consider teaching a calling, the shift in the last several years to an outcomes-based system has put more pressure on the Teacher. Teaching these days is an endless cycle of being in demand. You are lecturing, working one-on-one with students, meeting seemingly arbitrary administrative deadlines, attending meetings, responding to emails, communicating with parents, collaborating with co-teachers, etc.

The list of responsibilities given to teachers in the classroom is unrealistic; these are on top of the duties of running the classroom day-to-day and keeping your students engaged. Then we add on the testing, assessments, marking, and report cards required for each student in your class, in many cases the stress of teaching multiple grades. This can be for as many as 25+ students. 

Teaching is Work. Give Yourself Some Grace and Help. Especially when Teaching Multi-Grades.

The expectation of Teachers does not create nor support a healthy work-life balance, but for many, it is the reality. 

So you spend your days in a cycle that looks like a hamster in a wheel. Teaching all day, putting out fires with students, communicating with parents, meeting all deadlines for administration and keeping your head above water only to go home and spend your evening planning, prepping and working on tomorrow, like in the picture above. This is a lot; this is an astronomical task you take on as a classroom teacher. While these responsibilities are genuine for all classroom teachers, imagine that you have a multi-graded classroom.

This not only changes the dynamic with the students but also adds to the Teacher’s workload. You now have all the above responsibilities and the added pressure of 2, 3, or 4 sets of outcomes. This is what it can be like if you are in a rural school, sometimes teaching 3 to 4 grades simultaneously. This was not always the case; several years ago, it was the norm to teach the curriculum in an even/odd schedule in many rural settings.

Teaching multiple grades

This meant that if you had a grade 3/4/5/6 class, you would teach all the curriculum for grades 4 & 6 one year and the next, you would cover the curriculum for grades 3 & 5. This was a seemingly more manageable way to approach a multi-grade classroom. However, in our current education climate, this is no longer an allowable approach by many school divisions, and therefore Teachers, especially those with 3-4 grades, are feeling overwhelmed and overworked. The expectation of Teachers does not create nor support a healthy work-life balance, but for many, it is the reality. And while this can seem like an unrealistic expectation, the students still need to learn at their appropriate level. So now what?

Save Your Time, Money and Your Sanity

For starters, if you teach in this situation, you must prioritize your time and prep. Not only for yourself but for your students as well because “you cannot pour from an empty cup,” and if we spend all of our free time on work, it will lead to burnout. I can tell you for sure that you do not need to spend time creating all of your resources; your time is precious, and there are only 24 hours in a day. Not everything your students do, learn or complete needs to be unique.

There used to be a time when teaching was a “one-size-fits-all,” and all teachers were given the same guide. This is a time-consuming task for teachers with only 1 grade, but you have 3, 4 or even 5? You cannot be expected to use all your resources or put that much pressure on yourself, and relying on Teachers Pay Teachers for everything can get expensive, especially because sometimes it’s difficult to purchase only 1 or 2 lessons.

For example, if you have grades 3, 4, and 5, it can get pretty pricey to purchase one entire unit for all three grades and if there are 10-12 units in a year for just one subject… You get the idea. An extra expense with each purchase. Way too much! Which is on top of the fact that teachers already spend more out of pocket than other professions. 

How Schoolio Can Give You Your Life Back… 

There is no limit to the number of students you can add, the courses you have access to or the learning that will take place!

Schoolio has created resources for each grade level, and you can mix and match them to best support your student’s needs. You do not have to buy entire units for one or two valuable lessons. The lessons have been created by certified teachers and are available online for a monthly per-student cost.* You can simultaneously use more than one grade at a time, focussing on student needs, interests or passions.

There is a suggested content planner for the year you can use, or you can create your own and keep track of progress for all your students. You can try it risk-free, with no required credit card and “Learn, plan, and personalize all in one place” with 4000+ interactive math, language, science, and social studies lessons. There is no limit to the number of students you can add, the courses you have access to or the learning that will take place! Try it now; you won’t regret it. And you won’t believe the extra free time you will have now that you aren’t trying to do it all yourself, especially when teaching multi-grades. 



Meeting All Learners Where They Are

_____________________________________________________________________

Meeting All Learners Where They Are: 

Differentiation Made Easy

By Chelsea McLeod

Meeting Learners Where they are

So have you been assigned your first class, or are you changing grades for the first time in years? Keep reading to find out how to make your prep easier and focus your attention on the students in your classroom rather than the mountains of planning required to differentiate student learning.  This year, your Admin has told you that you will be teaching a 3rd-grade class and since you received this news, you have been diligently preparing all your 3rd-grade materials.

Since this is a single-grade class, all you’ll need is this single-stream curriculum approach to ensure your students are successful, right?! Wrong. This approach is a surefire way to set yourself and your students up to fail. But why? And how are we meeting all learners where they are?

All kids are different, so meeting all learners where they are is essential.

As babies, the professionals – doctors, nurses, child development experts, etc. – all tell us that the “milestones” to be reached are just guidelines and not set in stone. Each child learns to roll over, crawl, walk, and talk at their own pace, and the growth markers are estimates. Sometimes they are even arbitrary markers that will not affect long-term success. Your doctor will not hit the panic button if your baby is not rolling over at precisely four months or talking by the day of their 1st birthday. That would be silly.

Schoolio Learning

So why, then, are the growth stages in school treated differently? Why do we immediately hit the panic button when students are not at the level expected by a particular grade? Kids are different, it’s that simple, so while they are all in 3rd grade, they may not all be at the same level as 3rd grade. Learning is relative to each student, and we must treat them all as individuals to best support their learning by building them up from where they are rather than trying to make them attain a single “marker” by a certain age. This is where differentiation comes in, and Schoolio’s digital platform can make this easier. 

 

What is Differentiation? What does it mean for Teachers?

 

Differentiation or Differentiated Instruction “is a teaching approach that tailors instruction to all students learning needs. All the students have the same learning goal. But the instruction varies based on student’s interests, preferences, strengths, and struggles.” (https://understood.org).

This means that you can teach to different student needs, learning styles and even interests individually while still working towards the same goal for success, the goal being the Outcomes or Common Core that students are required to achieve in each grade as defined in the curriculum and meeting all learners where they are. 

teaching resources

What does this mean for Teachers? The plain answer is that straight-grade or single-graded classes are no longer as simple. A single-grade classroom nowadays is, in essence, the same as a multi-grade one. No student entering that classroom will learn or perform at the same level, and sometimes the predetermined “levels” they should be reaching seem arbitrary given the knowledge that all children are different. Our students all learn, grow and adapt on different timelines.

For example, some students will enter the 3rd grade struggling to read, maybe having trouble with sounds formation and not understanding some grammar concepts, while another student may be reading at a 5th, 6th grade or above level with no problem synthesizing the next grammar and spelling additions they learn in class.

So, while many schools do not have split grades, we are presented with split learners, and as a teacher, it is crucial to meet all students where they are. As previously discussed, babies and toddlers learn, grow and adapt at all times; so does every one of the students in each of our classrooms. So as teachers, we must be in tune with our students more as individuals and plan for individual student success.

 

differentiate learning

How Do We Plan for Individual Student Success?  

As a classroom teacher, you must consider all the pieces of the puzzle that make up each student in your classroom. When planning, it is essential to consider the student’s home life, family background, and parental time, as well as the achievements of the student. Each of these things and many other factors are all a part of student success. Therefore, we must have varied content available to create plans that help all learners at every level succeed. This is differentiation. Student interest is also a vital piece of the puzzle because ownership is essential to get full cooperation from the student.

For example, If you have a student obsessed with cars and spend all their free time reading and learning everything they can about cars, if you are trying to teach them math, you may have a difficult time. Sometimes, these students will see this math not as something vital for them to learn but as something that takes time and attention away from their passion.

So it’s not that they can’t understand something; it’s just that they don’t want to. I know we all have to do things we don’t want to do sometimes; however, it isn’t that simple, given the other factors involved. Sometimes parents will not force the issue, so as teachers, we need to get creative with how we approach learning.


Consequently, getting to know your students and what motivates/excites them is vital to being a classroom teacher. It’s okay to give students different lesson content if they are not engaging with the same materials as the rest of the class. The outcomes are required for the student to achieve, not the content. How you bring the student to achieve the result is essentially up to you.

So if you can find a way to make them feel successful, engage with their learning and take ownership of their achievements, you will have a much better classroom experience. To do this well, you will need to plan for differentiation. As the Teacher, you can differentiate the content, subject matter and sometimes even the length of the finished product to help cater to your learners’ success. 

Meeting all learners where they are

Now I know you’re thinking… But doesn’t that make so much more work for me? How on earth do I plan for 25 + different learners across all the core subject areas? One person cannot create that many lesson materials on top of all the other things teachers do! Therefore, the ability to teach grade-fluid content is a critical piece of this process and helps all teachers tremendously in meeting a student’s needs or catering to interest to spark participation and ownership of learning.  

With the Schoolio Digital Curriculum, You Can Do Exactly That!

With Schoolio Digital, you can teach grade-fluid content and target your instruction to individual student success. Schoolio has lessons for the core subject areas for all grades created by teachers! If you are a member of the digital platform, you can mix and match exactly what your students need. This gives you flexibility and the opportunity to cater to individual student success while still maintaining your sanity and sleeping each night (not working round the clock to create materials).

So, don’t panic and spend hours “reinventing the wheel” to make all the content you need to support your in-class instruction when Schoolio has already done it. Now you can spend your precious classroom time getting to know your students, making lasting connections, and creating a safe place for students to learn and grow, all while using Schoolio’s Digital Platform to support all you are already doing. Sign up now and focus on what matters, the students in front of you, not the prep work while meeting all student’s where they are.

 

You Can Have A Life Outside Of The Classroom

*GUEST POST: Chelsea (??) McLeod

You Can Have a Life Outside of the Classroom

You Don’t Have to Be Overwhelmed by Prep and Lesson Planning as a New Teacher with Schoolio.

That age-old idea that teachers have it easy, that all the lessons are planned out for them, and that they spend their time teaching from a book is deeply engrained in our culture. Nevertheless, this is a misconception that many people have about teaching, especially in Canada and the US. While this is the way it was many years ago, in recent years, there has been a shift in Outcomes-based Education (or Common Core as it’s called in the US). This means that each state or province has Outcomes and Indicators that must be achieved in each grade level, but the resources and the lessons that guide the students toward these goals are up to the Teachers. This shift in the world of K-12 Education has made the Teacher’s job distinctly different than that of our predecessors. It can lead to panic, overwhelm and burnout among those entering the profession. Does this sound like you? Schoolio can help! You can have a life outside of the classroom! 

Finally Landing the Job of Your Dreams, Now You Can Teach, Right?!

So, you have wanted to be a teacher for as long as you can remember, and finally, you are hired for your first teaching contract. Fantastic! You have dreamed about this day, worked so hard to get here, and you are so happy because now the hard part is over. The countless all-nighters, the endless hours reading textbooks, and the monotonous multi-page lesson planning will all have been worth it. Finally!

You are hired! Now you can relax, enjoy the job, and take pleasure in the goal you worked so hard to accomplish because Teachers have access to resources and lessons that student teachers do not. You have made it into the “club” and will be given all you need to teach, right?! Or at least that is what you thought would happen. You are not alone in this. We all thought this was the deal once we finally got that elusive teaching contract.

I mean, we grew up with the old way of teaching. When we went to school in the ’80s, 90s, and even early 2000s, there seemed to be minimal lesson planning; the teacher was given the resources package and books to follow. This style of teaching is often referred to as “teaching to the middle” the lessons and work were geared to the majority, but that didn’t leave room for enrichment or supporting students who needed more help. Over the last decade, there has been a significant shift in the how and why of teaching, so this is no longer the case. Now, what does that mean to you?

I’m Sorry, I Have to Prep for What?

Well, that means that once you are given your teaching load, realize that this is now where your lesson planning and prep work begins. You have not made it, not in the way you had previously thought. It would help if you planned topics, unit plans, lesson plans and assessments on your own to help students achieve their grade-level Outcomes. Now is when you begin to feel overwhelmed and start to panic. Who has time for all of this? Wait, you can have a life outside the classroom? How is one teacher supposed to do all this lesson planning while grading, connecting with parents and meeting all other deadlines? Because we all know that as a teacher, you are responsible for more than just what goes on within the four walls of your classroom. 

While you were prepared to lesson plan in university, it was only for some classes, not an entire grade of subjects and not for the scope and sequence planning of a whole year of curricula. So, with the knowledge that you may be in over your head, you try to dive headfirst into your Prep.  ELA, Math, Social, Science, etc., but what if you have a split grade? Well then, all these doubles, triples or even quadruples if you are in a rural setting. Teachers are also expected to teach to each student based on their individual needs, there is no such thing as a classroom of 3rd graders who all perform and read at a 3rd-grade level, but that is a post for another day. To meet all the needs and plan accordingly without losing your sanity, you spend hours on Pinterest looking for ideas or spend a fortune on TPT and still can’t keep up. Anyone in this situation can become so completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that there aren’t enough hours in the day to do it all.

“Wouldn’t it be great if there was somewhere that I could go to get lessons and resources that I could just use?”

Schoolio Can Help!

What if I told you that there is a digital platform that can help? Schoolio has a digital platform bursting with resources you can use in your classroom! You do not have to do it all yourself. Schoolio has levelled resources for each grade, with lessons created by certified teachers and available to use right now. All this is at your fingertips; now you can. 

You can pick and choose the content you need based on the levels of your students and differentiate based on student interest. While there are other sites like TPT that you can purchase lessons and units on, it is often hard to sort through all the content to find what you need. Sometimes you must buy an entire unit or bundle just for one or two lessons; you can also purchase something only to find out it’s not what you had hoped since there isn’t a way to try anything out. Schoolio has set out to change this. Now you can use your time more intentionally and have a curriculum at your fingertips to support you in the classroom. And what’s more? For a limited time, you can try it out for free!



Prepare Your Child for Grade Three

Do you feel like your child is prepared for grade three? During the summer, are you planning to help your child stay on track with their learning or have a free-for-all summer with no sign of curriculum? Do you want to ensure your child stays on track but not overwhelm them with too much ‘work’? Let us help you with all your questions on how to prepare your child for grade three.

Preparing your child for grade three while aiming to avoid summer learning loss.

The first thing you need to do when aiming to prepare your child for grade three while avoiding summer learning loss? Don’t stress so much! As parents, we often worry about ensuring our children are on track with their learning. That worry can become more and more of a concern when we think about pandemic learning loss.
How to avoid summer learning loss on top of pandemic learning loss is another concern facing parents, especially when they hear that most children lose 2.6 months of math skills, two months of reading skills and the equivalent of one month of overall learning each summer.
You can learn more about Summer Learning Loss here. 
So, how can we help our children catch up on all the learning loss they’ve experienced, stay on track and not lose even more learning skills during the summer?
Reading, writing, math and learning, in general, are essential skills your child must continually practice to develop correctly, especially during the summer.

How to prepare your child for grade three? First, let’s simplify learning.

One thing you absolutely must avoid is overthinking their learning. We often assume that to prepare your child for grade three, you must have elaborate plans, and it has to be a huge, exhausting endeavour when the actual reality is that it can be a simple process.
One of the best ways to simplify their summer learning is to use the Summer Schoolio: Ready for Grade 3 book! This book was created specifically to help children about to move onto grade three. Using the Summer Schoolio: Ready for Grade 3 book, your child will stay refreshed and on track with their essential learning. This will also save you hundreds of dollars and time because you won’t be searching for a homeschool curriculum that will still be too much or too little when aiming to prepare your child for grade three.

Take a look inside the Summer Schoolio: Ready for Grade 3 workbook!

Prepare Your Child for Grade 3
Having an enjoyable summer without the stress of trying to complete extra tasks is essential! This is why our Summer Schoolio books have been designed to be simple. Without the overwhelm of having to complete a mountain of overwhelming tasks.
In the Summer Schoolio: Ready for Grade 3 book, we have combined the best of our secular homeschooling curriculum concepts to bring you and your child a unique summer learning solution that will prepare your child for grade three. In a fantastic combination of homeschooling writing curriculum, homeschooling language arts curriculum and homeschooling math curriculum, we aim to help your child practice those essential skills to stay on track.

Summer Schoolio: Ready for Grade 3 overview:

Prepare your child for grade three
The Summer Schoolio: Ready for Grade 3 workbook is loaded with materials that aren’t just educational; they’re fun too! This combination is an excellent resource to help prepare your child for grade three. Created for six weeks of learning, your child will have the opportunity to learn and refresh different learning concepts each week.

Week one includes:

The Summer Schoolio week includes three days of simple learning that won’t be overwhelming or take too long to complete.

  • Day one, Weekly Writing – Writing Fiction – and Math – Number Sense.
  • Day two has Weekly Writing and Math – Number Sense.
  • On day three, your child will work on Weekly Writing – Scrapbooking – and Math – Number Sense.

Week two includes:

The second week of Summer Schoolio: Ready for Grade 3 is similar to week one, just switching up learning concepts.

  • During week two, on day one, your child will have Weekly Writing – Autobiography – and Math – Number Sense.
  • On Day Two, they will have Weekly Writing and Number Sense.
  • On day three, they will have Weekly Writing – Scrapbook and Math – Number Sense.

Week three includes:

During the third week of the Summer Schoolio: Ready for Grade 3 book, your child will be working on:

  • Day one, Weekly Writing – Reviewing a Book – and Math – Algebra.
  • Then on day two, your child will work on Weekly Writing and Math – Algebra.
  • Followed by day three, which is Weekly Writing – Scrapbook and Math – Algebra.

Week four includes:

When your child is working on week four:

  • Day one, Weekly Writing – Writing Non-Fiction – and Math – Geometry/Spatial Sense.
  • Then on day two, they will be working on Weekly Writing and Math – Geometry/Spatial Sense.
  • On day three, they will get to work on their scrapbook for Weekly Writing and the final day of Math – Geometry/Spatial Sense.

Week five includes:

  • Day one of week five is Weekly Writing – Poetry – and Math – Data.
  • Then on day two, they will work on Weekly Writing and Math – Data.
  • Day three is Scrapbooking for Weekly Writing and Data for Math.

Week six includes:

  • The first day of week six focuses on Weekly Writing – Summarizing – and Math – Financial Literacy.
  • The second day is all about Weekly Writing and Financial Literacy for Math.
  • Then on day three, your child can work on their scrapbook again for Weekly Writing and enjoy their final Financial Literacy assignment.

The schedule and assignments are repetitive but changing to help your child stay structured and interested. This technique helps your child master all the essential math and reading/writing concepts for grade three.

What does a typical week look like using the Summer Schoolio: Ready for Grade 3 program?

Prepare your child for grade three
The Summer Schoolio: Ready for Grade 3 book includes a sample schedule/calendar you can follow daily. It translates to:
Monday: Read a Book or Chapter.
Tuesday: Weekly Writing Day 1, Math Day 1, Read a Book or Chapter.
Wednesday: Weekly writing Day 2, Math Day 2, Read a Book or Chapter.
Thursday: Weekly Writing Day 3, Math Day 3, Read a Book or Chapter.
Friday: Read a Book or Chapter.
Keeping your child on track and up-to-date with their learning doesn’t need to be an overwhelming and stressful process. And you don’t need to take a massive chunk of time each time to accomplish it. The Summer Schoolio: Ready for Grade 3 book helps your child keep up with their learning needs, refresh and not become overwhelmed by too much information crammed into one day.

Prepare your child for grade three.


Pick up your copy of Summer Schoolio

Avoid Summer Learning Loss

Summer break is easily one of the highlights for children everywhere! The excitement of making fun a priority for a couple of months is such an intriguing thought. How can we help our children embrace all the fun they can get this summer while also aiming to avoid summer learning loss?

Summer Learning Loss is a significant issue.

What is summer learning loss? Summer learning loss is the loss of knowledge and academic skills throughout summer vacation. This issue causes a significant problem for children, especially in the younger grades when reading and math practice are essential for maintaining skills.

The reality is that when the school year ends, many children will have very few opportunities to engage in reading and mathematical ways of thinking. This is why it’s so important to look at learning methods to avoid summer learning loss.

Children have already lost so much essential learning time from pandemic learning loss.

Harvard Professor Tom Kane says, “There’s no time to waste.” His latest research has demonstrated that many, if not most, school districts are seeing pandemic learning losses much more severe than they initially imagined.

Even when education experiences were average, and the pandemic hadn’t turned life and learning completely upside-down, children still faced significant learning losses during the summer.

Every summer, children lose 2.6 months of math skills, two months of reading skills, and the equivalent of one month of overall learning. When they get back to learning in the fall, it is estimated that they will spend up to six weeks trying to re-learn old material to make up for these losses.

Those statistics are pretty severe and, unfortunately, don’t even consider that children are already struggling and way behind where they should be due to pandemic learning.

How can you help your child avoid summer learning loss and perhaps even begin to catch up from pandemic learning loss?

1. Make learning time a priority.

Setting a learning time doesn’t mean your child needs to be doing school every day! Alternatively, you can make a schedule each day to include 30 minutes per day of ‘learning time.’ During that 30 minutes, they can work on their summer learning materials like the Summer Schoolio books. Dedicating just 30 minutes daily to focus on completing the daily activities can help boost your child’s learning while significantly helping your child avoid summer learning loss.

2. Schedule Outdoor Learning Experiences.

Your child likely loves to explore the outdoors during the summer months, especially after months of winter weather and being stuck inside. And conveniently, plenty of outdoor experiences are waiting to help your child learn while having fun. Outdoor adventures help your child apply what they’ve learned in the classroom while improving cognitive functioning and physical health.

Some fun outdoor activities include:

3. Focus on Specific Areas of Learning.

You’re likely able to pinpoint the subject(s) your child is experiencing the most difficulty with. Prioritize learning around this subject throughout the summer.

4. Encourage Your Child to Read Anywhere.

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, it can be tough to stay inside when the weather is fantastic. Instead of telling your child that they can’t go outside until they’ve finished reading – encourage them to take the book out and read on the porch or in the backyard.

When you take story time to the outdoors, you are providing their young minds with the opportunity to indulge in the sights and sounds of the outdoors. The outdoors provides an excellent multi-sensory experience that can help your child better connect to their surroundings while developing phonemic awareness.

5. Include Reading Materials About Outdoor Activities.

Is your child interested in gardening? Swimming? Birds? Then head to the library and pick up some fun books about those subjects, allowing them to read and learn about something that greatly interests them while helping them develop their reading skills.

6. Utilize a Local Community Garden.

Community gardens offer many learning opportunities for children (and adults) of all ages. When you and your child become involved with a local community garden, they will have the chance to learn about important things like cultivation, seed preservation, essential bugs, landscaping and horticulture. All of which are so important for our children to learn!

7. Limit Screen Time and Encourage Imaginative Play.

It can be tempting to allow your child to stay on their device for hours as you can get a much-needed break. But we all know this can be very bad for their mental health and detrimental to their developing brains. Encourage them to use their imaginations to play and create. If your child is used to always being on a screen, this will likely be a bumpy start. Stay strong and be consistent.

8. Pick up a Summer Schoolio Book.

Help your child avoid summer learning loss and prepare for the coming school year using this unique Schoolio program. Summer Schoolio Books are specifically designed to be suitable for any student learner that has completed their grade level.

The Summer Schoolio Program focuses on reviewing and solidifying important mathematical and language concepts studied in the previous year of learning. Throughout the program, your child will review materials in Number Sense and Numeration, Algebra and Patterning, Data Management and probability, Geometry and Spatial Reasoning, and Financial Literacy while also engaging in weekly writing activities.

Check Out the Summer Schoolio Program

 

Never overstress your child.

We understand the desire to help your child completely catch up on everything while also aiming to avoid summer learning loss. But remember, there’s a fine line that you need to walk. Keep an eye on your child, especially during reading/learning times, if they’re getting agitated and want to be done for the day. Then let them be. Learning is even more challenging to accomplish when the brain is under stress. As parents, we often feel we must constantly work to help our children succeed. But remember, sometimes downtime is just as crucial as learning time.