Connections Academy Blog, Virtual Learning Connections

This summer, make sure your barbecue grill isn’t the only thing that gets fired up—plan now how you will ignite your children’s minds and keep them learning during the break!

The teaching staff of Connections Academy suggests four simple steps for planning educational activities, represented by the acronym FIRE. We hope these easy-to-remember tips kindle your imagination and spark your summer learning fun!

F is for Focus

Decide now on the focus of your summertime learning plans. Set some goals with your children—and on your own. Is there something your student needs to do to prepare for the challenges of the next school year? Are there particular skills you’d like your child to practice? If you start thinking now, you have time to plan activities that will focus on your objectives—and combine both learning and fun! Be sure to consider a reward system for recognizing your student’s efforts.

I is for Interested

Use your child’s personal interests as a motivation for learning. After all, for adults and children alike, it’s more fun to study something that sparks your interest! Think about the things your son or daughter enjoys: hobbies, collections, athletic or cultural activities, favorite books, computer technology … the options are unlimited! Anything that will get your child’s mind in motion—preferably without whining!—could serve as a central theme for a fun summer of active learning.

R is for Resourceful

Think outside the box—or the house! Find ways to incorporate learning that get you and your family ...

From raising chicks to cooking breakfast to decorating for fun, eggs have a wide variety of uses. You can even use eggs to conduct educational science experiments with your virtual school students!

It’s time to crack open some eggs and make your own geodes. The Egg Geode Experiment is designed to help students in grades K–5 discover how crystals grow. Just a few of the concepts you can cover with your child during this experiment include solvents and solutes, chemical reactions, and geology.

Take a look at the Egg Geodes instructographic below to see the directions for this experiment.

View the full version of this Instructographic.

How Much Do You Know about Geodes?

What are geodes?

Geodes are hollow rocks that have a mineral formation inside.

Did you know…

Not all geodes have crystals inside. Some have more colorful formations of minerals such as agate and jasper, and sometimes the insides are solid.

Where do they come from?

Geodes come from sedimentary and igneous rock. They are created when rock forms around a pocket of gas or an empty space in the earth. You can find a lot of geodes in the Midwest, particularly where Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri meet.

How do you identify a geode?

Geodes are typically round or oval with a somewhat lumpy surface, but you can’t determine exactly what’s inside it until you break one open.

Although the eggs are already broken in this experiment, their shells give the homemade minerals a place to form. Let ...

Don’t let Earth Day go by without celebrating! Earth Day is a wonderful opportunity to help your child learn about a variety of environmental issues. Some of the significant topics you can explore on Earth Day, April 22nd, include:

• Food
• Water
• Energy
• Waste
• Deforestation
• Transportation
• Global warming and climate change

Reading books, watching documentaries, and having discussions are a few ways you can cover these issues. But if you have some time and flexibility, engage your student in hands-on learning. Here is a list of Earth Day activities you can try.

Purify Polluted Water

Nearly all of the water on Earth is saltwater, and some of our freshwater is “trapped” in glaciers. That leaves a small portion of usable fresh water, which decreases as pollution increases and population grows. Help teach your student about these issues by trying this water filtration activity created by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Organize a Community Cleanup

On Earth Day, coordinate a group of people to spend a few hours picking up trash in the community. You can clean up neighborhoods, local parks, or roadsides that are a safe distance from moving traffic. This is a great opportunity to gather friends, family members, or other virtual school students in your area.

Attend an Event or Volunteer

The EPA has a list of Earth Day events and volunteer opportunities all over the country. Recycling drives, festivals, and hikes are just a few of the events you could attend. If you can’t find an event near ...

Your child is undoubtedly familiar with the concept of recycling. Perhaps he or she owns something “made from recyclable materials.” Or maybe your family recycles empty bottles and cans, and your child knows to put these items in the recycling bin. He or she probably even recognizes the recycling symbol on the bottom of these recyclables.

So, does your child have a thorough understanding of recycling? What else can he or she learn from the three R’s, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle?

Knowing the importance of conservation, the science of composting, and the difference between renewable and nonrenewable resources is just a start. Most importantly, the three R’s can also help your child develop his or her creative thinking and strategic skills—and gain a deep respect for the environment.

Take your child’s understanding of recycling to the next level with a hands-on strategy.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Before you and your student take action, review the three R’s and discuss any concepts that are new to your child. Make sure your child develops a solid understanding of this concept by reviewing the vocabulary. What does reduce mean? If you have a younger student, discuss each term in familiar contexts. For example, you could discuss these different uses of reduce:

• Reduced sodium snacks, which are more healthy because they contain less salt
• Reducing fractions to their simplest form in math
• Reducing a fever by taking medication

For extra vocabulary practice, you can ask your student to come up with a sentence using the term. ...

Everyone is eager to leave the house and enjoy the outdoors when spring arrives. Winter weather keeps everyone inside and sometimes prevents us from traveling far, making spring even more welcome—especially to virtual school students, who learn and play at home. You and your student, however, can get out and learn beyond the virtual classroom by going on a spring field trip.

To explore your options, check out this list of spring field trip ideas. The list is organized by spring-related themes to help you decide what subject you want your trip to focus on.

Plant Life Field Trips

Spring plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. Investigate spring plant growth and reproduction by visiting one of the following places:

• A botanical garden
• An arboretum (Check when Arbor Day is scheduled in your state!)
• A greenhouse
• A plant nursery
• A flower garden or plantation
• A bulb farm
• A produce farm
• A local park or nature reserve (Take a hike and identify new plant growth)
• A local flower market or festival
• A florist
• A grocery store
• An agriculture program department if one is offered at a local university

Make the most your visit by calling ahead. Ask to speak to an owner or manager to see if anyone is willing to give you a tour or grant you an interview.

Baby Animal Field Trips

If your student is interested in animals, take a field trip to learn more about the reproduction and parenting of wildlife. Plan a ...

The weather is getting warmer, the landscape is getting greener, and we are getting ready for the end of the school year. Spring is here and these familiar changes are welcome!

Spring has many traditions, but it also signifies rebirth and renewal, which makes it the perfect time to try something new. If you’re looking for springy ideas and activities, start by finding something new on Pinterest.

Check out some of the fun spring activities we’ve compiled for students and Learning Coaches on the “Spring Forward” Pinterest board.

Spring Weather Activities

1. Do Fun Rainy Day Crafts for Kids. Spring keeps you on your toes—you never know if it’s going to rain or shine! For those rainy days when the kids are stuck inside, make rainy day crafts like Book Blankets, Multicolor Super Crayons, and more.
2. Branching Out: Learn All About Trees! How much does your child know about trees? Paper production, photosynthesis, and the carbon cycle are just a few lessons that trees can teach. Check out this blog post to find tree activities and other ideas to try just in time for Arbor Day in your state.
3. Grow a Sponge Garden. You might have helped your child plant seeds in a pot or jar, but how about on a sponge? Try this fascinating and simple activity with younger children.

Spring Cleaning Ideas

4. Make Spring Cleaning a Learning Experience. Feeling swamped by spring cleaning this year? These tips and tricks will not only motivate your ...

Learning to read music can improve your math skills. But can music help you learn science, too?

Sure, it can! Here is a fun and scientific music activity you can do with your child at home. Just fill water glasses with different amounts of water to make music!

Although this activity is simple, it’s a great way to exercise your student’s science skills and musical abilities. There’s even a way to incorporate a quick math lesson. Because this activity can teach many different lessons, you can easily adapt it for different age groups.

Here are some things your child can learn how to do in this activity:

• Use measuring cups (and fractions)
• Create secondary colors from primary colors with food coloring
• Understand and manipulate sound waves
• Experiment with new concepts
• Play different songs on the scale

Below is the Musical Water Glasses Instructographic explaining each step of the activity. Click on the image to view it full-length.

View the full version of this Instructographic.

Here are some additional Musical Water Glasses activities to try:

• Fill the glasses by increments of ¼ cup. What do the glasses sound like now?
• Take two glasses and fill each with ¼ cup of water. Add one tablespoon of water to the second glass. Do the glasses sound the same or different when you tap them? Keep adding a tablespoon at a time until you can distinguish the notes. How many tablespoons of water does it take?
• Encourage students to experiment with different types of ...

If you’re a parent, the sound of little voices saying, “Read it again!” is undoubtedly something you’ve heard often. The desire to reread a story is very common among young children. And their favorite books always seem to be at the top of the stack. While adults may find rereading children's books a bit monotonous, young readers and pre-readers savor the repetition of the language and the familiarity of stories, as well as the cozy feeling of sitting close to a loved one with a book. Rereading not only makes children happy, it also builds confidence and enhances reading comprehension.

Familiarity leads to understanding.

Each time a student reads a passage of text, his or her comprehension increases. When reading a classic for the second time, a young reader might realize, “Oh, that’s what it meant when it said, ‘He lived under the name of Sanders.’” These “instant replays” can reinforce new vocabulary, too. Reading books in a series also builds understanding, because the child recognizes familiar characters and gains new insights from seeing similar situations unfold.

Rereading builds confidence.

For young readers, rereading helps build a track record of reading success that results in increased confidence. As they read a well-known story, children may tell themselves, “I can read this. I know this. I think I can, I think I can.” And how many times have you heard your child say, “Oh, I love this part!”? By revisiting their favorite books, kids gain more of the predictability and comfort ...

Did you know that people give approximately 151 million cards on Valentine’s Day? Although hundreds of types of cards are sold each year, you can get your student more engaged on Valentine’s Day by encouraging him or her to create a handmade card.

And why not use science to create your valentine? Using items from around the house, you can help your student write and decode secret messages using invisible ink.

Check out the instructographic below for instructions as well as some fun Valentine’s Day activities and silly jokes.

View the full version of this Instructographic.

Did You Know?

• If you mix juice and baking soda in a cup, it foams and bubbles. The bubbles form because the chemical reaction releases carbon dioxide. It also creates water.
• During the American Revolutionary War, U.S. Army members wrote invisible messages using acidic liquids so enemies could not read them.

Try This!

• Another fun experiment to try is to mix half a cup of grape juice with half a cup of water. Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda and stir it to create your own fizzy Valentine’s Day drink!
• Instead of grape juice, experiment with other liquids. You can try lemon juice, apple juice, vinegar, and milk because all are slightly acidic. Find the liquid you think works best!

How else can you use invisible messages? Let us know what activities you’ve tried.

Did you know that January 23rd is “Measure Your Feet Day”? Although this may be an unfamiliar funday, it’s the perfect occasion for students to learn about the history of measurement and practice measuring objects using the length of their own feet!

Long ago, units of measurement were loosely based off of body parts—hands, arms, and, yes, even feet. Although there are many stories about how the length of a standard foot was established, it’s believed that the 12-inch foot we use for measurement today came from the average length of a person’s foot.

For a fun fictional story about the invention of the foot, introduce this measurement activity using Rolf Myller’s How Big Is a Foot?

“Measure Your Feet Day” Activity

For grades K–3

Materials:

• How Big Is a Foot by Rolf Myller (optional)
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Standard foot-long ruler
• Measurement recording template (included) 
• Areas and/or objects to measure

Instructions

1. Optional: Read Rolf Myller’s book How Big Is a Foot? with your student.
2. Give your child a ruler and ask him or her to think about the ways people might have measured things before rulers were common.
3. Ask your student to trace his or her bare foot on a piece of paper, and then cut out the foot.
4. Choose several objects around the home that you want to measure, and then list them on the measurement template. Ideas may include:
• Kitchen floor
• Bed
• Tabletop
• Couch
• Window
• Countertop
• Door
• Hallway
5. Measure and record the lengths of these objects using ...