We’ve all heard about PE with Joe Wicks (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxW1XT0iEJo0TYlRfn6rYQ), he’s The Body Coach and his daily workouts are brilliant.  However, if High Knees aren’t your thing and you want something a bit more dancelike then check out Dianne Buswell’s dance tutorials.  Lots and lots of fun to be had here with a high energy workout with the added bonus of learning a new dance to impress your friends on the dancefloor when this is over.  Our absolute favourite has been dusting off the Wii Fit and cracking out all my old Just Dance editions.  No one can stay glum whilst throwing shapes to Land of A Thousand Dances, I promise you.  If you don’t have all the old discs like me, pop over to YouTube and you will find them all there.  Guaranteed to bring you out in a sweat and make you laugh like a loon.  Alternatively, just ask Alexa for some happy pop songs and dance like no one is watching.

So, we have to turn to school lessons again, PE lesson doesn’t last forever, and everyone needs some down time too.  If English is on your lesson planner for the day and it includes reading with your child, please pop over to Audible Stories.  Whilst school is closed all the Audible Stories are free to listen to on laptop, tablet, desktop, or phone and available in six different languages.  This is especially helpful for us, as my youngest daughter struggles to read a physical book but loves to listen to the story on her headphones.  This gives some much-needed chill out time as well as being educational. https://stories.audible.com/start-listen?pf_rd_p=9f8048ea-2406-4b85-9c7a-9b824e792bd1&pf_rd_r=YK2ZC42EV964CYMT5JJ9&ref=a_hp_c2_banner_img_0

We have also discovered that some of the big zoos and aquariums are doing live webcams.  A ring side view of all our favourite animals, up close and personal.  We have been captivated this morning by Koala Cam at Edinburgh Zoo https://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/webcams/koala-cam/#koalacam

We’ve called him Kurt and have to keep checking back in between lessons to see what he’s been up to.  We can recommend Penguin Cam, Tiger Cam and Panda Cam too, if you see the Tigers, you’ll be very lucky!  Every time we look, they are invisible.  Paignton Zoo have Flamingo Cam (my favourite), Meerkat Cam and Macaque Cam, all instantly addictive and a Virtual Tour, complete with noises!  London Zoo is doing a Virtual Tour and Zookeeper Diaries too, all are brilliant.  If you want some watery fun, then take a look at Seattle Aquarium.  My favourite here are the Sea Otters, the Otter cam is so joyful, watch them tumble, loaf, groom and play all day.  If you can tear yourself away there is a Harbour Seal Cam too, but they were asleep when I looked this morning. They all have a button where you can donate to help the zoos, so if you enjoy your tour, pop them a few pennies if you can.

Now, in between all this animal magic we have had to do some maths.  It’s not my strongest skill so I need all the help I can get.  I can personally recommend The Maths Factor by Carol Vorderman, which is currently free to use.  It’s for 4 to 11 year olds and has topics matched to the National Curriculum.  Find it here https://www.themathsfactor.com/

If you have a Primary/Secondary/AS Level school child, then Mathswatch is your friend.  Find it here https://vle.mathswatch.co.uk/vle/  It gives you the option to login but you don’t need a log in to use and print the worksheets or videos.  The Videos work in conjunction with the worksheets. It really is helping us, as it’s very easy to understand and mirrors the techniques being taught currently by your child’s teachers.  Corbett Maths is also aimed at this age group and has a Five A Day section where it poses five GCSE style questions if your child is working towards exams.  Find it here https://corbettmaths.com/

Lastly, something non virtual.  If you are still struggling with a topic, we have a final tip for you.

• Physicality- holding something in your hand or seeing it change in front of you is sometimes a lot easier to comprehend than words on a page e.g. boiling the kettle to help physically show changes of state, putting simple experiments into practice.  Put some ice cubes into the freezer to freeze, see how long it takes to melt or put them in your drink.
• Lego can help explain fractions physically, one large block, two half blocks, four quarter blocks etc.  Make a sponge cake and ask your child to cut it into slices, everyone wins here, maths and cake!
• Give your child a shopping list and some money. (notes and change if you have it). Open up your cupboards, use a marker pen to write some prices on the items and get them to do some shopping.  You don’t have to make the ‘beep’ noises at the end, but it did make us laugh out loud, silly but fun.  They need to give you the right money and then have a turn at being the shop keeper.
• Talking- if you’re worried they don’t understand something you’ve explained then ask them to talk it back to you or (if you’re able to) have a conversation with them about the topic, all the things they’re learning about have a place in real life. We’ve had lots of conversations about the difference between a fruit salad and squash, how both are mixtures, but only one is a solution because you can’t pick the squash back out again once it’s mixed, but you can pick a strawberry out of a fruit salad.

Other Resources

• Online trips to the zoo- Edinburgh Zoo have Live webcams where you can watch pandas, penguins, tigers, and koalas. Seattle Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium (7 hours ahead, but still able to catch the 11:00 PT feeding as it is at 18:00GMT), Dyfi Osprey Project is well worth a look at these amazing birds. Essex Wildlife Trust Barn Owl Cam is brilliant too.
• YouTube- Crash Course Kids, Free School, Operation Ouch, 
• Languages- Memrise, Duolingo and Quizlet.

What ever you do, make it fun if you can, these days will soon be gone.  #KeepCalmLikeKurtTheKoala