Read Write Think have released some really useful Parent and Afterschool Resources. They also have many classroom resources, as well as a professional development section and videos. The resources are divided into age bands from kindergarten to year 12, in two year bands.
They provide Activities and Projects , Games and Tools, Tips and How Tos, Printouts and Podcasts.
The podcasts offer some great book recommendations. The Tips and How Tos offer help from experts on: reading, revising for tests, keeping safe online, writing books reviews, poems and more.
The Activities and Projects (there are 107 projects to choose from) offer projects for all ages and include things like writing biographies, telling sports stories, becoming an archaeologist and going wild with webcams!
Printouts are literally that – games and templates for printing.
Games and Tools include crossword puzzles, comic creators, book cover creators, fractures fairly tale writing – see image below, graphic maps and diamante poems.
The Diamante Poems is a great activity to do at home. There are several suggestions for how to use it, for example to use the completed poem in a greetings card. Children could make them to cover any event.
“Diamante poems give children a leg up in creating a poem. These diamond-shaped poems follow a set structure, requiring children to supply different parts of speech, such as adjectives and –ing words. The poem’s seven lines may be used to describe one topic or two. For instance, the poem can be all about chocolate ice cream or about ice cream and hot chocolate. The middle line (the fourth) can be seen as a link, where the writer makes the connection between the two.”(Read Write Think)
These Parent and Afterschool Resources could add to the family holiday fun, or may be useful for children still working at home in September.
