The Kids are Home... Now What?
Landing Site for BCPS Parents
A Resource for BCPS Families
We recognize how difficult this situation is for many families during this very unique time. We have fabulous teachers and administrators throughout the district that have been doing their best to keep in touch while providing optional learning opportunities to keep your children actively thinking and learning while they are home for this extended period of time. Our goal is to share resources with you that are aligned with what your children typically do during the school day, recognizing that it will not be a replacement to being in the classroom with teachers.
This newsletter will serve as our "Landing Site" where you can access a variety of instructional activities. On this Landing Site, you will find buttons organized by content areas and grade bands. We will update the content within the buttons as new resources become available.
We understand that there is a lot going on for families right now and recognize you may not be able to complete the activities or use all of the resources we are sharing...that is completely fine! Our intention is to provide you with resources to keep your children actively learning in hopes of preventing learning loss while they are not with us at school.
To support you in this time, you will also find links with resources to help you talk with your child about Covid-19. These resources may be helpful to you as talk with your children to ease their fears.
If you have any question about the resources on this page, please feel free to reach out to Shelly Ducharme using the contact information below.
Shelly DuCharme, Ed.S.
Director of Elementary Education
Bay City Public School District
Our kids are hearing about Coronavirus, let's make sure they get reliable information.
First, reassure them that they are safe!
Handwashing remains the number 1 tip for preventing the spread of the Coronavirus.
A Sample Day with Ideas to Help Fill the Time
*Disclaimer: what follows is a pretty packed day. The purpose here is not to impose a structure but to offer ideas for how to break up the time. Think of it as a menu of options; pick and choose what works for your children and your family.
8:00 Make breakfast together
9:00 An hour of schoolwork
10:00 DIY Science Project
11:00 Exercise!
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Second session of schoolwork
2:00 Round 2 of Physical Activity - we all need it...
3:00 Healthy snack & DIY Craft Activity
4:00 Write, rehearse, and perform a play or mock commercial, or dress up time.
5:00 Movie, TV, or Netflix Break
6:00 Prepare, eat, and clean up dinner; everyone helps.
8:00 Board Games/showers/read aloud before bed
Baking = great STEM learning
After you've done all the measuring, then you can think about the chemistry of cooking. At what temperature does butter melt? Or water boil? You and your child can generate hundreds of questions and answers about math and science by the simple act of making cookies.
Then, once those cookies are made, there are all kinds of story problems! If everyone in the family gets an equal number of cookies, how many cookies does each person get? What about the ethical dimensions of cookie-making? Who should get the most? The person who cooks? Who cleans? Who buys the groceries? Or should everyone get an equal amount?
BrainVentures are crafted by classroom teachers!
30 Day free trial. However, some elementary students already have accounts. Please check ask your child if they already have an account.
Animated stories brought to life. 1 Month Free Trial
Day-to-day projects to keep students learning.
Michigan Department of Education provides a variety of resources linked from this page.
Most students in grades 6-12 already have Kahn Academy accounts created. This is a commonly used resource.
Students can sign in using their school created accounts. Updated Correction: Our district has student accounts for Grades K-5.
This NASA initiative covers a wide range of topics including weather, climate, atmosphere, water, energy, plants, and animals.
K-8 online math program that looks at how a student is solving problems to adjust accordingly and build a unique learning path for them because it is computer adaptive.
An interactive-fun way to learn US History through video games!
Free downloadable text for Michigan Social Studies
Every student in every school has the opportunity to learn computer science, just like biology, chemistry or algebra. Code.org provides the leading curriculum for K-12 computer science!
With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games, and animations — and share your creations with others in the online community
Students login with their preexisting school accounts as this is a district provided resource. It’s a visual instructional program that leverages the brain's innate spatial-temporal reasoning ability to solve mathematical problems.
Our students in grades 3-5 have BCPS district provided accounts (see links above). ST Math is now offering free K-8 access. Parents of students can request access through this link.