Dear 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

ducharmes@bcschools.net

*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

Looking for fun at-home STEM enrichment? Try a baking project (or any cooking, really). Use cooking as a way to discuss measurement and fractions. Is a quarter of a cup of oil different than a quarter of a cup of sugar? How many quarter cups are needed for one cup? What would that same measurement be in grams?

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?