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School at Home Made Easy

Hi! I’m Sindy with SHADES of Development Out-of-School-Time programs.  During the closure of school through the “safe at home” mandate, our programs may be closed for face-to-face services, but we are still here working to connect, support and resource children in our area. 

I think we have all accepted the fact that school at home is a reality so, it is time to make a plan.  And we are here to help! Working from home or even working outside of the home and managing the needs of your children while they are out of school can be daunting.  This post is intended to share ideas, schedules and content to help you manage the remainder of our “safe at home” days. 
In this post you will find a weekly schedule that includes links to videos, packets, online courses and more.  You can use the schedule as written, or you can use the schedule as a guide for creating a schedule that works best for you and your family.  Remember though that children need structure and consistency, so whatever schedule you decide to use, stick with it.  It takes at least 7 days for us, as humans to develop a new habit, so don’t give up!

Potential Schedules

Remember to shorten or lengthen activity times for the age and stage of your child.  Also, for PreK children, pop a nap into the schedule if your child is used to taking a nap each day.  

The SHADES PreK-2nd grade and 3rd-5th grade schedule links below contain a full week of activites, coursework and clickable links to recources and videos including KCS@Home material.  Please note that KCS@Home resources and links in the SHADES suggested schedule will be a week behind due to the KCS@Home release timeline. 

 SHADES PreK-2 Schedule Link

SHADES 3rd-5th Grade Schedule Link


Schedule Image - Click the link above for full schedule access

 A note about the online classes:  The ongoing online classes through Khan Academy and Everfi reference by links in the SHADES Schedules are research-bases and provide adaptive, systematic learning content.  Being adaptive is important, because the course will increase or decrease in difficulty to adjust for any knowledge gaps based on practice, quiz and test performance.
Khan Academy courses are a full year of progressive content with video, practice, quizzes and unit tests.  For older kids, Khan Academy recommends starting several grades levels below your child’s actual grade in order to identify any skill gaps with previous content.  It will take your child about two to three hours to complete a previous year if there are no skill gaps.  You can easily check your child’s activity and progress.  Younger students benefit most if an older sibling or parent can sit next to them as they work through the content; however, it is possible for students to be completely self-directed in these courses.  I have included a video to you navigate the SHADES Khan Academy class offerings.  When you select a SHADES sponsored Khan Academy Class, you will need to list sindy@shadesofdevelopment as the teacher and use the class code provided to get started. 
Khan Kids is more appropriate for PreK and Kindergarten students.  You will need to download the Khan Kids app from your Apple, Andriod or IOSstore to get started.  Khan Kids is a game-based app that systematically works through math and ELA concepts.  There are also 100s of ebooks available through the app that kids can listen to or read themselves. 

Everfi courses are typically geared toward older elementary school students, middle and high school students.  They are more project-based and have a shorter content duration period.  There are a few options for lower elementary students.  Kids typically love these project-based courses.  Click the link, sign up with an email and password and enter the registration code provided in the sample schedule.  Be sure to document your password, so you can readly access the site each day.  

If you have any questions please contact your site director.  If you are not a SHADES family, you are still welcome to use our course codes to participate in the classes.  Be sure to send me a note at the email address provided if  you want me to send you a weekly progress reports. 



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