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Supplement Your Child’s Development with “Extended Learning” at Home
July 3, 2020
4 min
Circuit Breaker
Covid-19
Education
Learning Environment
Positive Parenting
Things To Do
After two months of staying home, children are finally back in school – catching up with the curriculum and their friends! A common concern among Singaporean parents is, “After missing two months of school, will my child be able to catch up?”
Here’s what you can do to get your child smoothly back on track.
Speak to your child’s teachers, they’ll want to know what’s been happening
Children are learning and developing all the time, whether they’re in the classroom or at home. Your child’s teachers will be interested to know how your child has been doing during the break. For example:
• Has your child acquired any new skills in the past two months?
• Have they developed new interests from their stay-at-home routines?
• How has their communication, behaviour and mannerisms been?
By sharing this information, your child’s teachers can better engage with your child by talking to them about their newfound interests – or incorporate these into the activities your child will be doing. This in turn, will help your child to settle back into school and be motivated to learn!
Our educators will, of course, continue to observe your child’s development and plan activities to support (and expand on) their abilities and interests.
What is “extended learning” and why is it important?
Extended learning simply means to extend your child’s learning from their school, into their home. And this is essential, because the secret to truly accelerating your child’s development is with this two-pronged approach of have your child learn the same skills in school and at home, simultaneously.
Excited to get started, but not sure what to do? Don’t worry, we have you covered.
In the My First Skool parent portal app, you can find the “learning theme” for your child’s class at any time of the year. Now, all you need to do is set them up for success at home with dramatic play corners, books, activities, and more.
These are four ideas for supercharging your child’s development by extending their learning experiences into your home.
#1: Integrating learning activities into everyday activities
Extending learning into your home doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming. In fact, it can be incredibly simple. By integrating learning activities into your daily routines, you can support your child’s learning capabilities without having to change your days.
Here’s an example of how you can integrate lessons on maths and literacy into an outing with our child. The next time you go grocery shopping with your child, ask them to help you sort and count apples (or any other items) as you put them into a bag. Or you could ask your child to look out for particular letters or numbers as you stroll through the aisles and see the wide variety of products, words and numbers around you.
Have fun and experiment with all the exciting ways you can integrate this and other learning activities into your everyday routines!
#2: Engaging with open-ended questions
Parents know that young children love to talk. They’re constantly wondering about the world around them, and asking questions about everything and everyone they see. By engaging with your child and expanding their curious minds, you’re helping their brain to develop and building their confidence.
At First Skool, we encourage children to communicate with teachers and their peers through lessons, activities, and dramatic play. You can keep the communication going at home by asking your child open-ended questions such as, “How was school today?” and “Who’s your best friend at school?”
These free-flowing interactions help to strengthen your child’s language fluency and social skills, while building up their confidence.
#3: Designing a dramatic learning corner
Dramatic play is an essential element of our curriculum at My First Skool. Through roleplaying activities, children develop social skills, motor abilities, numeracy, language proficiency and other crucial life skills. At our schools, these are done at our dramatic learning corners.
By setting up your very own designated dramatic learning corner at home – be it a room or a corner in the hall – you can engage your child in entertaining dramatic play at home and reinforce the concepts they’re learning in school.
#4: Reading books (related to the curriculum’s learning theme)
As public libraries have reopened, you can borrow age-appropriate books that are also related to the “learning theme” that your child is studying in school.
Can’t decide on what book to borrow? You can check our parent portal app to stay updated on what theme would be appropriate for your child’s current curriculum, or simply ask their teachers – we will be happy to recommend you suitable titles for extended learning at home.
Explore our schools and curriculum
At My First Skool, we believe in working alongside parents to create learning environments – both at home and in school – that will aid in the development and growth of children. Keen on learning more? Visit a My First Skool near you. If you wish to let your child embark on a joyful learning with us, please register here.
