Heroes Among Us Family Activities for Preschool and Elementary School

The summer season is a wonderful time for many families to catch a great family-oriented movie, share popcorn together, and bond over some quality time. Watch a new release at a movie theatre, or view an all-time favorite in the comfort of your own home. Go have some fun!

Current Family-Friendly Movie:

Incredibles 2, rated PG

Other Current Movies

(may be better suited for older elementary students):

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Teen Titans Go! To the Movies

All-time Family Movie Favorites, all rated PG:

The LEGO movie

Ferdinand

The Sandlot

Despicable Me

Kung-Fu Panda

Materials

Movies on the “hero” theme.
Stories or books on the “hero” theme.
Public service officer vehicles (ambulance, police car, fire truck, etc.)
Play house or doll house
Stuffed animals or other plush toys
Small figurines (Calico Corner figures, Lego characters, etc.)

Activities

For families with young pre-school aged children, read a story on the theme “Heroes Among Us” and use toys (vehicles, doll houses, stuffed animals, figurines, etc.) to role-play a “hero” story.
- Who is the hero?
- Who needs help?
- Where does the action take place?
- What is the problem?
- Is the hero willing or reluctant to help? Why?
- What can the hero do to help?
- What obstacles are in the way?
- How does the problem get resolved?
For families with older children, read a story on the theme “Heroes Among Us,” and watch a movie with the “Hero” theme. Here are some follow-up activities you can do together:
- Families can compare the hero in the book with the hero in the movie. Host a friendly debate during dinner and choose the better hero.
  - Which hero had the greater impact?
  - How do you measure that impact?
  - Does your hero have a character flaw or physical disability?
  - Which hero had to overcome more difficult, external challenges?
  - Which hero had to conquer more difficult, internal challenges?

3. Families can research and find another book or movie about a hero to recommend to others.

4. Family members can each recognize and thank a “Local hero.” Acknowledge someone in the family for their attributes or someone in the community for their contributions to the community.

5. Families can write a thank you card, present home-grown flowers, or bring homemade cookies for their favorite family member or local hero.

Common Core Standards

Listed below are relevant California Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy that support elementary school learners:

Kindergarten – With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.
Grade 1 – Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
Grade 2 – Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
Grade 3 – Describe characters in a story (e.g. their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
Grade 4 – Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Grade 5 – Compare and contrast stories in the same genre on their approaches to similar themes and topics.

Winter Break Activities that Reinforce Kids’ Learning at Home

What can parents do with their kids during winter break this year with persistent COVID-19 pandemic recreational challenges? The teaching strategies featured in Student-Engaged Assessment (Rowman & Littlefield: 2020) can be adapted to reinforce learning at home during the pandemic winter break.

Parents can support their children’s learning with relevant and engaging family play and household projects. Parents can help their kids (1) define an academic goal when organizing a family activity, and (2) show their learning through games, family projects, writing, illustrations, videos, performing arts activities, and pictures of completed projects. Children can reflect on what they learned while completing an activity and share their project with parents and teachers.

Winter Learning Activities

Here are some activities that parents can share with their kids during the COVID-19 winter shutdowns:

Play games, keep score, read directions, and teach friends and family members how to play a new game.
- Modify game rules to meet the needs of younger siblings and friends.
- Play games online with friends and pair off as teams.
Create culturally relevant holiday decorations for the home.
- Design holiday cards, thank you notes, and greeting cards for the new year that can be sent to family members and friends.
- Write thank you notes and/or illustrate how to play with a new holiday toy or gift.
- Watch YouTube videos to learn how to draw a holiday character or winter scene.
Create talent shows, show magic tricks, tell jokes, direct a play, sing a song, play music, or dance in a holiday family show.
Bake and cook festive holiday meals. Select and modify recipes, adjust the quantity for cooking and baking, and organize a shopping list of ingredients required for baking and cooking.
Organize a family outing to a local park.
- Research the best way to get to the park and determine the cost for gas, park fees, and food.
- Plan a budget for the day and organize a family picnic.
- Consider COVID-19 safety concerns.
Participate in community service activities.
- Write letters to seniors, military personnel, and other lonely community members.
- Make gifts for seniors and military personnel.
- Collect reusable toys and clothing for various holiday collections in the community.
- Confirm COVID-19 restrictions with community agencies and provide financial donations when preferred.
Hike at a local park and collect trash per COVID-19 safety guidance.
Care for younger siblings while parents work and organize daily camp activities at home.
Create a family history book by researching the family’s history online and interview older relatives.
- Collect old pictures that can be inserted or scanned into family history books.
- Assemble family cookbooks with recipes provided by relatives.
- Create a photo album for each child highlighting memorable activities and notes about special events.
- Assemble family vacation photo albums with research on historical landmarks and write stories about fun adventures.
Develop a family budget for 2021 that may include weekly food expenses, basic needs, a savings plan, and money for fun. Middle school and older kids can receive an annual allowance for clothing and elementary school kids can be given a weekly allowance for completing various household responsibilities.
Balance a checkbook. Older kids can research cell phone plans, automobile insurance and care budgets, college savings plans, and annual family vacation budgets.
Help teens research how to invest in secure savings plans to support college funds.
Have teens volunteer virtually with nonprofit organizations in their community to provide database management services, mentorship activities, and community services for isolated adults and teens.
Encourage teens to assist teachers with creating relevant classroom lessons on reading, writing, math, science, and social studies that can be used for younger students. Teens can teach teachers how to use various computer applications.
Have teens create a family or community vegetable garden with year-round planning and gardening. They can also support various home and building projects (i.e. painting, yard work, cleaning and organizing, managing the laundry, paying bills, servicing and washing automobiles.

Enjoy this beautiful time of year as we enrich children’s playtime fun with a variety of learning opportunities!

Happy holidays!

Mary Ann

Recreating COVID-19 Holidays

October is an important month in our household. My grandson, Kenji, will have a birthday in a few days. Then we have Halloween at the end of the month. My grandson typically enjoys a birthday party with friends and celebrates Halloween at a school celebration. With COVID-19, we are redefining how we will celebrate the following holidays:

We will celebrate Kenji’s birthday with a small family party. He has already received a new larger bicycle for this event. Kenji will celebrate his birthday with his aunt and uncle and a special bike ride. We will then enjoy cake and ice cream as my grandson plays with his other gifts.
Kenji will wear his Halloween costume while attending his remote classroom on Halloween. Some schools will celebrate Halloween with a car parade at the school site while students wear their costumes. Other families will celebrate with their neighborhood pod of two to three families. Several families are decorating their homes and will host a Halloween party with their children. They may also Zoom with other school families and friends.
Thanksgiving will be a challenge as we may need to leave our home for a long-awaited construction project. We are looking forward to eating a take-out Thanksgiving dinner in our hotel room.
Christmas will be celebrated with a Christmas tree, gifts, and a visit with a couple of family members.

As we prepare for our favorite holiday celebrations this year, we are thankful that our family is healthy and lovingly supportive. May you and your family cherish new family traditions and celebrations as you prepare for the upcoming holidays.

Happy new traditions!

Joyce

Learning About My Grandson When Cleaning

A couple times a month, I help my grandson sort out school papers and clean his room. Although it looks like we are helping mom accomplish a difficult task, I love helping my grandson because I am able to learn more about his interests and what he is learning in school.

A Shared Experience

Our room cleaning project has provided the following insights:

We occasionally sort through his toys to identify what he wants to keep and what he no longer needs and would like to donate to other children.
As we sort the toys, we discuss happy memories playing and what we would like to do in future on various play dates.
We discuss various interests and how his toys can help him explore new interests. For example, Lego can be used for various science explorations.
My grandson is able to reflect on what he values and I can share my experiences.
We brainstorm new activities and outings we can share together to explore new and expanding interests.
Sometimes, we sort through his book collection and talk about our many memories of reading various books together. We may start reading the book together again and relive various interests and outings that are relevant to the story. My grandson may also decide that some of the books should be donated to other children.
When sorting artwork, we discuss how he felt when making the art piece and what it represents. My grandson may describe a wonderful adventure that he was thinking about when creating his masterpiece. Other times, he will share a silly story about how his art piece was developed and what it represents. We have wonderful laughs and discussions as he selects which artwork he wants to hang up in his room.

A Final Thought

When I help my grandson organize and clean his room, it is not about organizing his possessions. The focus is to gain a greater insight into what he is thinking about when he creates his projects. I also learn more about his passions and interests. The activity is just a vehicle that brings us closer together with many shared memories and special discussions.

Much joy in helping our kids organize their rooms!

Joyce

How to Combat Spring Fever at Home

Well, you survived spring break with vacations, play dates, and some much-needed down time. Now, how will the family cope with the end of the year in sight but feeling further away these days than it did in January? The adult version is similar to running a half marathon and making it through mile 9, 10, and 11. You see the end but those last 2.1 miles feel like forever.

Tips to Overcome Spring Fever

This time of year is long for the students as well. Here are some easy tips for surviving the home stretch:

Days are longer now that we turned our clocks back. Consider taking evening walks after dinner.
Allow your young person to bring a friend on a walk.
Include a trip to the local ice cream shop if it’s in walking distance from your house. Mixing exercise with a fun treat is a win-win for spending time together.
Alternatively, explore nature right in your own front/backyard. Challenge your curious crew to a timed data collection exhibition. For this activity, you will need a clipboard, pencil, paper, and a medium sized cardboard box with bottom cut out. Have the children select an area of interest in the yard. Once an area is determined they place their box down on the ground to determine how many living and non-living things they can count within the perimeter of the box. Set a 10-minute limit to the data collection process. There are a couple of ways to collect the data. They can tally under the categories or draw a sketch of the different types of items they saw and record a number total. In addition, children could record observations such as wind speed, dampness, location and proximity to water. I recommend groups of 2-3 for maximum collaboration. Bring everyone back inside and discuss the data collected.
Another strategy that will help combat spring fever is by having breakfast for dinner. Include the kids in the cooking experience rather than preparing the meal yourself. Giving them a taste of responsibility is exciting. Turning the expected into the unexpected is the key to survival.

Welcome spring days!

Danielle