Have you heard of Peekapak? I have and was pleased when they reached out to Mommy Maestra for a collaboration!
Peekapak is a wonderful children's curriculum designed to extend classroom learning into the home. They offer lesson plans for Kindergarten to 3rd grade. They create stories that are Common Core and SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) aligned and include in-class activities that support key themes and learning objectives. The lesson plans are adaptable and parents can support teachers by using the home extensions or do it all at home.
With my big guy in 2nd grade and two little ones in preschool, we decided to gather around my computer and read a story from the 2nd grade curriculum so that they could all participate. We read "The Peekapak Pals and The Tree of Happiness" and we could totally relate to this story! After this major snow craze that kept my boys home for two days this week, we quickly identified with the characters' feelings: No one was enjoying the weather anymore.
Not only were the illustrations vibrant and contemporary, but the boys always love the "comic book" pictures with conversation bubbles over the character's heads. Diego read those to us while I read the narrator's part at the bottom of the pages. We stopped to discuss, made predictions and dove into a printable activity right after we finished reading.
Because the story was so relatable and we were discussing and learning new vocabulary for this specific "grateful" theme, I also took advantage of the construction heart shapes we had previously cut out for a Valentine's Day project, and used them as "tags" like in the story. We wrote things that make us happy and grateful in the hearts and taped them on to our home windows.
Whether you are homeschooling at home or not, these lessons plans are great for any parent who wants to support their children's learning experience at home. It was a perfect lesson plan for our long snowy day!
THE GIVEAWAY
Our friends at Peekapak are giving 10 Mommy Maestra readers a free 6-month access to their curriculum! Just follow the directions in the Rafflecopter below and Peekapak's social media pages for the newest curriculum information.
Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Betty Galvan, is writing "for smart and stylish moms" over