What's on?
The online community has opened its doors to support parents with learning at home with their children.
There is a lot on offer. Please make your own decisions about what is right for your child. Most of the platforms mentioned are on social media - almost all social media requires users to be 13 years of age before having an account so all views should be alongside a parent, using their account.
These are signposts of things we're aware of - we'll keep adding as we find out more.
Other social media accounts to look out for:
Twitter @ColchesterSSP - sports resources and ideas to keep children active, including sporting values.
Facebook Grundy Park Gymnastics Club - find active gymnastics and challenges to do. This is the gymnastics club who provide our extra curriculum club.
Colchester Zoo Facebook - the keepers are completing a number of 'live' videos that can be watched live or played back about different animals.
Facebook group - Teaching Guides for Parents (Primary) - 30 day Lego challenge.
Twitter @Booktrust - lots of information about what authors are up to over the next few weeks including:
-
Daily: Author Jeff Norton is reading a chapter of his fab book Alienated every day on his YouTube channel.
-
Daily: Justin Davies will be reading his hilarious books, a chapter a day, over on his YouTube channel.
-
Daily at 11am: Head over to Instagram or Twitter, where you'll be able to join Steve Antony for lots of fun! On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays he'll be hosting a Draw a Story masterclass for children aged 6+, while Thursdays will feature tips for aspiring picture book makers and Fridays will be for little ones, with Mr Panda Friday.
-
Weekdays at 2.30pm: Join Piers Torday on Instagram Live as he'll be sharing a live reading of his fab book The Last Wild - a chapter a day! He'll then be moving on to some of his other books. It's also worth following Piers on Twitter to keep up with what he's doing - he's currently planning some creative writing workshops.
-
Weekdays (from March 25) at 12pm EST: Wonder fans will be thrilled to hear that author RJ Palacio will be reading the book every weekday (until she finishes it!) on Twitter live! Be careful with the timezone, though - the UK is four hours ahead at the moment, so tune in at 4pm, but from Monday, 30 March we'll be five hours ahead, so settle in at 5pm. (Phew!)
-
Daily at 5pm: Time to enjoy the brilliant Susin Nielsen reading a chapter from her wonderful book No Fixed Address! You can join her over on Twitter.
-
Mondays at 9.30am: Join Lisa Thompson on Instagram Live - she'll be chatting about books, reading and writing and suggesting some creative writing prompts, too.
-
Mondays at 4pm: Author Matt Brown will be reading his books on Facebook, followed by chat about different types of writing, and encouraging kids to get creative (it's aimed at 7-11 year-olds).
-
Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11pm: Join the wonderful Emily Gravett on her Instagram page - on Tuesdays, she'll be reading one of her books, and then on Thursdays she'll be hosting a drawalong of a character from that book!
-
Tuesdays at 1pm: Every Tuesday, the wonderful Varjak Paw author SF Said will be hosting a live Twitter chat, answering questions about his books and chatting all things reading. You can send your questions to him and join in @whatSFSaid!
Please click the schedule to go through to the page on the Essex Local offer where all the click through links for each section are live.
This week Essex Wildlife trust have launched 'Wildlife TV'
Look out for the ones labelled 'Perfect for children'.
Click on the schedule to go to their website to find out more.