1. Create a digital greeting

Even though it has only been a few days, if you are practicing social distancing, your child is likely missing friends and family. Try forging a connection with a digital message. Simply capture a picture of your child or something they have created and use the microphone tool to record a message. Copy the URL at the top of the Wixie page and email/text to share it.

2. Create a scratch art picture of spring

Use the eraser tool in Wixie to create a scratch art picture of spring - log in to Wixie and search "scratch" for a range of scratch art activities. Use a template like spring or flowers and erase to create a spring design. (template)

3. Learn about artist Piet Mondrian and color in his style

Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian, is best known for his work that used primary colors, white and black in simplified lines and shapes on canvas. Visit the Tate Museum's page about Mondrian with your child to learn about this artist and his work.

Then use the Mondrian Coloring page in Wixie to create your own version. To find it, search "Mondrian" at your student or teacher Wixie home page. (template)

If your child is ready to create in Mondrian's style, ask them to draw an animal and color it like a Mondrian.

Explore a Mondrian Math lesson plan.

4. Initial sounds

Go on a letter hunt! Walk around your house or neighborhood and identify objects that begin with a specific letter. Use your device to capture images or write down what you found. Create a page in Wixie to share what you found using images, text, and voice narration. (ABC book template)

5. Create a collage

Add images to a blank Wixie page to represent something. For example, you could represent events in story or your day or even things you see during a particular season.

6. Explore antonyms

Explore antonyms with your child. Read Dr. Seuss's The Foot Book and create a list of antonyms with your child. You can start them off with things like hot/cold, high/low.

Have your child create a page in Wixie that illustrates an antonym pair. Use the microphone tool to record their explanation.

Step-by-step directions for creating antonyms in Wixie

7. Go on a shape hunt

Read a book like The Shape of Me and Other Stuff by Dr. Seuss. Then walk around your home and find shapes, like rectangles and triangle, or even cylinders and spheres. 

Use the Image button and Camera tab to capture the shapes you find and add them to Wixie. Search "3D" for a book template. (template)

Seeing Shapes lesson plan with literature connections, samples, and more

8.Construct with virtual blocks

Some Friday fun for your young learners. Search "blocks" in Wixie for a activities that let students build with virtual blocks. If you have blocks at home, try to recreate their design with real blocks. (template)

9. Initial Sounds

Have students find images of words that have the same initial sounds as the letters in their name. Help your child spell their name across the top of a blank page. Select the image button and work with your child to find images that match the initial sound of each letter in their name.

If you have students who need to work independently, create a page with their name, adjust the Project Settings to have the Images button open directly to the Alphabet>Images folders, and assign the template to them.

To set an Wixie file to open to a specific image library, open the file or template. Go to the File menu and choose Project Settings. At the dialog use the Stickers tab to open the Alphabet folder and open the Images folders. You will see a folder for each letter of the alphabet. Each of these folders contains images that begin with this letter.  By adjusting the project settings this way, when students select the Image button in Wixie, it will open directly to this image library.

10. Share learning about community helpers with a sentence strip

Now more than ever community helpers are essential to the health and success of our world. Have students share what they have learned about a community helper by drawing a picture and writing a sentence. (template)

Students can use the microphone tool to record how they feel this job is important. If you know someone who works in that field, share the project with them to show your appreciation!

11. Use number bonds and five-frames to build early computation understanding

Wixie includes a wealth of templates you can use to get Kindergarten students to visualize value and play with numbers. Search for "number bond" or "fact family" or "five frame" to find templates that support standards for Operations and Algebraic Thinking. (template)

             

You can search Wixie's Templates library by standard! At your Wixie home page, click the three dots to the right of the search field. At the Advanced Search dialog, select the radio button for Standard and then use the pull-down menus to narrow down your search.

*This screenshot shows Common Core State Standards for Math. If you are in Maryland, Virginia, or Texas, you will see the CCR, SOL or TEKS standards.

12. Sort your collection from a nature walk

Walk around outside and collect rocks, flowers, sticks etc. Find a place to sort them into categories any way you like - shape, color, texture, type.

Use the New button in Wixie to start a blank project. Use the Image button and Camera option to capture your work. Add text labels or use the microphone button to describe what you did.

13. Send a virtual high five

Show your appreciation for others with a virtual high-five. 

Search for "five" at your Wixie home page and add text or voice narration to show you appreciate their being amazing. Use the paint tools and Image options to decorate. (template)

14. Reading comprehension: character and setting

Read a book on your own or with a parent. Use the New button to start a new Wixie project. Use the paint tools to draw the main character in a setting from the story. Use the Microphone tool to record a description. (template)

15. Simple surveys and great graphs

Survey your friends, family members, and neighbors about a favorite book, sport, food, game, or at-home activity. Collect your survey findings using tally marks to practice counting. (template)

Explore a Simple Surveys and Great Graphs lesson plan

16. Sight word stories

Have your Kinders practice sight words by writing their own sight word story and combining into a class project! Search for "I Go" in quotes to find and assign this template or make your own. (template)

Have each student finish the sentences and illustrate a page and import the pages into a single Wixie file to form a class book!

17. Make a map

To help young learners build map reading skills, have them go outside their home (with the help of a parent) and figure out which direction is north, south, east, and west. (template)

Assign the "By My House" template in Wixie and ask students to use the paint tools to create a map that shows places (like a park, pool, or baseball field) in each of the cardinal directions around their home.

18. Decorate an Easter Egg

Wixie includes a folder of seasonal activities in the Templates>Month-by-Month folder. For examples, you can open the April folder and use the Paint an Easter Egg activity. (template)

Print the file, cut out the eggs, and use as Easter decorations. You can even write notes on the back and hide around your home for an egg hunt or give to a friend as an Easter greeting card.

19. Capture reading fluency

Capture student fluency using the recording tool and Wixie templates with prose and poetry passages for grades K-3.

Log in and search "fluency" or browse Templates>Language Arts>Reading>Fluency for examples from Raggedy Ann Stories (template) and Hey, Diddle, Diddle (template), and more, then customize or create your own to meet your needs.

The Kinder fluency samples includes space at the top for students to draw a picture about the text, helping you also evaluate comprehension.

20. Pay with coins

Wixie includes lots of virtual manipulatives for math, even for Kindergartners. Use Unifix cubes, coins or shapes for fun math play and practice. For this template, log in to Wixie, search "coins" and have students pay for objects at a carnival. (template)

More ideas for virtual manipulatives

21. Share your favorite book

To build foundations for argument writing, primary learners start by stating opinions. Ask your Kindergarten students to use Wixie's paint tools to draw a picture of their favorite book an record why it is their favorite using the microphone tool. (template)

22. Describe your family

Use the paint tools to paint a picture of your family. Use the microphone tool to name each person and describe them. Add text labels with their names or a trait you used in your description. (template)

You can explore the Templates>All About Me folder for this activity. All About Me projects are a great way to focus on skills, like descriptive writing or technology, because kids don't have to work to understand or learn the content.

23. Play with patterns

Learning how to identify and create patterns like ABA or ABBA helps build foundations for future math, even algebra! Wixie includes several activities for building and practicing visual patterns. You can also have your child draw a pattern or use images added to a blank page. (template)

 

24. Identify character traits

Ask your young learners to recall and retell key details about a character in a book you are reading. Search "trait" in Wixie to have the draw a picture of the character and type or record words about the character's physical traits, feelings, and actions. (template)

Find more ideas for character trait projects and step-by-step directions

25. Tell a tangram story

A tangram is a Chinese puzzle made from a square cut into seven different shapes, called tans. You use these shapes to make the square, as well as a range of other shapes.

At your Wixie home page, search "tangram" and open the Tangram Story file. Have your child use the pieces in the tangram to make their own composite shape and tell the story of the happy square. (template)

25. Record your positive actions

What did you do for the environment on Earth Day? Draw a picture, write a sentence and record yourself in Wixie! You can also use Wixie to create a poster to inform others about environmental issues. (template)

27. Observe with a new perspective

So much of what we see about our world depends on our perspective. While young students are still working to show what they observe through their sense of sight, they can practice taking someone else's perspective in a fun project like sharing a view of the world from the eyes of an insect. 

28. Draw you own Tree for Arbor Day

Gustav Klimt's "Tree of Life" is one of his most recognizable paintings. Search "Klimt" in Wixie and use the Eraser tool to create your own Klimt-style tree using a scratch art-style template. (template)

Scratch art drawing in Wixie is done with the Eraser tool, not the paint brush! 

29. Write a 5 senses poem

In addition to reinforcing scientific observation, engaging the five senses is a great way to help young learners add description to their writing and practice vocabulary. Assign the "5 Senses Poem" template to make it easier to add ideas textually, or remove the text boxes and have them record their ideas. (template)

  

If your learners would benefit from a little direction, provide a specific topic for their poem.

30. Practice counting and shape identification

There are lots of ways to make math practice fun. Search Wixie for "shape" or "count" for a range of fun ways activities that ask students to identify shapes and apply one-to-one correspondence to color or finish a fun scene. (template)

 

31. Practice vocabulary and sight words

Have students use the coloring templates to have students practice sight words and vocabulary. To find templates like this one, browse Templates>Language Arts>Vocabulary. (template)

32. What if you could be going places?

Call or video chat with someone who lives far away or read about a new place to learn about the weather and culture in that location.  Use a "Going Places" template in Wixie to show the weather, what you would pack to wear, and what you would do in that location. (template)

33. Share data with a glyph

Like hieroglyphics, glyphs use pictures to represent information. Glyphs are a great way to get young learners to follow-directions and play with how data can be displayed.

Search for "butterfly glyph" in Wixie to find a template students can use to share information about how they spent their week by adding symbols to a butterfly's wings. Be sure they use the record button to explain their work. (template)

34. Create a thank you card for your teacher

Start a blank Wixie page and use the paint tools to create an original drawing. You can also use the image button and camera option to capture your picture!

Use the microphone tool to record your voice and let your teacher know how much you appreciate (and miss!) them. They would really love to hear from you. (template)

35. Celebrate counting skills and Cinco de mayo

Celebrate counting skills and Cinco de mayo with your students. Search "piñata" in Wixie and use one of the templates to show off your counting skills. (template)

36. Explore the real world of math with Mother's Day Flowers

Search "mother" in Wixie and use the Mother's Day Flowers template to name shapes and describe their relative position as well as create a vase filled with shapely flowers. (template)

Read more about the Mother's Day Flowers lesson.

37. Adapt your favorite pattern story

Read one of your favorite pattern stories and create your own adaptation. Wixie includes templates for favorites like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, It Looked Like Spilt Milk (template), Cat in the Hat and more. Use this list of titles to turn your emerging readers into writers!

Explore an Adapt a Pattern Story lesson plan

38. Create memories for Mother's Day

If you haven't gotten your handmade Mother's Day gift ready, open a blank page in Wixie and draw a picture to create a printed card. Use the microphone tool to record a message and send as a digital greeting.

Explore more ideas for Mother's Day and Father's Day

39. Sort and classify objects

Kindergarten learners first begin organizing data by sorting objects by attribute. Wixie includes a range of templates you can use for both practice and formative assessments. Simply search "sort" at your Wixie home page. (template)

 

40. Create your own pet show

Read Pet Show! by Ezra Jack Keats. Search Wixie for "pet" to find a template students can use to paint a picture of their pet and add in a superlative describing the award their pet won. (template)

41. Counting and cardinality

Kindergarten learners need to be able to "count to answer 'how many?' questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1-20, count out that many objects."

Use the three dots on the right side of the search bar at the top of your Wixie home page to search by standard and find a range of counting templates.

Wixie includes a range of count to tell and cardinality templates appropriate for your range of Kindergarten learners. (template)

42. Send a chalk art message

Search Wixie for "chalk" to find a template you can use to create a digital chalk art message. Export the image or copy the URL and send to a grandparent or share with an elderly neighbor who can't get outside. (template)

43. Inform others

Even the youngest learners can inform others about the topics they are learning. Instead of struggling with writing or typing, have students use Wixie to simply add an image of the animal to a page and use the microphone tool to record to share information orally. Perfect for ELLs.

44. Create a digital word wall

Students can use the "word wall" template in Wixie to create their own word wall. Assign to each learner so they can add words they do not know from books they are reading or hearing. Have students look up the meaning in a dictionary or ask a parent or teacher to help them define and add a picture and even voice recording. (template)

45. Create a class memory book

Use Wixie to create a memory book filled with each student’s favorite event from the school year. Have students use Wixie's image, text, and recording tools to create their page, combine them together into one file in your teacher account, and publish online, as PDF, or print. (template)

Explore step-by-step directions for this idea.

46. Compare numbers.

Kindergarten learners need to be able to identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, as well as compare two numbers between 1 and 10 presented as written numerals.

Open the Templates folder at your Wixie home page, then open Math>Numbers and Operations>Numbers to find templates like this you can use for formative assessment and practice. (template)

 

47. Build a sand castle

Is it summer yet? In any case, it's time to build a sand castle. Search "castle" at the Wixie home page and drag the shapes to make a virtual sand castle. Great activity for learning to build composite shapes! (template)

48. "Carve" your own petroglyph

Petroglyphs are objects carved into rock by prehistoric people. Search "petroglyph" at your Wixie home page to find a template. Assign to students and they can use the Eraser tool to "carve" their own petroglyph image. Use the microphone tool to tell the story of the rock art. (template)

49. Build foundations for scientific thinking

Encourage your students budding inquiry by using a modified approach to the scientific method. Search "inquiry" at the Wixie home page to find the Inquiry - Primary template. (template)

Have students use it to draw pictures and describe how they learn about the world. The template guides them to begin with observation and hypotheses to progressing to thinking about how they can test their idea and then analyzing the results.

50. Count to design a beach towel

Search "beach" at the Wixie home page to find a range of counting activities perfect for summer. In the Design a Beach Towel activity, students drag shapes to create a pattern design on a beach towel and then count the number of shapes they have added. (template)