COVID-19: Teach Starter's Support for Schools, Teachers, Parents, and Students Affected

Dear Teachers, Parents, and Guardians,

As the global impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to evolve, both our Teach Starter members’ success in and out of the classroom, and our team’s well-being are paramount.

Our hearts go out to the people affected, and we appreciate those around the world who are on the front line working to contain the virus.

We understand the importance of maintaining children’s education through this disruption, and we are in the fortunate position of having a digital product that can quickly be made available to people all over the world.

Teach Starter’s purpose is to Make Every Classroom Buzz. Whether that classroom is in a school, or in a living room at home, we’re here to ensure that children continue to deeply engage with learning.

Please use this blog as your central source of information regarding Teach Starter’s actions in supporting teachers, parents, and students during this event.

Quick Links

• Download Learning From Home Packs
• Weekly Learning from Home Activity Grids
• Support for Parents Affected by School Closures
• Teach Starter’s Business Continuity Plan

Learning From Home Packs

To ease the stress of teachers and students, the Teach Starter team has compiled 2 sets of Learning From Home Packs for PK–Grade 6 students. The Teach Starter team has handpicked these resources to ensure children can complete them at home with the assistance of their parents or guardians. Each pack is grade-level specific and focuses on that grade’s specific curriculum.

The packs cover the key learning areas of Language Arts, Math, and Science, and include some additional craft and mindfulness activities!

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The packs include:

• an accessible overview, written in language that Parents/Guardians and Teachers can follow
• digitally accessible, curriculum-aligned resources (including worksheets, activities, and task cards).

Our Learning From Home Packs have been designed to complement the processes and requirements of your School or Education Department and should not be used in place of these. Please consult your School or Education Department if you have questions.

Weekly Learning from Home Activity Grids

To ease the stress of teachers and students, the Teach Starter team has compiled weekly Learning from Home Activity Grids for PK–Grade 6 students. Each activity grid contains 12 grade-level specific activities that are aligned to the curriculum standards and can be completed at home.

Each grade level’s download includes:

• 3 activity grids – one for Language Arts, Math, and Other Areas (including Science, Social Studies, Mindfulness, Arts and Crafts, and Movement activities).
• editable Word versions for all of our activity grids.
• any resources students may need to complete the activities.

Access all learning from home resources for each grade:
Pre-K learning from home collection
Kindergarten learning from home collection
Grade 1 learning from home collection
Grade 2 learning from home collection
Grade 3 learning from home collection
Grade 4 learning from home collection
Grade 5 learning from home collection
Grade 6 learning from home collection

We also have Home Reading Challenge grids to encourage reading while children are stuck at home. Students are challenged to read one book each day and complete an activity of their choice from the grid. Perfect for parents needing to educate children remotely, or for teachers to assign students when schools are closed.

Community Support

We understand how critical it is to support each other during these challenging times. We will be continuing to assist teachers through our social media, blogs, and our customer support channels.

• Read The Chalkboard Blog for tips.
• Stay connected with the teaching community via our Facebook or Instagram pages or listen to our Podcast, For The Love Of Teaching.
• If you have any questions, or if we can help you further, please contact support@teachstarter.com. We are happy to assist.

Rest assured that we are committed to supporting our community in times of hardship. Please use this blog as your central source of information regarding Teach Starter’s actions in helping teachers, parents, and students. The Teach Starter team will continually reassess how we provide support to teachers and parents and will adjust accordingly.

Support for Parents Affected by School Closures

If you are a parent and new to Teach Starter, welcome! Teach Starter provides an extensive collection of digital teaching resources for PK–6 school teachers to use with their students. These resources are professionally designed by a team of experienced teachers, illustrators, designers, and editors, to ensure that they are high-quality, curriculum-aligned, and ready to use in the classroom.

Many of our resources are also suitable for students to complete independently or with assistance from an adult. To assist parents in finding suitable resources, we have put together a range of grade-level specific Learning From Home resource packs that can be downloaded for free.

Alternatively, you can search for resources using the search bar in the top left-hand corner, and filter by your child’s year level on the search results page to ensure that the teaching resources you are viewing are age-appropriate.

If you have any questions along the way, please reach out to the Teach Starter team at any time by clicking on the speech bubble icon in the bottom right-hand corner or emailing support@teachstarter.com. We’re always happy to help!

Helpful Links & Resources

• World Health Organization for global updates on the Coronavirus
• A list of Free Educational Resources being offered due to School Closures
• Learning From Home Resource Packs for Teachers and Parents
• Teaching Resources suitable for Learning From Home during School Closures

Business Continuity at Teach Starter

We have put in place a number of measures to protect our employees, both for their safety and to ensure the availability of the Teach Starter platform and customer support operations. We are maintaining a business continuity plan, and we have taken the following steps:

• We have formed an internal COVID-19 working group to ensure we are keeping our employees’ and customers’ needs top of mind.
• We have allowed employees to take advantage of flexible working arrangements, including working remotely from home.
• As a safety precaution, we have postponed all Teach Starter community meet-up events.
• We continue to monitor the World Health Organization, Centers of Disease Control (U.S.), and State Government recommendations and to share this information with our team.

Thank you for your patience and support during this time. We will continue to provide you with the support you need to ensure that your students’ education remains our shared priority. Let’s continue making every classroom buzz!

If you wish to contact us during this time, please email support@teachstarter.com and we will be happy to help.

Scott Tonges & Jill Snape

Teach Starter Co-founders