P.E.I. company offering free teaching resources during pandemic

An Island company that won one of the province's Ignition Fund awardslate last year is offering educational resources for kids and their parents for free online.

Camp Awesome creates original childrens books, teaching resources, apparel and games.

When COVID-19 hit P.E.I., Camp Awesome was using the $25,000from the Ignition Fund to publish its second book, and create educational resources for teachers.

So it decided to switch gears and spend part of its time during the outbreak giving back to families. On Monday, Camp Awesome released its sixth education pack.

"We have a weekly educational pack that we put out every Monday, which is a variety of worksheets for kids kind of pre-Kto Grade 2," said Gavin Hall one of the creators of Camp Awesome.

Families are home with limited resources. We fully understand being out of work because of what is going on. Gavin Hall, Camp Awesome

He said worksheets focus on foundational learning such as math, reading and writing.

"We have some colouring sheets and some other fun sheets in there as well," he said.

"Some resources for families to use while they are at home and want to have something to sit down with their kids and do."

'More and more people'

The response from the public has been "great," Hall said.

"Every week we see more and more people downloading our PDFs from our website," Hall said.

He said hard copies are also available at Gifts from the Heart in Charlottetown for Islanders who don't have access to a printer.

Hall said he understands the difficulty parents are facing with their kids at home and schools shutdown. He has three kids of his own, all under the age of six and things can get "busy" he said.

"Families are home with limited resources. We fully understand being out of work because of what is going on," he said.

Range of activities

Each Wednesday and Friday the company also releases a new at-home activity on its website.

"Which is kind of to encourage kids, you know, instead of sitting at the table filling out worksheets to get up and move around the home looking for different types of activities that they can do around the house," he said.

Some of those activities could include picking five items that start with the letter A, or finding things longer than a banana to teach basic measuring, Hall said.

"Those types of activities kind of get them moving around the house while doing their sheet, and it is something they can do over the course of the day, not necessarily in one sitting," he said.

While the company is giving away free worksheets it is still working on its second book, and news on that is coming soon, Hall said.

"We've got a team kind of working on the resources forCOVID and then we also have folks that are working on our business end of things, on the books and the teacher packs we will be releasing in the fall," Hall said.

Any parents looking for free educational resources for children stuck at homecan download worksheets at the Camp Awesome website.

COVID-19: What you need to know

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?

Common symptoms include:

• Fever.

• Cough.

• Tiredness.

But more serious symptoms can develop, including difficulty breathing and pneumonia, which can lead to death.

Health Canada has built aself-assessment tool.

What should I do if I feel sick?

Isolate yourself and call 811. Do not visit an emergency room or urgent care centre to get tested. A health professional at 811 will give you advice and instructions.

How can I protect myself?

• Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

• Clean regularly touched surfaces regularly.

• Practisephysical distancing.

More detailed information on the outbreak is available on thefederal government's website.

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