A new app from the Edmonton Public School Board has more than 2,000 users, according to metrics collected by the school board.
The app, which is called EPSB Together, is meant to enable parents to help their children, from kindergarten to grade 12, with literacy and numeracy development. It was launched last month.
“It has been excellent,” said Marilyn Manning, a consultant in the EPSB Curriculum and Resources department.
The app is filled with activities that families can do every day, such as making words with the letters found on licence plates while out driving or collecting and organizing leaves while on a walk.
Manning said, so far, the popular activities include ones that can be done during a visit to the grocery store or in the kitchen, such as making bannock.
She said the activities are aimed at having parents collaborate more with their children and opening parents up to teaching moments that could happen around them.
“When parents participate in their child’s education, they’re more likely to succeed,” Manning said.
“Take an everyday activity and it becomes a whole different experience. It’s fun for kids and fun for parents too, and learning happened while you were having fun,” she said.
Manning said the activities on the app were developed by teachers and literacy and numeracy experts and they will be updated every few weeks.
She said this type of technology is “the way of the world.”
“We don’t want it to feel like homework because it’s not geared as a homework thing,” she said.
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