This week has certainly not ended according to plan with Mrs Wood still out isolating and with us all now starting an unrelated week of isolation. However, we did have a great start to the week!
As part of Friendship Week, we have spent a lot of time thinking about how we can be good friends. Together we made a big class picture to illustrate our ideas. We have also enjoyed reading the story “Nothing ‘by Mick Inkpen and thinking about how we can be Curious Cats. Please carry on sending us photos of your cats and we will look at them when we are back in school.
In our Maths lessons we have been learning about 3D shapes. The children really amazed me with their ideas about what each shape might look like (attempting to use mathematical language) and then went on to build some fantastic models in their self-initiated activity time.
Thank you all so much for the observations of the children doing 3D shape hunts at home, it is great to see the children sharing their learning with you!
Most children had their first experience of Guided Reading this week. This is where instead of reading individually we read in small groups with each child having their own copy of the same book. This means that we can really focus on teaching reading skills at an appropriate level to each group. I was really impressed with each group’s focus and the use of their phonics and blending skills. They really are beginning to make progress and enjoy their reading.
Class 3 Home learning Plans
It is now a legal requirement that we provide for and monitor home learning when children are missing school due to isolation. We rely on your support in this.
This week’s planning information is more detailed than usual to help you support your children with their home learning. We understand that for parents working from home or supporting older siblings this can be difficult but it is really important that we maintain and build on the progress that the children have made.
Some activities need to be completed daily while others can be spread across the week. Here is a suggested timetable to help you plan your work time. You can of course swap it round to suit your day. Please prioritise the daily phonics and number activities.
Thank you so much for your support. I will be available via the class 3 email throughout the week to answer any questions.
The full plans can be found here.
PSED
This terms theme is ‘Celebrating Difference’. Continuing on from our discussions on ‘Odd Socks Day’ last week these stories celebrate how we are all different. Please watch them with your child and talk to them about your own family and how it is the same as and different to other families.
Book: ‘The Hueys in the New Jumper’, by Oliver Jeffers: (similarities and differences amongst people)
Book: ‘It’s OK to Be Different’, by Todd Parr
Book: ‘The Family Book’ , by Todd Parr
There are some colouring sheets linked to odd socks day in the home learning file here.
Communication and Language
You can support your child’s development in this area by talking to them about what they are doing, encouraging them to listen and to take turns in conversation. When they watch something or you read them stories ask them questions to check that they are actively listening and understand what is happening in the program or story.
Play games like I Spy, silly sentences ( where all the words begin with the same sound) and robot talking t( breaking the words down into individual phonemes eg r…e…d… instead of red ) to encourage your child to listen to the phonemes in words.
Physical
Use one of the Joe Wicks workouts for kids to get you moving in the morning.
Do some fine motor activities to develop pencil control and writing skills. See the ideas in the home learning folder here.
Literacy
Our Elli animal this week is the bee who helps us to think about how we can develop our team working skills to help us to learn from each other.
We will be using the story ‘Bee and Me’ by Alison Jay. You can watch the story here
The story does not have any words. Please watch it with your child then talk about what happens in the story. You may have to watch it more than once!
Think about what happened at the beginning, in the middle and at the end? How were the bee and the girl feeling in each part of the story? You could write your own sentences to go with each part of the story then put them in the correct order.
Phonics:
Please recap the phonemes that we have already learnt twice a day to keep them in your child’s memory. You can use the grid in the home learning folder here or write your own list.
There is also a grid of cvc words. Please practise blending a few of these at the same time.
This week the new phonemes are j, v, w
You can watch lessons for each of these letters here.
You will need paper and a pen for each lesson.
Tricky words:
Please recap all the tricky words learnt so far. Our new words this week are: me we be.
There is another grid in the home learning folder here that you can use to practise all these words.
Reading:
Everyone has new books available to them in their ActiveLearn Library.
Please log on every day and read with your child, encourage them to point to each word as they blend it.
Remember it is important to read the same book for several days to develop comprehension and fluency skills.
Letter formation
Please use the letter formation sheet in the home learning folder here to practise letter formation. Make sure your child starts writing the letters in the right place (usually at the top). Encourage your child to practise writing their name using the correct letter formation.
There are also writing pattern cards to copy or trace in the folder.
Mathematics
Please practise number recognition and counting up to 10 and back every day.
This week we are having a daily focus on numbers 6 – 10. Please watch 1 episode of Numberblocks each day then talk to your child about what they know about the number and where they might see it or where it is relevant in their own lives.
The activity book in the home learning folder here is for numbers 1 – 10. Please use the pages 1-5 as a recap and then complete pages 6 – 10 on the appropriate days.
Please continue to look for solid shapes in the environment. Using bricks, ego or any other construction set, encourage the children to build models and talk about the shapes that they have used.
Our observation challenge this week is to send a photo and observation of a model that the children have made using 3D shapes. Please ask the children to tell you about the shapes that they have used and record it in the notes using their own words.
Understanding the World
This week we will be learning some facts about bees. Please watch this clip with your child and talk about what they see.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/bees-factfile
We are beginning to think about Christmas and the story of the Nativity. If you have your own favourite book of the story please read it with your child.
You can watch the story here.
BBC teach: The Christmas Story
Expressive Arts
In school the children will be using finger prints to make pictures of bees. If you have paint you could have a go at this at home. Otherwise you could make a picture or model of a bee using any other materials that you have.
We have started learning some Christmas songs. So far, we have only spoken the words as we are not able to sing in school. However, we do need to be able to sing them by the end of this week.
The recordings of the songs are in the home learning folder here. It would be great if you could have a little practise!
Thank you for all your support in your child’s continued learning and development.