Welcome back to week 1 of term 4! We hope that you are all well and that you all enjoyed your break and had a rest last week! We are looking forward to seeing some of the children back in school on Monday and also to continuing our home learning with everyone at home.
Thank you all for the incredible hard work that you did last term to support our home learning. We know that it is not easy to juggle all the demands on your time and really appreciate it. We had an amazing number of observations which have enabled us to see your child’s involvement and progress and to plan for the new term.
Last term we enjoyed keeping in touch with everyone through our Monday messages and our Google meet-ups. We have had lots of fun in these meetings; playing games, reading and sharing activities. We also began some additional google meets for group reading that we will be continuing this week. This term we are also going to introduce a whole class story time. This will take place earlier in the week and will be after school so that the children in school can also join us when they get home. Your class teacher will contact you to let you know when your storytime is.
Here are some photos of some of the Chinese Dragons that the children at home made in their google meet ups last week.
This term we are continuing our topic ‘Let’s Explore’ but with a new focus moving from cold places to hot places. We will be using the story Handa’s Surprise by Eileen Browne to learn about Africa. This is a lovely topic with lots of opportunities for Understanding the World and Expressive Arts activities.
You can watch Mrs Browne reading the story Handa’s Surprise here.
There is also a nice animated version of the story that you can watch here. Handas Surprise animation
This week’s Learning
Our in school timetable will follow the timetable below so if your child is doing a mixture of home and school it will be important to follow this timetable to avoid repeating or missing a learning activity.
If you are doing home learning all week you can of course swap it round to suit your week and daily routines. Please use it in conjunction with the planning notes and instructions below.
Remember to watch the Monday message to the class from your class teacher that will have been emailed to you through Schoolcomms on Monday morning.
Whole school Assembly – Watch Mrs Fricker’s Monday Assembly here
A printable version of the timetable and blog can be found here Week 1 timetable
Observations – Please continue to send us a daily observation including the Writing and Mathematics and PSED highlighted on the timetable.
Development Matters – Click here to see all the learning objectives for all areas of the EYFS curriculum in age related bands. Most children are currently working within the 40-60 band.
All the resources for this weeks learning can be found here: Week 1 resources
Story time with the Reception team
We have recorded some stories for you to watch and listen to.
Handas Surprise by Eileen Browne Read by Mrs Browne
Turtle Tug – A play Read by Mrs Wood and Bethan
Night Monkey Day Monkey by Julia Donaldson Read by Mrs Wood
Mama Panya’s Pancakes Read by Mrs Brand
PSED
This Term’s Jigsaw is all about Being Healthy
Please send us an observation of the challenge activity at the end
Please click on this link for this week’s activities: Being Healthy
Daily wellbeing
Monday – Connect – Send a friend or relative a message telling them about something you did in half term.
Tuesday – Take notice – Colour in a Mardi Gras mask, or design your own
Wednesday – Exercise – Miss Linky alphabet
Thursday – Keep learning – Rainbow challenge – How could you make a rainbow?
Friday – Give – Offer to do something helpful in your home today
Communication and Language
Information about how to support your child’s C&L development is available in the shared folder
One of the things that many children still find difficult is rhyming words. There are some rhyming words activities for you to do in this folder. Rhyming word activities
However it is also easy and fun to play rhyming words verbally just by asking the children to make a ‘rhyming string’ of words that rhyme. The words do not have to be spelt the same as long as they sound as if they rhyme. This is a good car game!
Teach your monster to read This is a really useful website / app that has lots of games to play. The online version is free to use.
Keep Listening to the CBeebies radio programs Poetry Playtime Michel Rosen the author of ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ presents a series of listening programs about poems, words and sounds. There are 10 programmes so try to listen to 2 each week.
Physical
Enjoy Joe Wicks video’s or similar each day.
Follow the whole school Jasmine Homelearning lesson.
Task 3: PE – Static Balance
Learning Objective: Balance on a line or low beam with a good stance. Explore ways to balance on a line.
This week we are introducing the ‘Tightrope’ theme, using the Real PE online resources.
Please use your new personal log in, sent in the final week of last term.
For the ‘Adventure’ (warm-up) you will be setting up your circus for tightrope walking! It would be great to have these things to help bring it to life:
- Blanket/towel for your big top
- Toys to take part in the circus
- Instruments/things to shake or bang for your grand opening music
- String/skipping rope/tape to make your tightrope.
Real PE instructions
Real PE login
Fine Motor Skills – Click here for a folder of ideas and resources for supporting the development of fine motor skills
Literacy
Phonics
Thank you so much for sending us all the assessment grids at the end of last term. We can see that you are all doing a great job at home!
This week we are asking you to keep recapping all of the phonemes and tricky words that we have learnt so far. You can access the up to date ‘sound grid’ and this week’s copy of our ‘tricky word’ list here.
Please do this at least twice a day if possible. Your children will earn them best by going over them quickly but frequently.
We will be learning 2 new digraphs this week ear, air
Please click on the links above to watch the phonics videos recorded by St Peter Church of England Primary school. Children will need a whiteboard and pen or pencil and paper.
The link below demonstrates how to make each phoneme and digraph sound How to say phonemes
Please also introduce these 2 new tricky words to your children ‘come and were’. Talk to your children about why they are tricky words (because they can not be blended) and they need to be learnt by sight. You could model putting the words into a sentence and ask them to put them into a sentence verbally.
Spelling
New this week! Please ask your child to practice spelling the following tricky words from Phase 2. Use a whiteboard or piece of paper to record and call out each of the tricky words so your child can become confident in spelling these words.
Tricky words: I, no, go, to, into
Daily Reading
Please continue to support your child with our online ‘Bug Club’ reading scheme. Bug Club Log in
Teacher’s have assigned your child specific books according to their phonic knowledge, blending skills and fluency. Please let your teacher know how your child is getting on with these books.
It is really important to talk to your children about what they are reading, ask them about the characters, what is happening, what do you think will happen next? If you can, encourage your child to use expression when they read to help support prosody with different texts.
Storytime – Please remember that it is also really important that you continue to read stories to your children every day!
Letter Formation
New this week! Each week we are asking that your child practice their handwriting. This week we are focusing on forming the letters ‘c, o, a, d’ please use this letter formation sheet to help support your child’s writing. Make sure they start each letter at the dot (usually at the top.) and follow the letter round in one movement without taking their pencil off. Please encourage your child to use the correct tripod grip throughout the hand writing session.
Writing
Please send us an observation of this activity.
This week we would like you to get your children to write about what they did over the half term holidays.
For example:
I went to the park with my Mum and Dad.
or….
I played with my sister in the garden.
- To begin, help your child decide on the sentence they are going to write.
- Ask your child to say the sentence out loud a few times before they start.
- Ask your child to count how many words are in that sentence.
- Encourage your child to start in the right place on the line, using a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence and remember finger spaces.
- We encourage children to spell phonetically, so your child’s sentence may look like this
‘I plaid wif my sistr in the garden.’
Of course if they know how to spell the words correctly that is great but please dont spell them for the children to copy.
- Please encourage them to focus on one word at a time, to listen to the phonemes and to write as independently as possible.
- Remind your children to use a capital letter at the beginning, fingers spaces and full stops. Use the Every Time We Write poster in the shared folder.
- Some children may be able to write more than one sentence. Ask your child to think about what else they did.
- Don’t forget to finish with adding in a drawing of what you did.
Please encourage your child to use the correct tripod grip throughout the writing session and again please refer to our ‘Everytime We Write’ poster before you start any writing activity.
Please remember children are unlikely to get the right spelling, finger spaces or every sound. Encourage children to use their stickability like the tortoise!
Mathematics
Daily warm up activities for number fluency.
Use number cards from the shared folder or make your own.
- Practise recognising numerals from 0 – 10 (or to 20 if your child recognises all numerals to 10)
- Counting up to 10 / 20 and back down to 0 again.
- Practise putting numerals in order and identifying which number is 1 more and 1 less.
- Use objects such as pasta, buttons, lego bricks to practise counting out objects carefully from a larger amount. Count up to 10, then up to 20.
- Writing numerals – 10
- Numbergym instructions NumberGym Early Years games are good warm up activities
Daily Activities – This week we will begin focusing on the numbers from 11 to 20 as well as continuing to learn about measurement. The links are on the timetable and resources are available in the shared folder Mathematics activities. Please focus on just one number each day in the correct order.
For each number there is a powerpoint to watch including activities to take part in, a home learning fact sheet of ideas and an activity sheet for the children to do. you can also watch the Number blocks videos that are linked below:
On Wednesday we will have a change from number and learn about measuring length.
The vocabulary that we would like the children to be using is:
long / short
longer than / shorter than
longest / shortest
Please encourage your children to use these words and not just say bigger / smaller.
Measurement Activity: Please send an observation of this activity including the vocabulary that your child used to talk about the feet.
- Draw around and cut out a foot or shoe from each member of your family.
- Arrange them in order from the shortest to the longest. ( Draw a line to put them on to make sure they are lined up carefully.)
- Discuss, using the vocabulary above, which is the longest / shortest etc.
- Using your child’s footprint can they find something shorter than their foot and something longer than their foot.
- There is an activity sheet for your child to complete in the folder.
- Extension activity – Your child could make their own snakes of different lengths and order them. (Use playdough / string / ribbon or draw your own!)
Understanding the World
Watch this video all about Africa to introduce our new topic focus. Discuss how the things that you see are the same or different to our country.
There is also a powerpoint about Africa here. Africa powerpoint
People and Communities
- In Africa there are big cities like in our country and also lots of villages in the countryside. Some of the houses are very different to ones we might find in Bristol. Explore African mud huts, like the one Handa lives in. Ask your child to describe how it is different from their home.
The World
- The story of ‘Handa’s Surprise’ is based in south-west Kenya. If you have a globe or and atlas can you find Africa and Kenya ?
- Can you find out more about the country? How is it similar / different to where you live?
Technology
Continue to explore the different aspects of Purple Mash. Use mini mash to create your own African animal. This gives you lots of options to create the different textures of the animal’s fur e.g. a zebra or a lion Click here to begin.
RE
Why are some times special? Pancake Day/ Shrove Tuesday/ Mardi Gras/ Lent
Do you have pancakes on Pancake Day? What is your favourite topping?
Do you know why we have Pancake Day?
We are going to look at some pictures and words to learn more about what Pancake Day is all about. Look through the Presentation.
Expressive Arts
- This week ask your child to think about the story ‘Handa’s Surprise’. What happened in the beginning, middle and the end? Ask your child to draw a story map of the story putting the animals in the right order. This will help support your child next week when we do some writing on the sequencing of the story.
- As an extension your child could write labels for the animals and fruits on their map.
It would be lovely to see a photo of this activity.
- Why not get moving and try BBC let’s move ‘Handas Hen’ Dance.
- Kye kye kule Can you join in with this African call and response song.
- Listen to some traditional African music– what instruments can you hear? How might you move to this music?
Links to recommended Websites and Apps
Twinkl Homelearning hub Lots of downloadable resources to support home learning
Numberblocks Series 2 We all love numberblocks. Series 2 includes some of our recent mathematical learning
Todo Math – a free App with lots of games to practise number skills.
Number gym see the instructions here
Purple Mash
Home learning logins below are accessible from this page https://www.purplemash.com/sch/henleaze
Username class12019 Password cat
Username class22019 Password dog
Username class32019 Password ant