Author: Reception team

We’ve made it to the end of Spring 1! Thank you to our parents and carers for supporting your child/ren with their home learning this term. We’ve received some fantastic photos and observations. We’ve enjoyed catching up with you over phone, email and our zoom sessions.

Please take time to relax, re-charge and switch off from home learning over the half term break. The learning schedule below, is for when we return- week commencing 22 February 2021.

Monday	Book of the week- Click here to watch the story What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson, or read the book if you have it at home. To discuss- Look at the adjectives that are used to describe each animal. How many other adjectives can you think of to describe them? Remember, adjectives are words we use to describe. For example, in ‘hairy hog’, hairy is the adjective. Which pairs of rhyming words could you hear? Which characters were the heroes in this story? Who were the villains?
	Phonics- oo Click here to watch today’s phonics video. Click here to hear the jolly phonics song for oo. Activity 1:  Sorting oo- oo is super tricky. Not only do we have to identify the sound but we also have to decide whether the short or long version fits the word. Have a go at sorting these pictures onto the ‘short sound’ or ‘long sound’ grids. Click here for the card sorting activity. Parents: If unsure of the words the picture cards represent, click here for the answers. If you do not have a printer at home, you could draw a simple table like this: Short oo Long oo           and draw in pictures of objects that have the long/short oo in the correct column of the table. Activity 2: In our phonics lessons, we like to play a game called Please Mr. Crocodile. Have a go at this at home using our new phase 3 sounds qu, ch, sh, th, ng, ai, ee, igh, oa, oo Here are the rules: 1.Write out the sounds on pieces of paper (or print them/ use flashcards if you have them) Lay them out on the floor. 2. Use a piece of blue material to represent ‘The River’ 3. Child asks “Please Mr. Crocodile, can I cross your river?” Adult (crocodile) replies “Only if you give me the sound…” and asks the child to select the correct sound. Will they find the correct sounds and be allowed to cross the river?! Don’t forget to send in pictures of you playing at home!
	Maths- White Rose Maths: Growing 6, 7, 8!- Week 3. Click here to be taken to the correct web page. Choose Session 1- Comparing Height Activity: Click here for today’s activity. If you do not have building blocks or cubes, you can use other objects of the same shape and size. Perhaps you could use tins from the food cupboard, for example.
Tuesday	Phonics- ar Click here to watch today’s phonics video. Click here to hear the jolly phonics song for ar. Activity 1:  Caption writing- Describe the object in the picture: Write a word or sentence about the picture. (Sentence – The rock is hard and smooth. Words – hard, smooth.) Remember to use a capital letter, finger spaces and a full stop. Below are the steps we use to help us with our writing. 1. Say the sentence aloud. 2. Count the words. 3. Segment each word apart from the tricky words. 4. Read your sentence to check it makes sense! Activity 2: Challenge yourself with the phonics bloom flashcard time trial- how many can -you get correct in one minute? You will need an adult to click the tick or the cross. Click here Please select phase 3 and deselect set 11 (the children have not covered some of these sounds yet) There is an option to play again using incorrect or missing sounds- great for recapping those sounds to work on!
	Maths- White Rose Maths: Growing 6, 7, 8!- Week 3. Click here to be taken to the correct web page. Choose Session 2- Comparing Length Activity: Click here for today’s activity. If you do not have playdough, you could measure string, toys or any other household objects.
Wednesday	Phonics- or Click here to watch today’s phonics video. Click here to hear the jolly phonics song for (ee)or. Activity 1: Complete the video activity- writing a sentence/ silly sentence using the pictures. Activity 2: Read and match the captions to the correct picture. You can print these or read them on screen. Click here
	Maths- White Rose Maths: Growing 6, 7, 8!- Week 3. Click here to be taken to the correct web page. Choose Session 4- Measuring Height Activity: Click here for the activity. You will notice that this is a bit of a long term activity, involving planting a seed. If you are able to do this, please do, otherwise keep practising measuring the height of household items, using smaller items you have (remember, the measuring unit objects need to be the same shape and size)
Thursday	Phonics- Tricky word – they Click here to watch today’s phonics video. Activity 1: Tricky word colouring sheets!- Click here and click here Activity 2: Tricky word spotter story- click here click here to find a link to a website blog post, that has some fantastic tricky word activity ideas. Pick your favourite ideas and have a go! We particularly like the look of ‘Tricky word hang-man’ and sticking tricky words to pots and pans that you can hit when you hear the word! Musical words! J
	Maths-  White Rose Maths: Growing 6, 7, 8!- Week 3. Click here to be taken to the correct web page. Choose Session 5- Measuring Time Activity: Click here for today’s activity.
Friday	Understanding the World with Professor Myers; The importance of snot! Click here to watch this week’s video with Professor Myers. -Can you make your own snot experiment at home using the ingredients? Send in a photo. -Make a snot superhero poster to tell everyone how snot helps to protect us from getting poorly.
	Story time- One Day on Our Blue Planet- In the Savannah read by Mrs Wilkins Click here to watch today’s story. Questions to discuss: 1.      Can you remember where Mrs Wilkins told us the Savannah is? Can you find the continent on a map, in a book or on the internet? 2.      What family of animals did the story focus on today? 3.      Which was your favourite animal in the book? 4.      Why is water so precious on the Savannah? Would you find like to find out some more facts on Safari animals? Click here to check out this fact file!

 

Don’t forget to join your Zoom session this week! For this week’s session, we will be doing some ‘Musical Mark Making’ you will need:

-A ribbon or chiffon scarf (something that’s floaty and you can wave around!)

-Some paper and writing tools (pencils or felt tips)

Story Link activities to select throughout the week

Literacy

1. What the Ladybird Heard features a map of the farm. Can you create your own map of a farm and use your phonic skills to add words naming the different features and animals?

2. The Ladybird was very brave and smart to come up with a plan and use her voice to warn the other animals. Can you design a certificate of bravery to award to ladybird?

 

A writing reminder…
How did your child find the writing activity? Remember, it’s okay for things to be spelt phonetically. It is important that your child grows into an independent learner. Encouraging your child to write the words as they sound rather than always spelling them correctly. We encourage the children to use their own skills, rather than copying an adult.

 

Understanding the World

Spring Time; Animals and their babies-

Happy Days! Winter is over and it is now the season of SPRING. Do you know what happens in the season of Spring? Have a chat with your grown up…

In Spring, many baby animals are born. Do you know the name of baby animals? Let’s have a think about the animals in our story What the Ladybird Heard.

Cow, pig, horse, duck, dog, cat

1. First, you could have a go at this ‘What can you see’ video. Click here Which baby animals can you name?
2. Be super researchers- if you don’t know them already, find the names of the remaining baby animals from our story; pig, horse, dog, cat. We speak lots in class about where we can find information, so be sure to tell us where you found your animal facts!

 

Expressive Arts and Design

1. This week’s story takes place on a farm. What animal noises would you hear on a farm? Listen to this song by this week’s author Julia Donaldson click here See if you can sing along. You might even want to add your own animal movements and dance along too!

2.We’d love to see farmyard animal or ladybird pictures and crafts- use any resources you have! Don’t forget to send us a photo. Here are some ideas:

 Physical Development

1. One of our favourite activities! This week, have a go at ‘On the Farm’ Cosmic Yoga.

2. Draw some lines of different patterns on pieces of paper and follow the lines using small objects such as cereal hoops, paperclips or buttons.

Monday	Book of the week- Watch the story Lost and Found or read the book if you have it at home. Questions to discuss- How is the boy feeling when the penguin first arrives at his door? Why does the penguin follow the boy? What does he want? The penguin was lonely… What does it mean to be lonely? How can we help others when they are feeling lonely? What can we do when we feel lonely ourselves?
	Phonics- j Click here to watch today’s phonics video Activity 1: Be a ‘j’ detective! Can you find anything (or anyone) in your house, that has the initial sound ‘j’? Activity 2: Take turns with an adult to play ‘Roll and Read’ (j focus) click here to either print the word mat, or view it on screen. You will need a die or to draw 1-6 dots on 6 pieces of paper and draw at random from a bag. 1.      Roll the dice Match to the correct row. Choose a word on the row and read it aloud.
	Maths- White Rose Maths: Alive in 5!- Week 2. Click here to be taken to the correct web page. Choose Session 1 Activity: Click here for today’s activity. Encourage your child to speak in full sentences when describing the number composition, for example: “There are three frogs in the pond and there are two frogs on the grass. There are 5 frogs altogether” or “There are 4 toys on the bed and there is one toy on the floor. There are 5 toys altogether”
Tuesday	Phonics- v Click here to watch today’s phonics video Activity 1:  Be a ‘v’ detective! Can you find anything (or anyone) in your house, that has the initial sound ‘v’? Activity 2: Here is the link to ‘fishy phonics’ on the Phonics Bloom website- click here Select phase 2, set 5. Try the hard level initially, change to easy if this is a bit tricky.
	Maths- Click here to be taken to the correct web page. Choose Session 2 Activity: Click here for today’s activity.
Wednesday	Phonics- w Click here to watch today’s phonics video Activity 1: Be a ‘w’ detective! Can you find anything (or anyone) in your house, that has the initial sound ‘w’? Activity 2: Write ‘yes’ and ‘no on two separate pieces of paper and put them at either side of the room. Ask your child to read these questions (click here) one at a time and then run to either the yes or the no answer. Encourage your child to point to each word on the screen as they read the question.
	Maths-  Click here to be taken to the correct web page. Choose Session 3 Activity: Click here for today’s activity. If you do not have a printer, draw 5 of anything you like on a piece of paper and cut them out. This will work just as well for the activity!
Thursday	Phonics- Tricky words he/she Click here to watch today’s phonics video Activity 1: Be a Tricky Word Detective! Can you find any tricky words in the books you have at home? Activity 2: Write a sentence using one of the new tricky words. Steps to writing a successful sentence… 1.Think of a sentence. 2. Say the sentence out loud. 3. Count the words in your sentence. 4. Use your phoneme fingers to segment every word. 5. Check your sentence makes sense. 6. Have you remembered a capital letter at the start, finger spaces throughout and a full stop at the end? Activity 3: Rainbow writing tricky words- use a variety of colours to practice spelling all of the phase 2 tricky words.
	Maths- Click here to be taken to the correct web page. Choose Session 4 Activity: Click here for today’s activity.
Friday	Understanding the World with Professor Myers; Exploring Ice- Click here to watch this week’s video with Professor Myers. -Can you carry out the ice experiments in the video from Professor Myers? Remember to make some predictions about what you think will happen first. -Can you draw and label a picture to show what you did?
	Story time- Oi Frog! With Miss Booth Click here to watch today’s story. Questions to discuss- What do you notice about the sounds in the story? (It is a rhyming story) Can you come up with a different animal and rhyming object for them to sit on (that has not been included in the story)?

Story link activities to select throughout the week

Literacy

1. Make a story map of the key events in the story Lost and Found. We practice creating these lots in class.

1. Sometimes, when people lose a pet, they put up posters to help find them again. Can you make a ‘lost’ poster for the Penguin in Lost and Found. Don’t forget to add lots of details describing the penguin, so that the reader knows what to look out for. What does the penguin look like? What colour is it? How big is it?
2. The story doesn’t have any speech in it. Ask your grown up to draw out a speech bubble and pretend you are the boy from the story (perhaps you could draw him next to the speech bubble) Have a go at writing what you think he might have said when he first met the penguin.

A writing reminder

How did your child find the writing activity? Remember its okay for things to be spelt phonetically. It is important that your child grows into an independent learner. Encouraging your child to write the words as they sound rather than always spelling them correctly. We encourage the children to use their own skills, rather than copying an adult.

Understanding the World

Spend some time watching the penguins at Edinburgh Zoo:

https://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/webcams/penguin-cam/

What do you notice about them?

How do they move? (perhaps you can walk like a penguin too!)

Do they like to be alone or in groups?

Do they live on land, in the water, or both?

These penguins are in a zoo. Where can we find penguins in the wild? Ask an adult to help you find this information in a book or by using the internet.

Expressive Arts and Design

1. Build a boat for your toys! You could use any construction toys you have at home (such as lego, duplo) natural or found objects outside, or recycled food packaging. Perhaps you could tell a story about an adventure your toys go on in their brand new boat!
2. Make a ‘Paper Roll Penguin’ You could follow this guide or, if you do not have coloured paper, create your own version using plain paper, the paper roll and colouring pens or pencils!

Physical Development

Get Moving! Join in with this Jack Hartman Penguin Dance: video

Did you know… ‘PE with Joe’ is back? Joe Wicks is hosting his live PE sessions again from Monday 11^th January 2021, 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 9am) You can subscribe to his channel here for alerts. A great way to keep fit at home!

An update on our Home Learning…

This is what you can expect to see on your child’s class news page each week during lockdown.

The learning for week beginning 11.01.21 will be posted on Sunday 10.01.21.  All subsequent weeks will be posted on a Friday evening.

As teachers are also teaching our key worker children in school, these videos may not be from your child’s teacher. However, every Friday the children will be able to enjoy a story read by an adult from their class.

Each week a menu of activities will be presented that can be completed during the week. This menu will relate to the book of the week. The activities will cover all aspects of the Early Years curriculum. There will also be the following screencasts and videos.

Monday	Phonics screencast with follow up activities. Maths screencast with follow up activities
Tuesday	Phonics screencast with follow up activities. Maths screencast with follow up activities
Wednesday	Phonics screencast with follow up activities. Maths screencast with follow up activities
Thursday	A tricky word screencast with follow up activities Maths screencast with follow up activities
Friday	An Understanding the World video with “ Professor Myers” with follow up activities A story read by one of the Foundation 2 (Reception) team, with talk time activities.

As always, your child’s teachers will be available via email for any questions. We will also endeavor contact you by phone once per week, just to check in with you.

Wednesday 06.01.21- Home Learning

Phonics Revisit phase 2 sounds: Revisit phase 2 tricky words: Read the caption:

Maths Recapping up to number 5 Please follow this link and join in with Session 1 today.

Literacy Watch the video of Mrs Allen-Kelly reading Little Penguin Learns to Swim. Click here Have a chat about the following questions: -Which polar animals did little penguin come across in the story? -How was little penguin feeling about getting into the water at the start? -What did little penguin notice about his friends and learning new things? -Can you think of a time when you had to be brave when learning something new?

Physical Activity Take part in the ‘Winter Wonderland’ cosmic yoga video. Great for our bodies and minds!

Hello Reception!

We hope you are all well and ready for a new term of learning, whether you are at home or at school.

Here are some special messages from your teachers…

click here

Here is an example table of what might be posted in a typical week of home-learning for Reception:

Whilst some activities are subject to change, there will always be a phonics, maths and literacy activity Monday-Thursday and a science and story-time activity each Friday.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns:

scholesf2@spherefederation.org

Festive Fun with Rainbow Class!

Please click here to be taken to our special Christmas video. We hope you enjoy it 🌈

Please note, where possible the singing performances have been recorded outside or in a larger space. When recording in the classroom, the room is well ventilated with open windows/ door. Children are encouraged to face forwards during the performance.

Here is some home learning for when you can’t be with us at school.

Remember to send pictures of your child’s home learning to scholesf2@spherefederation.org.

Maths

For this week’s maths learning, we are continuing to learn about the number 5. Spread the activities across the week, at your own pace. For video sessions, your child’s learning will be most effective if you sit with them to pause the clip and check / praise / support your child as the clip moves on.

Sessions 1-3 – White Rose Maths Alive in 5!

 Number 5 picture story

One way that we learn about number bonds and number composition in class, is through number stories. Look at the picture below and ask your child what they notice about the picture (‘There are 5 elves’/ ‘There are 5 presents’)

Next, have a look at the differences and talk about them in full number sentences, for example:

Q: How many elves are wearing trousers, and how many are wearing skirts?

A: There are 2 elves wearing trouses, there are 3 elves wearing skirts. There are 5 elves altogether.

Q: How many elves are wearing belts and how many are not wearing belts?

A: There are 4 elves wearing belts, there is 1 elf not wearing a belt. There are 5 elves altogether.

What other features, questions and number sentences can you come up with?

Phonics

This week we will be continuing to recap our phase 2 sounds.

Watch and join in the Jolly Phonics songs.

(This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.)

Lesson 1– Blending

Read each word by saying the sounds then blending together.

 

Lesson 2– Recapping sementing to write and digraphs at the end of words

 Grab a piece of paper and a writing tool. Ask your child to write the following words- Remind them the think about which representation of the sound they should use at the end of a word:

Lesson 3– Recap Phase 1- listening for blends.

Play ‘eye spy’ together, by sounding out things you can see in the environment. For example:

“eye spy with my little eye, something that sounds like t-a-p” and the child would say “tap”

You can swap roles so your child has a go with both sounding out and blending words.

Lesson 4: These are our tricky words we have learnt so far. They are tricky because we can’t use our phonics to help us read them.

Can you read each word?

Play tricky word pairs. Write the word twice and lay face down. Take turn to find matching pairs of the words. Ensure you both say each word you turn over.

Literacy

This week, we are reading The Jolly Christmas Postman

Lesson 1– Read the book if you have it at home or watch the story below, read by a VERY special reader!

Make a story map of the Postman’s journey. Which characters did he visit along the way?

Lesson 2– In the story, some characters are sent cards. Make your own Christmas card with your own design on the front. Don’t forget the important features:

• We write To and the person’s name, so that the person who the card is for, knows that the card is for them.
• We write From/ Love from, and then your name so the person who the card is for, knows who has sent them the card-you!

Lesson 3- In the story, The Jolly Christmas Postman meets Humpty Dumpty. Can you make a list of things that Humpty Dumpty needs to be repaired and to feel better, after his fall.

Lesson 4- Which is your favourite character that the postman meets in the story? Talk about why they are your favourite. Can you use your imagination to come up with a Christmas adventure for your favourite character? Tell an adult your story and create a story board of pictures.

Topic

Choose some of these activities to complete throughout the week. These are based on our topic – Christmas.  They may spark other interests and ideas that result in other learning opportunities. Let your child lead the learning!

Draw Father Christmas/ Santa Claus- for a ‘star challenge’, you might like to add labels for the different parts of his outfit! Use your own imagination or this drawing tutorial. How to draw a Santa Claus tutorial.

Use some old boxes, packaging and other materials to make a Santa/ Elf or Reindeer headband.

Make some salt dough together using this simple recipe: 2x cups of plain flour 1x cup of salt 1x cup of water Make some salt dough stars that you can turn into decorations!

You can make some great fine motor activities with a few simple house hold items and Christmas decorations: -A kitchen drainer or toy shopping basket. -A string of tinsel -A few baubles -A peg Activity 1 Thread and weave tinsel through the holes in the drainer/ shopping basket. Activity 2 Once the weaving is finished, drop in some baubles with strings attached between the weaves. Use the peg to try and pick up the baubles through the gaps!

Cosmic Kids yoga- Christmas Special!