Class News

Children’s Mental Health Week

Children’s Mental Health Week is taking place on 1-7 February 2021. This year’s theme is Express Yourself.

Here are some activities and ideas for you and your child(ren) to complete at home together.  You can also download it here.

Expressing yourself is about finding ways to share feelings, thoughts, or ideas, through creativity. It is about finding a way to show who you are, and how you see the world, that can help you feel good about yourself.

As parents and carers, you play an important role in your child’s mental health. Check out the free resources.  

Don’t forget to email your teachers with any photos or messages of your activities about Children’s Mental Health Week.

Thank you!

Week Commencing 01.02.20: Home Learning

Story Link activities to select throughout the week

Literacy

1. In class, use Talk4Writing actions to help us retell and act out the stories we learn. After listening to the story, see if you can come up with some actions. You could get an adult to record you and send it to your class teacher!
   To help you get started, click here to watch an example.
2. Dear Zoo is a ‘lift-the-flap’ book. Make your own ‘lift-the-flap’ book. You could choose your favourite animals to be underneath each of the flaps. Then, write a sentence underneath each flap. For each sentence try to write the name of the animal and a describing word.

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

Choose an animal from the book. With the help of an adult, research and find out information about that animal.
Where is its natural habitat? What does it eat? What does it like to do? When the animal lives in a zoo, what does a zookeeper need to do to look after it?
You could use this website or find one of your own.

Maths
1. Choose two or three animal toys. Go on a hunt around your house for different containers. Explore which containers your animals will fit in. Can you explain why they fit in some containers but not others?

2.Patterns are everywhere! Can you recognise any of these animal patterns? Draw your own animal pattern on a piece of paper.

Expressive Arts and Design
Make a lion mask.

Resources:
Paper plate
1 sheet of yellow and orange paper
Scissors
Glue
Instructions:
1. Cut out the inside of a paper plate, leaving only the outside circle.
2. Cut strips of yellow and orange paper.
3. Glue the yellow and orange paper to the paper plate circle, creating a lion’s mane.
4. Make sure they give a loud ROAR!

 Physical Development

1. Get moving and dance along to these songs!

Animal Boogie

Let’s go to the Zoo

2. Make a paper chain snake. This is a great funky fingers activity!
   Resources:
   Paper (any colours you’d like to use)
   Scissors
   Stapler
   Glue
   Googly eyes
   Instructions:
   1. First, decide on which colours you want to use. You could use two or three colours and try to make your snake a repeating pattern, for example, red, orange, red, orange.
   2. Cut strips of each colour.
   3. With an adult, use a stapler or glue to connect the chains.
   4. Add a head by cutting out a triangle and gluing it to the first chain. You could also add a tail!
   5. Glue googly eyes on the head and add a red tongue, then you’re done!

Zoom

Remote learning 01.02 – Dear Zoo

We hope that you enjoyed the weekend (as much as we can at the moment!) and enjoyed a break from screens and work responsibilities. We love to see your photos and read your emails so please make sure you send us one each week. scholesf1@spherefederation.org

This week, our learning is going to be based on a book that lots of families will already be familiar with, ‘Dear Zoo’ written by Rod Campbell. We’ve saved all of this week’s remote learning ideas to a pdf – we thought that this might be an easier way for some people to view them.

Reading

• Before you read the book, ask the children if they are familiar with it. Have they read it before? Can they remember what the story is about?
• If you have a copy of the book, as you’re reading, pause each time for children to guess what animal is next.
• Listen to the story a few times and encourage your child to join in with the words that are repeated. Once they’re familiar with the book, use the pictures to have a go at retelling the story using the repeated pattern of words. “So they sent me a_____. He was too ____. I sent him back.”
• What do you think would be a good pet to have? Why? Can you think of any animals that wouldn’t make a good pet?

Phonics

Listening to rhymes and being able to keep a simple beat are all important elements of our Phase One phonics teaching in Nursery. Here’s a new rhyme to learn all about going to the Zoo. Watch this video and join in with drumming the beat at home. You’ll need something to bang like a drum so see what you can find at home, a pan/box and wooden spoon work well!

1,2 We’re going to the zoo. 

3,4 crocodiles by the door.

5,6 Monkeys doing tricks!

7,8 Lions at the gate.

9,10 Elephant’s stomping in his pen.

Do you remember our ‘Guess the animal’ Key Worker game? Here’s another one for you to try; we need to keep practising our listening skills!

 Mark-Making

• Have a go at drawing your own pet or an animal that you would like to have as a pet. Think carefully about what it looks like. Does it have big, floppy ears? Does it have legs?
• In the Key Worker video this week, some of the teachers have drawn patterns on a snake. Draw a snake outline yourself, or ask a grown up to help, and have a go at adding your own patterns. Will it be a spotty or stripy snake?
• You could have a go at making your own ‘Dear Zoo’ book. Draw some pictures of different animals (or print some pictures if you prefer and have a printer) and then cut out some flaps to stick over them. Have a go at telling your own version of the story! We’d love to see it – send us a photo or video of you reading your book.

Mathematics

Do you remember learning about shapes during our ‘Zog’ themed week? This week, we’re going to continue learning about shapes. First, watch this shape video to remind yourself of the names and properties (such as the number of sides and corners) of the basic 2D shapes (circle, square, rectangle and triangle).  Then, draw one of each of the shapes on a piece of paper and go on a shape hunt around your house.

• Can you find each of the shapes? If you find more than one, you could put a tick or tally on your sheet. Which shape did you find the most of? We’d love to see some photographs of the shapes that you find.
• Next time you go for a walk, try and spot some shapes along the way. What shape are the road signs?

Extension ideas

– Have a go at feeding the ‘shape monsters’ on this Topmarks game.

– Do you remember creating a repeating colour pattern? Ask a grown up to help cut out some different shapes. Have a go at creating a repeating shape pattern with just 2 shapes. Circle, square, circle, square, circle…. What would come next?

– In Nursery, we often use different objects to investigate what shape they make when we dip them in paint and print with them. Find some objects (eg. a tin, Duplo brick, a small cardboard box – like a toothpaste box) and pour a bit of paint onto a plate. Dip the object in and then print with it! What shape can you see?  (You could use these to print a repeating pattern, too.)   Are there any shapes that are tricky to find?

Creative

• What is your favourite animal from the story? Have a go at making it using boxes and other recycling materials that you may have.
• In the story, each of the animals was delivered in a different shaped box or container. Find your favourite animal toy and have a go at making it a home. What would it need to be comfortable? What size and shape would it need to be?
• If you have some toy animals, you could make your own small world area. You might use Duplo bricks or you could go outside and collect some leaves, sticks and pebbles to add to a tray or an empty shoebox.

https://entertainyourtoddler.com/safari-small-world-play/ – Photo credit

• Here’s another of the songs that we enjoy listening to before lunch time – Walking through the jungle.

 Understanding the World

• Have you ever been to a safari park or zoo? What did you see? Whilst it’s not possible to visit animals at the moment, you could watch some snippets from the virtual tours on Chester Zoo’s website and find out about meerkats and giraffes. (The information from the Keeper is quite tricky for Nursery children, but your child may enjoy just watching and talking to you about the animals they can see in the video). In Nursery, we often talk to children about why some animals are looked after in wildlife parks and where the animals would normally live, in their natural habitats.
• In the ‘Dear Zoo’ story, the boy wanted a pet. Do you have a pet? If you have a pet, talk about how you look after it and what it needs to be healthy. If you don’t have a pet, which animal would be a good pet for your family? Would you be able to look after a pet and give it everything that it needs?
• Are you ready for some quiet time? Find out about different pets in an episode of My Pet and Me.

 Physical Development

Fiddly Fingers

We’re going to make our own snakes in this activity, so you’ll need some small strips of paper and some glue.  Show your child the picture and talk about how to make the snake. Look carefully at how the body is made. They might remember making paper chain decorations in Nursery before Christmas.

Make a paper chain, linking each strip of paper together and then make a head to add on at the end. How long will your snake be?  Linking the paper strips is a great way to get your child moving their fingers and hands to increase dexterity.

Movement

We love to have a good boogie at Nursery and dancing is a great way to get us all moving in different ways! Join in with the Animal Boogie at home and have a go at some of the actions.

Movement play is really important in Early Years; it helps children to develop and strengthen connections between their body and brain. These connections lay important foundations for children’s future learning and development. We encourage all kinds of movement in Nursery, including crawling like animals and laying on the floor to slither like snakes – just as this song encourages children to do!

 Independence skills

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been trying to encourage you to help your child to become more independent, ready for their return to Nursery. We’ve been practising getting our coats on and fastening zips, putting on our own gloves and how to blow our own nose.  This week, we’d like you to have a go at putting on and taking off your own shoes. This is where Velcro or elasticated fastenings make it much easier!

If your child is already confident at doing this, can they put their own socks on? Have a go and see!

Key Worker activity and videos

For this week’s Key Worker activity, you’ll need some paper to draw your own snake or a snake outline and some crayons or colouring pencils/pens.  Watch the video to see how each of the teachers draws a different pattern onto the snake’s body. When you’ve finished watching, have a go at your own.

Key Worker video – Snake patterns

Here’s another activity for you to join in with – you’ll need two wooden spoons or utensils. It’s a song you might already know, all about ‘Going to the zoo’ and afterwards, you can learn some signs for some of the animals that you might see if you went on a trip to the zoo!

Key Worker song- Going to the zoo

Video –  Zoo animal signs

Friday Story Time

This week’s story time is with Mrs Gosper. She’s going to read ‘What a Mess!’ by Adria Meserve. Find a comfy spot to sit and enjoy the story!

Story – What a Mess!

Zoom sessions (for children learning at home)

This week, we’re going to do a ‘Scavenger hunt’ with the children. They’ll need to listen carefully to what they have to find and may need a bit of support to go and find the item and to return to the camera to show us.

Home learning in different ways

We have had some lovely pictures of children learning in different ways this week like refining problem solving skills, being aware of environmental issues, working on fine and gross motor skills and measuring. There has been word searching, litter picking, baking, bike riding, painting,  mosaic making and operating a digger!

Home Learning Warriors!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week. I am massively impressed by how many children are staying so dedicated to their home learning. Some aren’t always finding it easy, but you are all showing resilience and perseverance – well done!

Thank you to everyone who sends their work in. I love seeing what you are getting up to at home and it looks like you are enjoying the home learning.

Charlie has sent his report in about Covid 19. I like the fact that he has thought about the layout and presentation of his report. It shows great awareness of audience and purpose.

William has sent in his amazing illustration of an alien. He has really thought about his vocabulary choices. I particularly like the ‘puddle of drool.’

James has been working hard on producing some information about sea defenses, following Mr Freeman’s lessons this week.

Jessica has put a massive amount of effort into her writing this week and has produced an amazing report about her new planet. I like the vocabulary choices and the presentation, as well as the illustrations. Well done.

Imogen sent in her writing skills work. She had a go at producing a sentence tree and completed 15 lines – amazing! That’s definitely beaten my score.

Again, thank you to everyone for sending your work in. Make sure you remember to go on TT Rockstars as much as possible and find a quiet time in your day to do a bit of reading too. If you haven’t been on any Zoom meetings with your teachers yet, please get yourselves on there. We love to see your smiling faces. I have some children that attend daily and it cheers me up massively to have a chat with them.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Get out for some fresh air, do some baking and make sure you have a giggle at some point.

Take care.

Remarkable Writing

From Mr Owen, who’s leading the Y5,6 home learning writing sessions…

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share some of the fantastic writing that’s been happening in Y5 and Y6 recently, both at home and in school. Children have been creating their own planets, including maps and loads of links to geography learning. Classes in Moortown, Scholes (Elmet) and St James’ have all been working on the same projects, and the end products look great! Children should be really proud of what they’ve created.

Here are just some of the great examples that I’ve been sent. If you’d like to send yours in, I’d love to see it! (Send me an email – davidowen@spherefederation.org)

In St James’… How awesome is this?

In Moortown, Y6… What a great effort!

In my class: Moortown, Y5… This one even had an accompanying video!

This one included lots of the things we’ve been working on recently and included great vocabulary:

Scholes (Elmet) children have been really creative too…

At St James’ again… Working hard to create amazing planets!

Amazing presentation, fantastic ideas and great writing skills on show!

Awesome Writing

Check out these great examples of the main news section of a news report (from our writing: texts lessons this week). We looked at these, and celebrated these, during our daily Zoom yesterday. I’m sure you’ll agree they’re pretty impressive!

Wow! You could read either of those in a paper or online – well done!

This news post might remind us of two really important things:

1. Your class teacher wants to see your learning – particularly your writing. Send it in to us so we can give you feedback, either individually or during our daily Zoom.
2. Don’t forget to join our daily Zoom. It means you can share / celebrate your learning, get feedback about some learning you’ve completed at home or, perhaps most importantly, catch up with your friends. If you join in, I guarantee you’ll feel happier, healthier and more motivated.

Volcano Alert!

Volcanoes

This week, we’re really enjoying our Natural Disasters topic work on volcanoes.  Children have been reading First News articles in reading skills lessons, and creating their own volcano news article in writing lessons.

In topic, we’ve been learning about the layers of the earth and how volcanoes are formed.

Some families have made their own volcanoes from paper mache and real-life lava!

If you want to try this at home as a fun, craft activity, follow these links:

Make the volcano 

Make the lava

We love to see what you’re doing – please email your teacher with photos or messages of your creations. Thank you for your continued support!

Week Commencing 25.01.20: Home Learning

Story Link activities to select throughout the week

Literacy

Can you write a recipe for Gruffalo Crumble?  Write a list of all of the ingredients you will need. Think about the things that the mouse might find in a deep dark wood.

Can you make a sign to warn people about the Gruffalo ? What would you write on your sign? Think of some interesting warning words.

Can you draw and label a map of the mouse’s journey through the deep dark wood? Who did he meet first in the story? Where did he find the owl?

Understanding the World

Find out about owls and some other birds of prey by watching Andy’s Secret Hideout.

Can you find out some more interesting facts about owls?

Do you have any dried spaghetti at home? How does it feel, is it hard or soft?  Adults could you cook the pasta and watch it with your child. Talk about the changes. How does it feel once it has been cooked? Now you have your own bowl of scrambled snake to enjoy.

Expressive Arts and Design

Can you make a Gruffalo or a mouse headband? Use some paper and sellotape then colour it in. You could then act out the story. Are you going to be the mouse or the Gruffalo?

Physical Development

Using your fiddly fingers thread some tubes of pasta onto a piece of string, ribbon or an old shoelace. Can you add on eyes and make your snake slither around?

If you haven’t got any pasta you could make a paper chain snake or cut out a spiral snake from some paper.

Cosmic yoga – Here is a cosmic yoga video that links to owls. It tells the story of Tallulah the owlet. We really enjoy cosmic yoga at school and we hope that you do at home too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aje33UPixE&t=552

Online Gruffalo Activities

Click here and play some Gruffalo games.

Monster maker – make your own Gruffalo – choose your own face, body and legs. What would you call the new Gruffalo? If you have access to a printer you can print it out and colour it in.

Hide and Seek – play the matching game with the Gruffalo cards.

Menu matcher – is a short quiz about the Gruffalo story.

Zoom Meetings

We really enjoyed seeing and chatting to the children who were able to join our Zoom sessions last week. The Zoom session you were invited to is a recurring session during term time.  Please join at the same day and time with the link that you were sent.

W/C 25.01.21 Be ready for a ‘Scavenger Hunt’. We will ask you to go and find different things in your house to show and chat about.

W/C 01.02.21 We will ask your child to join in Dough Disco during the Zoom call. Please could you have some play dough ready. Here is a simple recipe to make your own if needed.

Have a brilliant week of learning and fun! Remember to email photographs of learning to scholesf2@spherefederation.org

Remote Learning 25.01 – Goldilocks and the Three Bears

This week, our learning is going to be themed around the well known traditional tale, ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. If you have a copy at home, read it together before starting the activities. If you don’t have a copy of the story, you can listen to it using this link.

Reading

• Have you heard this story before? Can you remember what happens?
• What do the Bears say each time they find something else that Goldilocks has touched? “Someone’s been eating/sitting/sleeping…” Try to encourage your child to join in with the repeated phrases as you read the story.
• Once you’ve heard the story a few times, have a go at re-telling the story. This is an important part of the Early Years reading curriculum and we often use pictures and props to help us re-tell stories. Do you have 3 teddy bears that you could use to retell the story at home? You could find 3 different sized bowls and spoons too. If you’d like to make some story props instead, and you have a printer, you can download some printable ones here.
• If you have the CBeebies Story Time App, you can download the story to read, too. Details on how to download the App are available on the link.

Phonics

A couple of weeks ago, we asked you to make some sound effects linked to ‘Zog’ using your voice. In Nursery, we use voice sound cards during group time to make different noises. Have a go at home and see if you can think of some more sounds. What would Little Bear say when he sees his chair has broken? What does Goldilocks say when she tastes Little Bears porridge?

If you’d like to continue learning about ‘Voice sounds’, here’s a video link to a voice sounds game with a cheeky character, Felix! At the end of the video, there’s a funny face paper plate craft activity too.  You could play the same game at home and make or print some picture cards.

• If you’d like to continue learning about ‘Voice sounds’, here’s a video link to a voice sounds game with a cheeky character called Felix! At the end of the video, there’s a funny face paper plate craft activity too.  You could play the same game at home and make your own picture cards (or print some).

 Mark-Making

• • Can you draw a picture of Goldilocks? Make sure you give her lots of long, golden curls. If you like to paint, you could paint a picture of your favourite teddy bear.
  • How many bears are in the story? Try to draw a big bear for Daddy Bear and a smaller bear for Baby Bear. What size would Mummy Bear be?
  • Where do the Three Bears live? Draw a picture of their house. What shape are the windows and door?

Mathematics

• Ask your child to help you find 3 different sized bowls and spoons. Which is the biggest? Smallest? Arrange them in size order.

• Watch this week’s Key Worker video. Create your own repeating colour pattern using Duplo or Lego bricks. Keep it simple, just pick two colours.

Extension ideas

– You might have a threading set at home or some coloured beads. Can you make a repeating colour pattern using the buttons or beads?

– Create a repeating pattern using pictures or objects instead of colours. Remember to keep it simple, choosing just 2 different items. E.g.  Apple, carrot, apple, carrot, apple…

Creative

• • This activity is always a big hit in Nursery, but it is messy! Use your different sized bowls and spoons and put them inside an empty plastic storage box/tray to catch some of the mess. Add some porridge oats (or some rice crispies/rice/pasta) to the bowls for your child mix, scoop and pour the oats. Children love to scoop and pour in our sensory area – it’s easily swept or vacuumed up at the end of the day. We usually use dry ingredients, but you can add water if you want to add to the sensory play experience (and mess)!

• Make your own porridge together and taste it. What does it taste like? Do you add anything to your porridge? Does it make it sweeter?
• Need some quiet time? Grab a drink and some fruit and snuggle on the sofa to watch this CBeebies ballet version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
• In the story, Goldilocks thinks that one bed is too soft and one is too hard. What does this mean? Can you find any objects in your house that are soft and hard? What other words could you use to describe the texture of items? Rough, bumpy, smooth, furry etc.
• Here’s another of the songs that we enjoy listening to before lunch at Nursery.

 Physical Development

Fiddly Fingers

This is linked to our ‘Independence’ activity this week. What can you find that uses a zip? For example: Zip-lock bags,  purses/wallets, bags, pencil cases, wash bags, jackets and clothing. Allow your child time to investigate ‘zips’ and how they work. If you have an old bag or purse/wallet, let your child use it in their role play at home – they love to fill them with items and incorporate them into their play. Becoming familiar with how zips work, and learning how to use them in a range of contexts, will help them progress onto eventually fastening their own coats.

Movement

Get a few pairs of socks and roll them into a balls. Cut out some different sized spots (big/small) using paper and spread them out on the floor. Ask children to aim at the spots. Did it land on the big or small spot? How many are on the big spot? If the bowls you chose for the maths activity aren’t breakable, you could aim into Daddy Bear’s bowl instead!

 Independence skills

Next time you go out for a walk, make sure you allow some extra time for your child to put their own coat on. If they can already do this, encourage them to do their own zip up. This is a really important skill and one which we would be teaching daily at Nursery. If you’d like a few ideas on how to help, there are some hints and tips available on the links below – check which are appropriate for your child.

• Putting coats on – Scroll to the bottom of the web page for 2 video clips. In Nursery, we usually start by putting our hoods on first and then finding the arm holes. We don’t always have much space for ‘through the rabbit holes’ and flipping coats over our heads, although children love to do it this way!
• Zips fact sheet – Here’s a fact sheet with a few ideas or you could watch this video clip that shows small steps in teaching children how to use zips. In the video, the lady refers to the zip as ‘food’ and a ‘mouth’. In Nursery, we often call the zip the ‘train’ and put it into the ‘station’ so it can run up the track.

Key Worker activity and videos

In our Key Worker activity this week, Mrs Beesley has some bears that she needs your help to sort. We’ve done a similar activity in group time before so see if you can remember what to do. When you’ve watched the videos, have a go at sorting some of your own toys, such as Duplo bricks or cars. Maybe you’ll have a tin of Quality Street left over from Christmas that you haven’t eaten yet and you could sort the sweets! (You don’t? We’re surprised!)

Key Worker activity – Bear sorting

Key Worker Song – When Goldilocks went to the house of the Bears

 Friday Story Time

Miss Morris is going to read this week’s story, which is also about a bear. In this story, the little bear is trying to learn the names of different colours. It’s called ‘Wobble Bear says Yellow’ and is written by Ian Whybrow.

Zoom sessions (for children learning at home)

This week, in our Zoom Key Worker sessions, we’re going to sing some of our favourite Nursery rhymes. Join in at home and sing a-long to the rhymes with Mrs Gosper; she loves music and rhymes!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Incy Wincy Spider

I’m a Little Teapot