Floating and sinking
We hope that you’re having a good week so far. Today, we thought you might like to investigate floating and sinking. You could gather a few items from around the house to investigate which ones float and which ones sink. Alternatively, wait until bath time and investigate in the bath tub!
Watch – We know that some of you love Maddie; here she is singing a song about floating and sinking.
8 July 2020: Home Learning
Phonics
Practise: Learn more about ar with Geraldine.
Read: Add the ‘ar’ digraph to the words and read what they say.
Write: Let’s play quickwrite!
How to play:
1.One player points to (or draws) an ‘ar’ picture.
2.The other player has to write the word that the picture shows.
(car, jar, scarf, shark, farm, sharp)
You could play this game outside with chalk.
A timer to time how quickly your child writes can make it more exciting too!
For more ‘ar’ games here is ‘ar’ bingo.
→Need more of a challenge? Can you help Clem the Clown?
Maths
Literacy
Today we are going to find out about penguins. Watch the links below to learn some interesting facts about penguins.
Can you answer some of the following questions?
- Can penguins fly?
- Can penguins swim?
- How to they stay clean?
- Where do they get their food from?
- What do they eat?
- Who are the enemy of the penguins any why?
- How do the penguins feed their babies?
- How do the penguins protect their eggs?
Challenge: Can you write down some of the facts that you have found out about penguins? E.g. A penguin is a flightless bird and they like to eat fish. You can use the template or make your own.
Let’s get active!
This week is ‘sports week’ and so we will be suggesting daily sports activities that your child can do at home to keep active. Next week, to follow on from ‘sports week’ we will explore how to live a healthy lifestyle.
‘Personal bests’
Can you do the activities below and improve your ‘personal best’ each day?
Email your scores at the end of the week to be in for the chance of a sports certificate!
07 July 2020 : Whole school home learning (Let’s get sporty!)
Whole school sporting activities
7 July 2020: Home Learning
Phonics
→Need more of a challenge? Learn about blends and clusters.
Maths
1.Watch the numberblock 17 and 18 videos.
2.Draw the number 17 and 18 on the floor or make a 17 and 18 sign on paper.
Is the answer 17 or 18 to the following statements?
- I am an odd number.
- I am the bigger number
- I am one big ten and 8 ones.
- I am an even number.
- I am one big ten and 7 ones.
- I like to make arrays.
- Half of me is 9.
- I am the smaller number.
- I can count in 2’s.
→Need more of a challenge?
- Can you count from 0 to 20 by 2s?
- Can you count from 0 to 50 by 5’s?
- Can you count from 0 to 100 by 10s?
- Can you count backwards from 20 to 0 by 2s?
- Can you count backwards from 100 to 0 by 10’s?
Literacy
Book of the week: Lost and Found
1.Listen to the story of the week.
2.Can you make a poster to tell people that you have found a penguin, in case anyone has lost it? You can use the template or create your own.
Some ideas of what to include in your poster?
- A picture of the penguin
- A description of the penguin. What does he look like?
- Where he was found
- How he is feeling
Please email a picture of your poster.
Let’s get active!
This week is ‘sports week’ and so we will be suggesting daily sports activities that your child can do at home to keep active. Next week, to follow on from ‘sports week’ we will explore how to live a healthy lifestyle.
‘Personal bests’
Can you do the activities below and improve your ‘personal best’ each day?
Email your scores at the end of the week to be in for the chance of a sports certificate!
Sports day
Sadly, our favourite events of the year – sports days – cannot take place in it’s normal format this year. However, the next best thing is to take part in a virtual sports day and we’re excited to be joining the West Yorkshire Virtual School Games Sports Day ! There is a live opening ceremony shown here at 10am on Tuesday 07 July and the activities can be completed at any point in the day.
We would love to see the virtual sports day in action so please email any photos of your children taking part and good luck to everyone!
6 July 2020: Home Learning
Phonics
Practise: Practice saying the phase 3 digraphs
Read: Can you read and answer the yes/no questions?
Did you enjoy reading the yes/no questions? Have a go at answering some more.
Write: Can you write your own yes/no question? Email it to us and we can put it on the class news to challenge your friends!
→Need more of a challenge? Have a go at these outdoor phonic challenges.
Maths
This week we are going to learn about the teen numbers 17 and 18. Please watch the videos below.
Mathematical Graphics:
Can you be an artist like numberblock 17 and draw/paint 17 or 18 of something?
→Need more of a challenge?
Numberblock 18 changed himself into different arrays. Arrays are made up of columns and rows.
- Can you show 18 in different arrays?
- Can you count to 18 in twos, threes and in sixes?
- What is half of 18?
- Can 18 be shared equally between more than 2 people?
Literacy
Book of the week: Lost and Found
1.Listen to the story of the week.
The penguin looks sad when it first arrives at the boy’s house and the boy was happy when they first arrived at the South Pole.
At school we like to use adventurous words to make our stories sound better.
2.Can you think of some adventurous word to use instead of sad and happy? For example we could say the penguin was feeling glum and the boy was feeling delighted.
Please send an email to let us know about the adventurous words you have thought of.
Let’s get active!
This week is ‘sports week’ and we will be suggesting daily sports activities that your child can do at home to keep active. Next week, to follow on from ‘sports week’ we will explore how to live a healthy lifestyle.
‘Personal bests’
Can you do the activities below and improve your ‘personal best’ each day?
Email your scores at the end of the week to be in for the chance of a sports certificate!
Sharing a Shell
Whilst going on a big holiday might be less likely this year, we know that everyone loves a trip to the seaside. This week’s story is another of Julia Donaldson’s popular books, it’s called ‘Sharing a shell’.
You can also listen to Julia Donaldson singing the ‘Sharing a Shell’ song here.
Talk about the story with your child. Have you ever visited the seaside and had a look in the rockpools? You may have some photos that you could look at and talk about what you saw whilst at the seaside.
Here are some activities that you could try that are linked to the story.
Listening skills – We might not be able to visit the seaside as much as we’d like to at the moment, but we can still listen to some seaside sounds. Listen to the beginning of the recording and see if you can guess what some of the sounds are.
Fiddly fingers – Can you make a snail out of playdough? Roll a really long sausage shape and then carefully curl it back around to make a snail shell.
If you want to make some shells or sea creatures that you can keep, you could make a batch of salt dough and when it’s dry you can paint them too.
Make a sandcastle – Don’t worry if you don’t have any sand! Have you ever made cloud dough at home? Whilst it can be messy, it’s great fun and very easy to make. All you need is some flour and oil (vegetable oil or baby oil) and to mix them together in a bowl. There’s a recipe here, but you don’t have to add the extras like oranges or cinnamon. Once you’ve made your cloud dough, you can use small pots and spoons (yogurt pots or small containers) to scoop and mould it.
Creative – Have a go at making a flag to go in your sandcastle. You could use a bamboo skewer or find a small stick when you go for a walk. Cut out some paper to make the flag and decorate it with a picture. Will it be a triangle or rectangle shaped flag? Make sure that you keep it somewhere safe so that you can take it to the seaside, the next time you go. You’ll be able to look forward to building a giant sandcastle!
Lego challenge – Build a lighthouse using your Lego/Duplo bricks. How tall can you make it? Is it stable or does it fall over? Here’s a very short clip of Maddie learning about lighthouses.
Role play – Do you like to eat fish and chips at the seaside? You could have a go at creating your own fish and chip shop. Cut out a circle to make a cone and use some dry penne pasta for chips. You could make a fish using some brown cardboard. If you have an old newspaper or magazine, you could use that to wrap them up. Add a note pad to take orders and some money for the customers to pay. Have fun!
Watch – Join Barnaby Bear on his visit to the seaside.
Health and self care – What would you wear to go to the seaside? Being able to get undressed and dressed independently is a really important skill. Encourage your child to get dressed by themselves when you’re not in a rush. Can they put their own shorts and t-shirt on? How about tricky socks?
Sports Week
This week, children’s learning will include lots of health and sports related activities across school. If you’d like to join in as well, we’ve posted a few activities to get you started. Also, watch out for a new post about a fun sports event for the whole school later today.
- We love making obstacle courses at Nursery and we often count how many times children can go around in a set amount of time. Can you make one at home? You could include something to balance along (like our walk the plank activity last week), markers to create a slalom course for children to run in between, a bucket/hoop to throw balls into (or similar items – like rolled up socks!) and try to create something to crawl under or through. Be creative and have fun setting it up! Take a photo of your course and let us know how you get on.
- Get active! Have a go at some activities to raise your heart rate. Try some games involving running, jumping, hopping and star jumps. How does your body feel before the exercise? How about afterwards? What happens to your breathing/heart beat/temperature?
- Talk about other activities that you can do to keep fit and healthy. We know lots of you love to ride on your bikes and scooters. Put your helmets on and go for a ride/scoot!
- As well as exercise, what other things do we do to keep a healthy body and mind? Talk about all of the things we do to stay healthy. You could think about the foods we need to eat to have a healthy, balanced diet. Given the current situation, it’s always a good idea to revisit the importance of hand washing and general good hygiene habits, including looking after our teeth. These are important things to begin to teach young children.
Home Learning Pictures
Next week, we will be hosting Zoom calls for all the children who are still learning from home. If you have let us know that your child would like to be involved, you should have received an email with the date, time and link for your child’s Zoom. If you haven’t, please let us know (scholesf2@spherefederation.org).
This week, Dylan has been super busy creating a dinosaur themed board game. He wanted to share this with everyone. We think its looks super fun and we love how he has added some phonics and maths challenges into the game.
- Land on a T-Rex = move back 4 spaces
- Land on a Diplodocus = move forward 2 spaces
- Land on a Stegosaurus = miss a go
- Land on a Raptor = Pick a challenge card and move forward 1 space if you answer correctly, move back 1 space if incorrect.
- First to the finish line wins!
3 July 2020: Home learning
Phonics
Read: Play tricky word countdown
Write: Write a selection of the tricky words on scrap pieces of paper to help prepare for the game below!
Parents/Carers: you could read the words below and ask your child to write them without looking.
Activity: Play tricky word boo!
How to prepare:
Write some tricky words on scrap pieces of paper.
Fold them up and put them into a cup.
Write the word ‘boo’ on some scrap pieces of paper.
Fold them up and put them into a cup.
How to play:
1.Collect a word out of the cup and read it. Remember to keep the words you read.
2.Take it in turns to take a word out of the cup to read.
3.If you get ‘boo’ put all your words back.
4.The person with the most words wins!
→Need more of a challenge? Can you play word pairs?
Maths
Let’s talk! What if?
This week we have been focussing on developing your child’s communication and language skills through fun, family activities. Your child’s communication and language development is so important. It encompasses speech development, listening skills and understanding.
Use these picture prompts to explore what if? The ideas can be as silly as you like!
What if caterpillars were toothpaste?
What if toes were teeth?
What if butterflies were clothes?
What if zebras had stars and stripes?
What if cats could fly?
You could write your ideas using the writing frames.
Story Time
We loved seeing the photos of your scavenger hunt items. Did you find any tricky to find? Which ones were difficult?
On Monday, we asked you to save your telescope if you made one – you might want to use it during today’s story. Don’t worry if you didn’t make one, you’ll still enjoy the story without one, or you could quickly find a tube that you could use!
Have you guessed which story Miss Backhouse is going to read? It’s about a little boy who loves his telescope and he takes it everywhere with him. Guess what he spots when he goes to the park!
Did you spot the sharks that Timothy saw? Watch the story again and try and join in when he shouts “SHARK IN THE PARK!”
Here are a few activities linked to today’s story if you enjoyed it.
- There are few stories in this series of books. Here is the original ‘Shark in the Park’ story read by the author, Nick Sharratt. There’s a drawing lesson afterwards that might be a bit tricky, but you could have a go at drawing your own sharks. What shape do you need to draw for the fin? Can you draw some zig-zags for the shark’s sharp teeth? Alternatively, here’s a printable shark colouring sheet that you might like to do.
- What can you see in the park? Enjoy a visit to a local park and have a look to see what shapes you can see. Are there any triangle shapes that look a bit like a shark’s fin? You could take your telescopes to see what you can see.
- Watch – If you’re interested in sharks, you can learn more about them with Steve Backshall in these short clips on the CBBC website.
- We know that lots of you love this very catchy song and will have fun joining with the actions at home. Turn it up and have a dance! Andy from CBeebies has also written a rap song about sharks.
- Some of the older Nursery children may notice that the words ‘shark’ and ‘park’ rhyme. Can you think of any other words that rhyme? Listen for rhyming words in stories that you read or you could try giving your child a word and thinking of other words it rhyme with. Start with easier ones such as cat, hat, bat, rat… There’s also a rhyming game called ‘Cake Bake’ on the Phonics Play website and it is still free to play using the login details given on the site.
Home Learning
Another week has ended and we can’t believe that there are just two weeks left until the Summer holidays. We’ve loved reading all of your emails this week, thank you. Please keep sending them for our last few weeks of learning together. Here are a few photos from this week. Can you spot the different items that your friends found in the scavenger hunt? There were lots of smelly socks!
Zoom call
If you contacted us to say that you wanted to take part in our Nursery Zoom call, you should have received the details via email on Wednesday. We’re looking forward to seeing you next week!
2 July 2020: Home learning
Phonics
→Need more of a challenge? Can you help the alien escape?
Maths
Watch the number block 15 and 16 videos.
Mrs Palmer has 15 challenge cubes. She has shown the number 15 in 3 different ways.
Can you show the number 16 in 3 different ways?
→Need more of a challenge? Print the part part whole model or draw your own to show the number 15 or 16 in different ways.
Let’s talk!
This week we will be focussing on developing your child’s communication and language skills through fun, family activities. Your child’s communication and language development is so important. It encompasses speech development, listening skills and understanding. The games this week will focus on these skills to support your child in becoming a good communicator.
What you will need:
- Building bricks e.g. lego or duplo
- Building instructions – pattern instructions OR rainbow instructions
- 2 players – 1 ‘engineer’ and 1 ‘builder’
How to play: The aim of the game is for the ‘engineer’ to look at the instructions and tell the ‘builder’ how to build the model.
Why this game?
This game is a great way to support your child’s communication skills. When being the ‘Engineer’ they are encouraged to really tune into their listeners needs – all whilst giving instructions! When being the ‘Builder’ it is a great chance for your child to practice being a good listener. Responding with relevant comments or questions shows that your child is understanding what the ‘Engineer’ is asking them to do.