13 May 2020: Home learning

Can you spot the animals?

Did you have a go at counting all of the animals from Monday’s ‘I spy zoo animals’  activity? Today, we thought that you might like to play another game of I-spy, but this time, your Nursery teachers need your help! Can you help them to find all of the different creatures that are hiding?  Look carefully!

Can you remember which animals you saw? 

• Did you spot the wrinkly elephant that was perched on top of Mrs Beesley’s fence?
• A bouncing bunny rabbit had managed to jump all the way up into the tree at Miss Morris’ house.
• Miss Pennock’s shimmering seahorse wasn’t swimming in the sea, it was driving a little car!
• We’re sure you found the cheeky monkey playing peek-a-boo in Miss Logan’s playhouse.
• Did you see what gave Mrs Long a fright? That’s right, it was sneaky shark hiding behind the shower.

If you enjoyed this, maybe you could have a game of ‘I spy’ at home. You could hide animals or toys, just like we did, or you could play a game of colour I spy.  I spy something that is … red/blue etc..

You could also practise your memory skills and concentration by playing a game of ‘Kim’s game’.  Collect 5-6 items from around your house and put them together on the floor or on a tray. Ask your child to look at them for a short time and then cover them up with a cloth (e.g. tea towel).  Remove an item without your child seeing and then uncover the objects.  Can they spot which object is missing?   This is great fun and children love to play it at Nursery. You can make it harder by adding more objects or reducing the amount of time that they can look for.

Don’t forget to visit our Class Page again on Friday for this week’s Story Time.

Super reading

It was lovely to receive these two videos showing children reading. Please keep reading any chance you get!

Lion and Mouse

Mr Men

VE day pictures and Home Learning

Here are just a few highlights of Home Learning and VE day activities from the weekend.

The Book of Hopes

The Book of Hopes: Words and Pictures to Comfort, Inspire and Entertain Children in Lockdown

I recently came across this amazing collection of short stories, poems, pictures and other things. It’s completely free and contains the works of over 100 famous authors and illustrators including Michael Morpurgo and Jacqueline Wilson.

There’s a range of things to read (in terms of content and difficulty) but each text has been specifically chosen to give children some hope in what is a strange time. The texts are engaging, funny and heart-warming. I definitely recommend checking this book out and reading some as a family.

Although most of the texts seem to be aimed at KS2, many of them could definitely be read to younger children, too. For some of our older children, the texts might not be very challenging. But, that’s OK, too. The point of these texts is about how they make us feel and what we learn.

Enjoy!

Trick shot challenge

For those of you who are proud owners of a trampoline – this might be something that you want to try yourself. I certainly wont be having a go at this, it looks far too dangerous for me! Well done Ava!

Trick shot 1

Trick shot 2

12 May 2020: Home learning

Photos and messages for a Year 1 & 2 slideshow

Part of our home learning post today was a request for a photo of yourself, a drawing, picture or message to add to a Year 1 and 2 slideshow we are making. We can’t wait to share how everyone is. Please send your photo to Mrs Lake : natalielake@spherefederation.org

Keith the Cat with the Magic Hat

We hope that you all enjoyed the long weekend and had some fun for the VE Day celebrations.  This week, we are sharing a story that some of you may know – ‘Keith the Cat with the Magic Hat’ by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet.

Watch it on the link or if you have it at home, read it together. This is a story that has lots of rhyming words in it. Can you hear some of them?

Here are some activities that you can try that are linked to the story.

Creative – Can you make a magic hat or a wand? 

• You could use a hat that you already have and add bits and pieces or you could make a paper hat and decorate it.
• Make a wand from a stick in the garden or roll up some paper to make a wand. What spell would you use to make magic?  We like “Abracadabra” or “Hocus Pokus” in Nursery but you might know a different one. Let us know how you get on, what would your magic spell be?

Reading – Being able to listen carefully is an important skill when learning to read. The game below will help you to listen really carefully. It’s available on www.phonicsplay.co.uk.  This website is free to access at the moment  using the username: March20 and Password: home.

Once you have accessed the website, the game we would like you to play is called ‘Welcome to the zoo‘.  Can you guess which animal is in the crate? Listen carefully to the sounds that you hear. Maybe you could practice making animal sounds yourself.

Mathematics- I spy zoo animals – How many of each animal can you see? Help your child to count carefully. It will be tricky to remember which one you have already counted, so draw a line through them as you go.

Please note- When you open this Twinkl PDF, there is a page to write down how many animals you counted. Don’t worry about completing this part; we don’t expect Nursery children to be able to write digits. Just focus on the ‘I spy’ page and careful counting. 

You could maybe count your own toy animals at home if you have any, or the animals in a book. Count carefully pointing and saying the number name as you go.

Creative – Can you draw a cat?  Use two circles, then add the features. If this is tricky, why not draw the circles for your child to add the legs, ears, eyes and whiskers. Remember to talk about how many you will need to draw.

How many legs has a cat got? Count with your child as they draw on the legs.

Role play – Could you create your own ice cream shop? Paper cones and old yogurt pots could be used for the cones or pots. You could use cotton wool balls, pom poms or play dough for the ice cream. The children could practise their mark making by taking orders and making menus. See how creative you can be; your child will love to help to set this up.

We did a quick search on Google images/Pinterest and there are lots of pictures if you need a bit more inspiration.

Watch – Have you ever wondered how ice cream cones are made? What do you think the ingredients are? Maddie finds out here.

Health and self- care –Encourage your child to put on their own coat and shoes before you go for your daily walk. These self-help skills will really help your child to become more independent. Use the extra time that you have in order to develop this important skill. When we get back to Nursery, we will be amazed at how independent the children have become!

There will be another activity added on Wednesday, so keep a look out for that. We are enjoying seeing your photos, but just an email would be great. Let us know if your child is enjoying the activities or if there is something that they are missing and we will do our best to recreate these on line. Any favourite books for story time on Fridays?

Our email address is scholesf1@spherefederation.org. We would love to hear about what you have been doing. Also we are happy to answer any of your questions too.

Have fun!

11 May 2020: Home learning