Morning everyone, 

 

I hope you've all had a really lovely Easter holiday and managed to get up to lots of different things at home.  I must say I've enjoyed the break, and the beautiful weather has made things so much happier.  I've kept up with Joe Wicks every day, as have many of the other teachers at school, and now don't ache all the time - hooray!  I have spent a large chunk of my time planting and tending to my seeds and now have lots of green shoots and seedlings all over the house, greenhouse and garden. More of that to do today.   I'll take some photos later to show you.  We've also managed to get out for long walks and bike rides which have been really enjoyable, and my big girls have finally ventured out of their rooms and into the garden a lot more, with badmington and Frustration being favourites in our household.   All the staff at school stay in touch regularly via WhatsApp and we have started quizzing together on a Thursday evening which is a lot of fun.  I noticed there is a children's quiz on a Saturday so perhaps you could give that a go with some of your friends as I know some of you have been face timing.  I've also been playing my ukulele via zoom with my ukulele group which is a little different but really enjoyable.  And also there is a YouTube channel called "The Shows Must Go On!" which screens theatre shows on Fridays for 48 hours.  I watched Phantom of the Opera on Saturday which I thoroughly enjoyed - keep an eye out in case they show any children's shows.  

 

Thank you for all the emails you've sent in over the break and before - I really do enjoy seeing all your photos of you doing different things and hearing about the things that you've been up to - they bring a massive smile to my face and lift me for the day.  If you haven't been in touch recently, or at all, do send a few photos through, I'd love to see them, and I can add them to the gallery for others to enjoy too.  Please check the gallery as it does expand and change daily.  

 

So it's the first day of the new summer term and hopefully we are all ready and raring to go.  We need to keep doing our letters and sounds most days but I will squeeze a piece of writing in every week that I would like you all to have a go at and send over to me.  This week it will be set on Tuesday but if Tuesday is not a good day for writing in your household, then do it at a time when it fits in better. We can ALL write something with a bit of help so show your adult what you CAN do and feel proud of yourselves when you have finished.  I hope the reading is still happening regularly.  If it's taken a bit of a back seat over the last two weeks then let's get it going again today if possible.  Remember, you have all the Bug Club stories you can access on-line as well as your books from school.   

 

So I'm looking out my window now at a big tree with bright green leaves swaying in the breeze, no sign of winter anymore, lots of signs of spring and the forthcoming summer, and a magpie has just swooped down and landed on a branch - it's going to be sunny again but looks a bit chilly, so maybe put something warm on for the morning.  My youngest daughter has convinced her dad that it is the right weather for the pool to go up (as sunshine is forecast for the rest of the week) so I believe that is on the agenda for today in our household - it takes all day and all night to fill up and I know it will be absolutely freezing to get into - she can play in it on her own for the time being and I will just watch!.     I hope you enjoy all the activities today.

 

Parents, it really does look like you are all pulling out all the stops so give yourselves a massive pat on the back too. Be careful not to burn yourselves out and make sure you include lots of down times for you and the children.  If an activity is not going well, abandon it for the time being.   I do appreciate that many of you have to work at home and juggle other little and big brothers and sisters as well, not to mention all the other day to day stuff that has to happen for a home just to exist.  So take care of yourselves as too.

Letters and Sounds

Practise all of your sounds cards.

Look at the digraph "ow" - copy it down a couple of times.  Sound out the word "cow" - c- ow.  See if you can write it, you will need a caterpillar c.

Watch the two Jack Hartman songs for the words come and some.  They are very similar - join in with them both and then see if you can write both the words.

Watch the Alphablocks video for the "ur" sound and then the Epic Phonics video on ur.  See if you can write one of the sentences from the video and then check.

Play phonics bingo using the ICT games website.  Click on the number 3 and select "ur" and "ow" as two options and then one other option of your choice. (I noticed that clicking on 'ow' brought up 'oi' words and vice versa so watch out for that!). Then print off the bingo cards if you are playing on a computer (by pressing on printer picture at bottom)  or copy out some of the words listed on to your own home made bingo cards if you are on an ipad. You can then press the green word go for different words to appear one at a time.  The instructions on how to play and print are further down the screen, below where you choose the sounds from.  

Number Time

Right, pretend it's your turn to sit on my chair and be the teacher and lead the counting.  Can you lead your family to count all the way to 30?  Use your hands to make the rainbow arcs like we do in class.  Then have a go at counting back from 15 to 0 - it's tricky!  Then see if you can take it in turns to say a number that is one more than a number - how high can you go?  Then have a go at saying a number that is one less than a number, now that is tricky.  Then have a go at adding 2 small numbers together.  You can do this on your fingers, or use counters, or put one number in your head and count on - have a go at 5 +3, 4+4 and 6+2.  What do you notice is the same about them all?  If you want a harder sum make each of the first numbers a teen number to add on to.

 

Try Day 1 of the Supertato lessons (Summer term, week 1). Building a pea trap - activate the day 1 video to listen to the instructions.  

I've put a link to the Supertato story if you don't have the book yourself.

Farms

We're going to be finding out a little bit more about farms over the next few weeks.  Tell your adult what you know about farms already - adults do ask questions to tease out their knowledge so far - jot down what they say.

 

Have a go at a couple of farm games on your computer/laptop.  (They don't seem to work on ipads - they're quite old games).

 

Game 1 - make a farmyard scene.  Click on the scene maker game.  Use the green cross in the top left corner to bring up a menu of different farm pictures.  There are all different animals and buildings to choose from.  You don't have to use them all and you can use more than one of different things too.  You can drag them around to different positions on the picture and make them look bigger or smaller by pressing the + or - sign.  If you want to label any of the animals/buildings, you can click on the green cross with the paper and that gives you different words to choose from.  Print it off when it's done if you have a printer and stick it in your scrap book with your comments.

 

Game 2 -  Then try game 2.  It asks you where different things are in the farmyard.  Turn down the volume and see if you can read the words - then click where they are on the screen.

 

Enjoy.