Good morning everyone,

it's a bit drizzly today, let's hope the weather man has got it wrong and the sun comes out later.  I was up bright and early today and just nipped out in my garden to pick some sweet peas to put in my kitchen when I heard some very tiny cheeping noises coming from the eaves of my house again.  Yes, the sparrows have had another lot of babies.  Actually, I have just looked up what the proper name for a group of sparrows is and it is a "flutter", isn't that appropriate and rather nice?  Anyway, there is another flutter of baby sparrows, which makes that the third set that have hatched in the same place under the eaves of my house this year.  I shall enjoy watching both parents fly back and forth to the nest to feed their young.  Ooh, and I hope you enjoyed the video which the school sent to you with the newsletter on Friday.  If you haven't watched it, don't forget to take a look.  Have a lovely day everyone.

Letters and Sounds

Practise your sounds by firing phonemes up into the air with Foam Phonemes.  Say the sound and then check by clicking on it when it has landed.  You can rotate the wheels at the sides to find different letters and digraphs.

Practise writing the letter "t" using the handwriting sheet below.  Remember, it's "down the tower and across the tower" and it is a tall letter.  Don't forget it is a straight line down with a curl at the bottom and see if you can sit it on the line.  It's page 7 of the handwriting sheets.

Let's remind ourselves of what a vowel is.  Sing along with the Old MacDonald song.

Watch the powerpoint below which will sound out 4 lettered words that have an extra letter before the vowel.

Now we are going to think about words that start with the st blend.  Can you think of any words that start with this blend, or any that end with this blend - tell your adult.  For the next activity, print out the two sheets of paper below or get your adult to copy out the word endings.  Then write "st" at the start of each word in turn.  Read each word after you have written the st blend and decide if it is real or a made-up word.  If it is a real word,  stick it on a piece of paper with a tick on it, if it is made up stick it on a piece of paper with a cross on it.  If you managed these words OK, try putting the st at the end of words and do the same.

Now it's time to give the first clue for your minibeast brain teaser.  Think about where your minibeast likes to live - is it in a tree, under a rock, in dark places, where it is damp, in long grass, under leaves?  If you're not sure, use google to find out.  Then write it as your first clue under your picture, pretending you are the minibeast talking. For example, you might write, "I live in dark places", or "I like to live under leaves", or "I live in the bark of trees".  Have your sound mat out to help you sound out words and your tricky word mat too to copy down tricky words.  See if you can remember to put a full-stop at the end too.

If you would like to practise your phonics with a teacher, click on one of the links below:

Number Time

Now have a go at the Oliver's Garden Day 2 maths activities - you can play a memory shopping game and discuss how things are grouped and count different amounts of plants and groceries.

Minibeast Activities

This week, we are going to be finding out about minibeasts that like to live near water.  Watch Jess to find out about pond skaters. There is a short clip and then on the second clip, you need to forward to 10 minutes 48 seconds for the start of the programme.

Below is a link to a story all about someone who loves bugs.  Which ones do you love?