Good morning parents and children,
Welcome to today’s Reception home learning.
Communication and Language
Word webs
This activity will help your child build their vocabulary.
What to do:
- Choose a word to start a discussion. I often find when I am reading stories to children a word that we are unfamiliar with always pops up. Below I have suggested some possible words from our Gingerbread Man story.
decided, bellowed, neighed, river, scrambled, unfortunately, gulp
- Write the word in the middle of a piece of paper eg. ‘river’
- Ask your child what he/she knows about ‘river’
- If your child can’t think of anything you could look at a book or Google together and start the discussion from there.
- Encourage your child to lead the conversation and write down his or her ideas linking them together. Perhaps your child could draw some pictures.
- This is a nice activity for you to model writing ‘scribing’. However, you could just sit and chat about your word.
Talking about new words in this way helps your child remember the new words. This because they will be making links between new vocabulary and old vocabulary.
Literacy/Letters and Sounds
Retell the story of the Gingerbread Man
Now it’s time to start using our story map and encouraging your child to retell the story independently. I have posted a transcript of the story on the Memo section of Tapestry to help you guide your child.
Begin by telling the story together. Point to the story map as you retell the story. Once your child seems confident, you can start to withdraw from saying the words. Maybe you can just mouth the words or just keep prompting with the actions. If your child falters in their telling, you can always leap in and keep the story going. Tell your child ‘When I stop you carry on’. The aim is to move from you being the dominant teller to becoming a listener. Your child moves from being the listener to becoming the teller.
Find an audience for the story
The wonderful thing about learning to tell stories is becoming a storyteller and to communicate a story to someone else. Maybe your child could tell their story to a collection of toys. Perhaps even pretend each toy is one of their friends from class. Other ideas are to ring or Zoom a family member or you could set up a theatre performance at home. I’m sure your child would love to use your phone to record their story. As usual, all use of technology with supervision.
Today’s new sound – ‘ee’ (digraph two letters but one sound)
Here’s a video to introduce the sound.
This video supports blending and reading words that include the ‘ee’ sound.
Below is the action for ‘ee’.
Show your child how to write ‘ee’ using the correct letter formation.
Letter formation for ‘e’ can be found in your child’s letters and sounds book.
Encourage your child to ‘have a go’ at writing the ‘ee’ sound.
If your child is ready for a challenge, ask your child to write a couple of words from the following selection:
For extra challenge, maybe your child could write a sentence and draw a picture to accompany the sentence. I expect this may result in some funny pictures!
Maths
Identifying the unit of repeat and describing
Build a tower as an example of a vertical pattern, for example, with coloured or different sized construction bricks. Stop part the way through a unit of repeat to see whether your child can continue it. Ask your child to describe the repetition eg. ‘See if you can find where the pattern begins and ends’ or ‘Count the repeats and show them’. Of course, you could always make your pattern using a different material available at home.
For extra challenge, you could also play a board game, such as Snakes and Ladders, and ask ‘Can you see any patterns here?’
Expressive Arts and Design
Gingerbread Man on the Run
I have posted on the Memo section of Tapestry this fun song. Sing to the tune of ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’.
Reading
Finally, in the absence of your child being able to change their reading books at school, may I recommend the following website.
https://phonicsplaycomics.co.uk/
Click on Comics and start with the Phase 2 comics.
Pat
Sit
A Nap
Rick the Duck
A Bug
If your child can read the Phase 2 comics fluently, with confidence and a good understanding, move onto the Phase 3. Your child hasn’t learnt all of the Phase 3 sounds yet. However, the following comics in the Phase 3 category are suitable if your child is ready.
Pet a Vet
Buzz
I can Spot
Please do not hesitate to ask if you have any questions regarding your child’s reading or any other home activities. Email the School Office or post an observation on Tapestry.
My thoughts are with you and hope everyone is well and keeping safe.
Nicola Palmer