Category: Our Classes

Good morning parents and children,

Communication and Language

Making predictions

Making predictions can be quite complex for little ones because it involves analysing information and bringing ideas together.  It helps children think about problems to decide what they could do next.  Also, when your child is reading to you, being able to make predictions about the story supports comprehension.

• Read a story together.  This could be a story book or maybe your child’s reading book.
• Read a few pages to introduce the characters.
• At key places, stop and before you turn the page ask ‘What do you think might happen next?’
• When you read the next page ask ‘Was your prediction right?’

If your child needs a little support, ask more direct questions eg. Goldilocks and The Three Bears – ‘Whose house do you think she will find?’ or offer alternatives for your child to choose from.

Literacy/Letters and Sounds

Draw a story map – The Gingerbread Man

Once your child has listened to the story of The Gingerbread Man a couple of times then draw a story map in front of your child.  The maps need to be simple and very clear so that they capture the plot in one go – and can act as a visual reminder. 

Here is an example I created.   

Today’s new sound – ‘ai’ (digraph two letters but one sound)

For a change, I’ve found a different video to introduce the sound.  However, you can always google – Mr Thorne Does Phonics ai – to find out what Geraldine gets up to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQGObQTTR-g

This video supports blending and reading words that include the ‘ai’ sound. 

Below is the action for ‘ai’   – cup one hand over ear, as if hard of hearing, and say ai?

Show your child how to write ‘ai’ using the correct letter formation.

Letter formation for ‘a’ and ‘i’ can be found in your child’s letters and sounds book.

Encourage your child to ‘have a go’ at writing the ‘ai’ sound. 

If your child is ready for a challenge, ask your child to write the following words:

For extra challenge, maybe your child could write a sentence and draw a picture to accompany the sentence. 

Maths

Continuing a pattern – repeating

If you completed yesterday’s maths activity, your child should be able to recognise the repeating aspect of a pattern.  Continue to explore the step explained yesterday if not (recognising patterns).

Now it’s time to continue a repeating pattern.  Begin by starting a pattern using any objects you have available at home (as suggested yesterday).  Ensure that more than two colours and several shapes are used in varied examples and provide examples of different lengths of units of repetition.  Many children will struggle beyond a repetition that involves four items so adjust the complexity of the pattern according to your child.  Continue to encourage your child to describe the features and repetition.

Another opportunity to continue a pattern can be found by printing (manmade stamps, vegetable printing etc.) and finish each other’s creations by finding and repeating the patterns.  This is how you can have a go at printing with vegetables.

Veggie Stamp!

• Select any choice of vegetables to cut it in half (take the opportunity to talk about half).
• Encourage your child to choose 3/4 different vegetables or colours.
• Dip the flat side of each vegetable in paint and stamp onto some paper in a repeating pattern (depending, of course, if you have paint at home).

Thank you for all the observations posted on Tapestry.  I thought I’d celebrate some of our learning once a week, here goes for this week:

Epiphany and scissor skills

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Letters and Sounds/Letter formation

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Reading/special story of the day

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Scribing a story with some child contributions

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Writing for a purpose

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Maths

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Being physical

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Games

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Congratulations children and parents, you’re doing a great job!

Nicola Palmer

Good morning parents and children,

Welcome back to another week of home learning.  This week we are going to start learning the story of The Gingerbread Man, the winner of our vote last week.

May I also take this opportunity to remind parents of the resources recommended on the school website.  Look on the drop down menu under Curriculum/EYFS Support. 

Below is an outline of activities I will provide for this week.  If you’d like to prepare for the cooking activity on Friday, you will need:

A Gingerbread Man cookie cutter
350g plain flour
175g light soft brown sugar
100g butter
1 egg
4 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Ground ginger
Icing sugar and sweets for the decoration

Communication and Language

Understanding which day comes next

A reminder of last Tuesday’s post, make a chart together.  This time include the days of the week across the top.  Monday – Friday in a different colour from Saturday – Sunday. The idea is to help your child learn the days of the week eg. what day comes after, before etc.  This can be partially filled in advance or after each event.  Keep reinforcing your child’s understanding of the day ‘before’/’after’ a given day.

This chart will also really help your child in terms of routine and self-esteem during these unpredictable times.  

Literacy/Letters and Sounds

This week, I have planned some activities to help your child learn to retell a story.  We call it talk for writing.  The idea is to develop children’s ability to imitate the language they need for a story orally, before writing their own versions.   In particular, children begin to learn key words and phrases such as ‘once upon a time’ ‘first’ ‘next’ ‘finally’ ‘suddenly’, ‘however’.  Children learn to use these words in speech so that they have the words in their heads when thinking about what to write. 

Ask your child to watch my video retelling the story of The Gingerbread Man.  The story can be found on the Memo section of Tapestry.  Encourage your child to listen to the story first and try to join in with the actions– hope they enjoy it!  In class, we would tell the story orally with actions each day.  In time, children begin to remember the actions and join in. 

Today’s new sound – ‘th’ (digraph two letters but one sound)

There are two ways to say ‘th’, voiced (as in ‘this’) and unvoiced (as in ‘thin’). 

Here is fun Geraldine the Giraffe video to introduce the sound.  Watch the next video for words your child should be able to read and write.

This video supports blending and reading words that include the ‘th’ sound.

Below is the action for ‘th’   – pretend to be a naughty clown and stick out tongue. Can your child find ‘th’ on their sound mat?  This is quite a tricky sound for children – ask your child to look in a mirror to see their tongue sticking out a little when making the sound. 

Show your child how to write ‘th’ using the correct letter formation.

Letter formation for ‘t’ and ‘h’ can be found in your child’s letters and sounds book.

Encourage your child to ‘have a go’ at writing the ‘th’ sound. 

If your child is ready for a challenge, ask your child to write the following words:

For extra challenge, maybe your child could write a sentence and draw a picture to accompany the sentence. 

Maths

Here is step 5 of our measuring sequence.   

Ordering a small set of objects by a given attribute.

Story sticks

A story stick is such a great activity to do with children during an outdoor trip. It keeps them busy, helps them learn about nature, and provides a memento to take home.  You also need very little in the way of preparation; just some string or sticky tape.

A story stick features items collected whilst on a walk. These might be things like leaves, twigs, flowers, feathers or anything else natural that you find along the way.  All you need to do is choose a stick and attach items from your journey to it using string or wool.  Younger siblings could use a piece of cardboard instead of a stick; this is easier.

Questions you could ask:

• Do you want your story stick to have a theme? For example, a colour, all flowers, all leaves. 
• How long does your stick need to be? Think about how long your walk is!
• What senses does each item stimulate?
• What is the story that your story stick is telling? This could be either a retelling of the journey or let your child’s imagination run wild!

Wishing you a great day.

Nicola Palmer

Good morning parents and children,

What a busy week we’ve had!  Thank you again for all your observations on Tapestry.  I’ve been so impressed by the children’s enthusiasm and parents’ energy.  

I have now organised Zoom meetings for different groups of children. Please look on the Memo section of Tapestry for your child’s allocated slot.  All meetings are at 9.30 am on Monday, Wednesday or Friday.  This is slightly earlier than originally planned in order to avoid clashes with other online class meetings.

Our Special Story

I would like to begin planning around traditional stories and have opened a poll for your child to vote for the first themed story.   This can be found on the Memo section of Tapestry.  To narrow down the selection, I have picked three options:

The Gingerbread Man
The Three Bears
Jack and the Beanstalk

Please reply to the Memo post to let me know your child’s preferred story. I’ve already had lots of votes in! Thank you.

Letters and Sounds

Today’s new sound – ‘sh’ (digraph two letters but one sound)

Here is fun video which teaches the sound ‘sh’.  Geraldine the Giraffe is a very mischievous character as you will discover.

This video supports blending and reading words that include the ‘sh’ sound.

Below is the action for ‘sh’.  Can your child find ‘sh’ on their sound mat?

Ask your child to articulate the ‘sh’ sound whilst demonstrating the action. 

Show your child how to write ‘sh’ using the correct letter formation.

Letter formation for ‘s’ and ‘h’ can be found in your child’s letters and sounds book.

Encourage your child to ‘have a go’ at writing the ‘sh’ sound. 

If your child is ready for a challenge, ask your child to write the following words:

For extra challenge, maybe your child could write a sentence and draw a picture to accompany the sentence. 

Maths

The next step in our measure learning sequence is that of using the language of heavier and lighter to compare mass or weight.   Exploring that bigger things might not be heavier

Ask your child to compare weights from a selection of objects (a ball, a blown up balloon, a wooden block). Can your child guess which might be heavier/lighter out of a pair? Give your child the objects to feel to see if they can predict which will be heavier or lighter. At this point, notice that bigger objects (like the balloon) might not always be heavier.  A nice trick to play is fill a small box with a heavy object.

If you have some kitchen scales, test the objects and show your child how to measure weight.  Of course, cooking activities are a great way to continue to consolidate this concept.

Internet Safety

Talking to children about online safety is essential because many of them will be using a wide range of technologies in their home environments during this period of lockdown. Technology is becoming an integral part of children’s lives; we know it entertains them, engages them and motivates them.

Childnet.com provides excellent internet safety advice for parents.  Here is a link to activities for children aged from 3-7 years.  The Smartie the Penguin story is a great story to watch with your child and introduces good discussion points.

https://www.childnet.com/resources/online-safety-activities-you-can-do-from-home/for-3-7-year-olds-

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Nicola Palmer

Good morning everyone,

Please accept my apologies if you were unable to view yesterday’s blog. There was a technical issue which I have resolved and it is now available to view.

Here is today’s home learning.  I am also planning to set up Zoom meetings with groups of children next week.  Each meeting will take place at 10.00 am.  Details of your child’s allocated Zoom meeting will be posted via the Memo section on Tapestry.

Personal, Social and Emotional

Feelings game

Children learn to build positive relationships with their friends during cooperative play.  At this time of isolation, you can help your child continue to learn how to build good relationships at home.  I am sure this activity will also help those children with siblings at home.

• You will need three toys such as soft toys or superhero characters.
• Create and act out a short scenario in which the two toys play a chasing game, then bump into each other and fall over.
• The third toy should see what has happened.
• Ask your child, should the third toy go off and tell an adult?
• Ask your child how the characters were feeling at each stage of the story, whether the accident could have been avoided and whether they all behaved sensibly.
• Encourage a discussion about taking care when running, feeling sad or cross when they get hurt but accepting that sometimes accidents do happen.
• Discuss wanting to help each other, telling adults when they need help or solving the problem themselves, feeling happy when people make things better.

• Extend this activity by performing another short act, during which two puppets are playing and a third asks to join in and is refused.  The third puppet should display sadness.
• Again, ask your child to name and describe the characters’ feelings and how they should speak and behave towards each other so nobody is sad. 
• Talk to your child about how they may be able to resolve the problem themselves.  Can they exchange ideas, take turns etc?
• Emphasise that they may always ask an adult for adult and support if somebody is not being kind.
• End the game by acting out the children agreeing on how they can welcome their friend into the game.

Letters and Sounds

Shared writing

A really important role a parent can play in their child’s life is being seen to write and modelling the writing process – scribing. 

• Ask your child to tell you a story.  You may wish to use the puppet stories made in the previous activity for this idea.  Or you could read a favourite story and ask your child to retell the story.  If your child only offers one or two sentences, that’s fine.  Building confidence is most important at this stage. 
• I find that in class children love to see adults writing and will get very excited telling the adult what to write.
• As you write down your child’s story, model sounding out simple words you know your child will be able to ‘have a go’ at.  Pretend, you’re a bit stuck and invite your child to tell you how to write particular words.
• Model looking for tricky words in your child’s word bag to help them learn how to spell tricky words.
• Talk about full stops and capital letters.
• Read back what you have written – model checking for meaning.  Does this make sense?  Model making amendments and changing what has been written.

Your child may enjoy you reading their story to other family members over the phone.  Perhaps you create a story over time and display the different parts as they evolve.  Ask your child to draw a picture to accompany the story.  Maybe you could make a book.

Today’s new sound – ‘ch’ (digraph two letters but one sound) Watch the following video with your child:

Here is a fun song which also teaches the sound ‘ch’:

Below is the action for ‘ch’:

Ask your child to articulate the ‘ch’ sound whilst demonstrating the action. 

Show your child how to write ‘ch’ using the correct letter formation.

Letter formation for ‘c’ and ‘h’ can be found in your child’s letters and sounds book.

Encourage your child to ‘have a go’ at writing the ‘ch’ sound. 

If your child is ready for a challenge, ask your child to write the following words:

Maths

Below is Step 3 of our measures learning sequences – wider/fatter/thicker and thinner.  I am sure many children can easily identify different thicknesses.  However, the key to this learning sequence is to encourage your child to use full sentences when making comparisons.   

I appreciate that many of you will not have playdough at home.  I’ve therefore included a playdough making activity in this blog. 

If you are not able to get hold of any playdough, this activity can be adapted as follows:

• Provide a range of natural materials for your child to compare in terms of thickness.
• Provide a range of construction materials for building towers and structures so your child can explore what makes a structure wider (and extending this to discussing wider tower bases being more stable).
• Provide cubes, Duplo® or Lego® (construction materials which fix together) and explore how to make these models wider/fatter or thinner.
• Offer a range of clothes and explore the fabrics they are made of. Explore whether the thicker materials are warmer.

A little bit of science

Playdough

I thought I would share with you how I make the playdough for the children in class.  It’s a fun activity to do with your child.  I appreciate that you may not have some of these ingredients readily available.  However, if you do have good supplies, this activity lends itself to numerous learning opportunities.  For example, following instructions, conversation, predicting changes and fine motor skills. 

Here is the simple recipe. 

•  1 cup of flour (I usually use a mug)
• ½ cup of salt (use the same mug)
• 1 tablespoon of oil (can be vegetable oil or olive oil)
• 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar
• 1 cup of water (again use the same mug).  Put food colouring in the mug before the water so you’ve got coloured water.  I find half a small bottle of food colouring is a good quantity.   If you don’t have food colouring, don’t worry, it can be white playdough!

Method:

• Put all of the ingredients in a saucepan and mix together.
• Cook on the hob.
• Use a wooden spoon and stir continuously until the mixture begins to bind together.
• I usually continue to stir for a few moments more to ensure the playdough is fully formed.
• Cool the playdough down on a plate and enjoy. 
• At this stage, your child could knead glitter into the playdough to make it a bit fancier.

Please don’t forget to post on Tapestry some examples of your child’s home learning.

Thank you for your continued support and I wish you all a wonderful day.

Nicola Palmer