F1 Home Learning: Week 5
This week, our learning is going to be based on a book that lots of families will already be familiar with, ‘Dear Zoo’ written by Rod Campbell.
We’ve saved all of this week’s remote learning ideas to a pdf as we thought this might be an easier way for some people to view them.
Zoom
Don’t forget Wednesday’s Movement Zoom at 11am! Get ready to move and groove to some of our favourite songs.
| Reading · Before you read the book, ask the children if they are familiar with it. Have they read it before? Can they remember what the story is about? · If you have a copy of the book, as you’re reading, pause each time for children to guess what animal is next. · Listen to the story a few times and encourage your child to join in with the words that are repeated. Once they’re familiar with the book, use the pictures to have a go at retelling the story using the repeated pattern of words. “So they sent me a_____. He was too ____. I sent him back.” · What do you think would be a good pet to have? Why? Can you think of any animals that wouldn’t make a good pet? |
| Phonics Listening to rhymes and being able to keep a simple beat are all important elements of our Phase One phonics teaching in Nursery. Here’s a new rhyme to learn all about going to the Zoo. Watch this video and join in with drumming the beat at home. You’ll need something to bang like a drum so see what you can find at home, a pan/box and wooden spoon work well! 1,2 We’re going to the zoo. 3,4 crocodiles by the door. 5,6 Monkeys doing tricks! 7,8 Lions at the gate. 9,10 Elephant’s stomping in his pen. Do you remember our ‘Guess the animal’ Key Worker game? Here’s another one for you to try; we need to keep practising our listening skills! |
| Mark-Making · Have a go at drawing your own pet or an animal that you would like to have as a pet. Think carefully about what it looks like. Does it have big, floppy ears? Does it have legs? · In the Key Worker video this week, some of the teachers have drawn patterns on a snake. Draw a snake outline yourself, or ask a grown up to help, and have a go at adding your own patterns. Will it be a spotty or stripy snake? · You could have a go at making your own ‘Dear Zoo’ book. Draw some pictures of different animals (or print some pictures if you prefer and have a printer) and then cut out some flaps to stick over them. Have a go at telling your own version of the story! We’d love to see it – send us a photo or video of you reading your book. |
| Maths Do you remember learning about shapes during our ‘Zog’ themed week? This week, we’re going to continue learning about shapes. First, watch this shape video to remind yourself of the names and properties (such as the number of sides and corners) of the basic 2D shapes (circle, square, rectangle and triangle). Then, draw one of each of the shapes on a piece of paper and go on a shape hunt around your house. · Can you find each of the shapes? If you find more than one, you could put a tick or tally on your sheet. Which shape did you find the most of? We’d love to see some photographs of the shapes that you find. · Next time you go for a walk, try and spot some shapes along the way. What shape are the road signs? |
| Extension ideas – Have a go at feeding the ‘shape monsters’ on this Topmarks game. – Do you remember creating a repeating colour pattern? Ask a grown up to help cut out some different shapes. Have a go at creating a repeating shape pattern with just 2 shapes. Circle, square, circle, square, circle…. What would come next? – In Nursery, we often use different objects to investigate what shape they make when we dip them in paint and print with them. Find some objects (eg. a tin, Duplo brick, a small cardboard box – like a toothpaste box) and pour a bit of paint onto a plate. Dip the object in and then print with it! What shape can you see? (You could use these to print a repeating pattern, too.) Are there any shapes that are tricky to find? |
| Creative · What is your favourite animal from the story? Have a go at making it using boxes and other recycling materials that you may have. · In the story, each of the animals was delivered in a different shaped box or container. Find your favourite animal toy and have a go at making it a home. What would it need to be comfortable? What size and shape would it need to be? · If you have some toy animals, you could make your own small world area. You might use Duplo bricks or you could go outside and collect some leaves, sticks and pebbles to add to a tray or an empty shoebox. · Here’s another of the songs that we enjoy listening to before lunch time – Walking through the jungle. |
| Understanding of the World · Have you ever been to a safari park or zoo? What did you see? Whilst it’s not possible to visit animals at the moment, you could watch some snippets from the virtual tours on Chester Zoo’s website and find out about meerkats and giraffes. (The information from the Keeper is quite tricky for Nursery children, but your child may enjoy just watching and talking to you about the animals they can see in the video). In Nursery, we often talk to children about why some animals are looked after in wildlife parks and where the animals would normally live, in their natural habitats. · In the ‘Dear Zoo’ story, the boy wanted a pet. Do you have a pet? If you have a pet, talk about how you look after it and what it needs to be healthy. If you don’t have a pet, which animal would be a good pet for your family? Would you be able to look after a pet and give it everything that it needs? · Are you ready for some quiet time? Find out about different pets in an episode of My Pet and Me. |
| Physical Development Fiddly Fingers We’re going to make our own snakes in this activity, so you’ll need some small strips of paper and some glue. Show your child the picture and talk about how to make the snake. Look carefully at how the body is made. They might remember making paper chain decorations in Nursery before Christmas. Make a paper chain, linking each strip of paper together and then make a head to add on at the end. How long will your snake be? Linking the paper strips is a great way to get your child moving their fingers and hands to increase dexterity. Movement We love to have a good boogie at Nursery and dancing is a great way to get us all moving in different ways! Join in with the Animal Boogie at home and have a go at some of the actions. Movement play is really important in Early Years; it helps children to develop and strengthen connections between their body and brain. These connections lay important foundations for children’s future learning and development. We encourage all kinds of movement in Nursery, including crawling like animals and laying on the floor to slither like snakes – just as this song encourages children to do! |
| Independence skills Over the last few weeks, we’ve been trying to encourage you to help your child to become more independent, ready for their return to Nursery. We’ve been practising getting our coats on and fastening zips, putting on our own gloves and how to blow our own nose. This week, we’d like you to have a go at putting on and taking off your own shoes. This is where Velcro or elasticated fastenings make it much easier! If your child is already confident at doing this, can they put their own socks on? Have a go and see! |
| Key Worker activity and videos For this week’s Key Worker activity, you’ll need some paper to draw your own snake or a snake outline and some crayons or colouring pencils/pens. Watch the video to see how each of the teachers draws a different pattern onto the snake’s body. When you’ve finished watching, have a go at your own. Key Worker video – Snake patternsHere’s another activity for you to join in with – you’ll need two wooden spoons or utensils. It’s a song you might already know, all about ‘Going to the zoo’ and afterwards, you can learn some signs for some of the animals that you might see if you went on a trip to the zoo! Key Worker song- Going to the zooVideo – Zoo animal signs |
| Story time- Night Monkey, Day Monkey read by Miss Marsden **Challenge** When listening to the story, see if you can hear the rhyming words. Click here to watch today’s story. Questions to discuss: 1. What would life be like if it was dark all the time? 2. Which part of the day do you like best day or night? 3. Can you think of any animals that come out at night? These are called nocturnal animals. Nocturnal animals are awake and active at night and then sleep during the day. Some nocturnal animals can be seen during the day, but most of them spend their whole day resting. Get ready for next week’s Dough Disco! To make sure you are prepared and ready to get your fingers moving, use this simple recipe to make some dough at home. I look forward to seeing you all next Wednesday. |
I hope you all have a great week! Please remember to send photos to stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org. I love hearing about how you’ve been getting on with your home learning.
Home learning in different ways
I have had some lovely pictures of children learning in different ways this week like refining problem solving skills, working on fine and gross motor skills and measuring. There has been word searching, baking, bike riding, painting and guitar playing!
Home learning
Hi,
We have nearly made it to the end of January. well done, everyone!
How are you all getting along? It’s been great to hear from you on our daily 2pm zooms and sharing our learning. Which has been your best bits so far? Lots of you are loving the Geography with Mr Wilks. Siana, Emilija, Will and Brooklyn have all shared their hard work. Anyone else make any rock sandwiches this week? 
Siana has shared some lovely spelling spirals. What’s your favourite way of practising you spellings? Don’t forget if you have written a poem with your spellings this week to send them in to us!
Remarkable Writing
From Mr Owen, who’s leading the Y5,6 home learning writing sessions…
Hi everyone,
I wanted to share some of the fantastic writing that’s been happening in Y5 and Y6 recently, both at home and in school. Children have been creating their own planets, including maps and loads of links to geography learning. Classes in Moortown, Scholes (Elmet) and St James’ have all been working on the same projects, and the end products look great! Children should be really proud of what they’ve created.
Here are just some of the great examples that I’ve been sent. If you’d like to send yours in, I’d love to see it! (Send me an email – davidowen@spherefederation.org)
In St James’… How awesome is this?
In Moortown, Y6… What a great effort!
In my class: Moortown, Y5… This one even had an accompanying video!
This one included lots of the things we’ve been working on recently and included great vocabulary:
Scholes (Elmet) children have been really creative too…
At St James’ again… Working hard to create amazing planets!
Amazing presentation, fantastic ideas and great writing skills on show!
Fabulous report writing!
Well done on completing another week of home learning.
The number of children attending our daily Zoom lessons has increased which is fantastic to see! Once again, it has been great to see everyone’s hard work at home and in school. A highlight this week has been the report writing. Thank you to Mr Owen, who has clearly inspired lots of you to create your own imaginary planet and write a report all about it. Here are a few examples of reports that have been written this week:
During the week, some of the Year 6 pupils were asking for some help with the maths learning. Zoom was a great opportunity to share this and I was able to give some additional support to those who needed it. This is another great reason to join the daily sessions as I’m available to give some top tips and go over anything that children are finding challenging.
I look forward to seeing what you all get up to next week!
Week Commencing 25.01.21: F2 Home Learning
| Monday
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Book of the week- Watch the Gruffalo or read the book if you have it at home. Questions to discuss- 1. How does the mouse feel when he sets of on his journey through the woods? 2. Do you think the mouse likes the other animals: owl, fox and snake? 3. Why do you think the mouse tells the other animals he is going to have tea with the Gruffalo? 4. Do you think the Gruffalo is afraid of the mouse? |
| Phonics- qu Click here to watch today’s phonics video Activity 1: Have a go at reading this sentence. Did you spot today’s new phoneme? Activity 2: Can you work out the missing phonemes for these ‘qu’ words? Write the words in a list. |
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| Maths- Number 7 Click here to watch today’s maths video. Click here to do today’s activities. |
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| Tuesday | Phonics- ch Click here to watch today’s phonics video Activity 1: Write the words to match these pictures. You could print these phoneme frames, or draw your own. Parents: If you are unsure, click here to view the words. Activity 2: Have a go at writing this sentence. Parents: Read the sentence aloud. |
| Math – Number 7 Click here to watch today’s maths video. Click here to do today’s activities. |
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| Wednesday | Phonics- sh Click here to watch today’s phonics video. Activity 1: Have a go at writing this sentence. Parents: Read the sentence aloud. Activity 2: Play Phase 3 Sentences on Phonics Play. Have a go at reading the three ‘sh’ sentences. Parents: Click here > Login in using Sphere (username) Spher3 (password) > Resources > Phase 3 > SENTENCES PHASE 3 > Start > Next > Click ‘sh’ |
| Maths- Number 7 Click here to watch today’s maths video. Click here to do today’s activities. |
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| Thursday | Phonics- Tricky words – was Click here to watch today’s phonics video Activity 1: Practise writing all of the tricky words using the look, cover, write, check method. Click here to see if you have practised writing all of the tricky words. Activity 2: Write a sentence which includes any of the tricky words. Steps to writing a successful sentence… 1. Think of a sentence. 2. Say the sentence aloud. 3. Count the words in your sentence. 4. Use your phoneme fingers to segment every word. 5. Check your sentences makes sense. 6. Have you used a capital letter, finger spaces and a full stop? Activity 3: Have fun using different voices to spell the tricky words aloud. Word Passport Click here for this week’s word list. Remember to use your phoneme fingers when blending! |
| Maths- Shape Click here to watch today’s video. Activity 1: Play ‘Guess the Shape’ with an adult. Describe a shape, remembering to say how many sides and corners it has and to be specific, e.g. “It has 4 sides. It has 4 corners. It has 4 equal sides.” See who can guess the most shapes correctly. Activity 2: Go on a 2d shape hunt around your house. What 2d shapes might you find? If you have access to electronic device, take photos of the shapes you find. |
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| Friday | Understanding the World with Professor Myers – RSPB Bird watching Click here to watch this week’s video with Professor Myers. Activity 1: Be a bird watcher. Can you spot any of these birds? Count and record the different types of bird you see in your garden. Activity 2: Follow these instructions and make an apple bird feeder. Activity 3: Can you draw a picture of the birds in your garden? |
| Story time- Veggies Assemble Click here to watch today’s story read by Miss Marsden. Sit back, relax and enjoy the story. Questions to discuss: 1. Why was the lolly melting? 2. Why did Supertato blush at the end? 3. Who helped Supertato to get free? 4. How did Supertato call for help? 5. Why couldn’t we hear what the evil pea was saying when Supertato captured him? |
Story Link activities to select throughout the week
Literacy
1. Can you write a recipe for Gruffalo Crumble? Write a list of all of the ingredients you will need. Think about the things that the mouse might find in a deep dark wood.
2. Can you make a sign to warn people about the Gruffalo ? What would you write on your sign? Think of some interesting warning words.
3. Can you draw and label a map of the mouse’s journey through the deep dark wood? Who did he meet first in the story? Where did he find the owl?
Understanding the World
1. Find out about owls and some other birds of prey by watching Andy’s Secret Hideout. Can you find out some more interesting facts about owls?
2. Do you have any dried spaghetti at home? How does it feel, is it hard or soft? Adults could you cook the pasta and watch it with your child. Talk about the changes. How does it feel once it has been cooked? Now you have your own bowl of scrambled snake to enjoy.
Expressive Arts and Design
Can you make a Gruffalo or a mouse headband? Use some paper and Sellotape then colour it in. You could then act out the story.
Are you going to be the mouse or the Gruffalo?
Physical Development
1. Using your fiddly fingers thread some tubes of pasta onto a piece of string, ribbon or an old shoelace. Can you add on eyes and make your snake slither around?
If you haven’t got any pasta you could make a paper chain snake or cut out a spiral snake from some paper.
2. Have a go at doing some Cosmic Yoga. It tells the story of Tallulah the owlet. We really enjoy cosmic yoga at school and we hope that you do at home too.
Online Gruffalo Activities
Click here and play some Gruffalo games.
1. Monster maker – make your own Gruffalo – choose your own face, body and legs. What would you call the new Gruffalo? If you have access to a printer, print it out and colour it in.
2. Hide and Seek – play the matching game with the Gruffalo cards.
3. Menu matcher – is a short quiz about the Gruffalo story.
I hope you all enjoyed the nursery rhyme themed Zoom. It was lovely to see all your smiling faces. Don’t forget next Wednesday’s Zoom is a Scavenger Hunt. You will be asked to go and find lots of different things.
Parents: be prepared to help your child look for things.
See you then!
F1 Home Learning: Week 4
This week, our learning is going to be themed around the well known traditional tale, ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. If you have a copy at home, read it together before starting the activities. If you don’t have a copy of the story, you can listen to it using this link.
| Reading · Have you heard this story before? Can you remember what happens?· What do the Bears say each time they find something else that Goldilocks has touched? “Someone’s been eating/sitting/sleeping…” Try to encourage your child to join in with the repeated phrases as you read the story. · Once you’ve heard the story a few times, have a go at re-telling the story. This is an important part of the Early Years reading curriculum and we often use pictures and props to help us re-tell stories. Do you have 3 teddy bears that you could use to retell the story at home? You could find 3 different sized bowls and spoons too. If you’d like to make some story props instead, and you have a printer, you can download some printable ones here. · If you have the CBeebies Story Time App, you can download the story to read, too. Details on how to download the App are available on the link. |
| Phonics A couple of weeks ago, we asked you to make some sound effects linked to ‘Zog’ using your voice. In Nursery, we use voice sound cards during group time to make different noises. Have a go at home and see if you can think of some more sounds.  If you’d like to continue learning about ‘Voice sounds’, here’s a video link to a voice sounds game with a cheeky character called Felix! At the end of the video, there’s a funny face paper plate craft activity too. You could play the same game at home and make your own picture cards (or print some).What would Little Bear say when he sees his chair has broken? What does Goldilocks say when she tastes Little Bears porridge? |
| Mark-Making · Can you draw a picture of Goldilocks? Make sure you give her lots of long, golden curls. If you like to paint, you could paint a picture of your favourite teddy bear. · How many bears are in the story? Try to draw a big bear for Daddy Bear and a smaller bear for Baby Bear. What size would Mummy Bear be? · Where do the Three Bears live? Draw a picture of their house. What shape are the windows and door? |
| Maths · Ask your child to help you find 3 different sized bowls and spoons. Which is the biggest? Smallest? Arrange them in size order.  · Watch this week’s Key Worker video. Create your own repeating colour pattern using Duplo or Lego bricks. Keep it simple, just pick two colours. |
| Maths Extension ideas – You might have a threading set at home or some coloured beads. Can you make a repeating colour pattern using the buttons or beads? – Create a repeating pattern using pictures or objects instead of colours. Remember to keep it simple, choosing just 2 different items. E.g. Apple, carrot, apple, carrot, apple…  |
| Creative
· This activity is always a big hit in Nursery, but it is messy! Use your different sized bowls and spoons and put them inside an empty plastic storage box/tray to catch some of the mess. Add some porridge oats (or some rice crispies/rice/pasta) to the bowls for your child mix, scoop and pour the oats. Children love to scoop and pour in our sensory area – it’s easily swept or vacuumed up at the end of the day. We usually use dry ingredients, but you can add water if you want to add to the sensory play experience (and mess)! |
| Physical Development Funky Fingers This is linked to our ‘Independence’ activity this week. What can you find that uses a zip? For example: Zip-lock bags, purses/wallets, bags, pencil cases, wash bags, jackets and clothing. Allow your child time to investigate ‘zips’ and how they work. If you have an old bag or purse/wallet, let your child use it in their role play at home – they love to fill them with items and incorporate them into their play. Becoming familiar with how zips work, and learning how to use them in a range of contexts, will help them progress onto eventually fastening their own coats. Movement Get a few pairs of socks and roll them into a balls. Cut out some different sized spots (big/small) using paper and spread them out on the floor. Ask children to aim at the spots. Did it land on the big or small spot? How many are on the big spot? If the bowls you chose for the maths activity aren’t breakable, you could aim into Daddy Bear’s bowl instead!  |
| Independence skills Next time you go out for a walk, make sure you allow some extra time for your child to put their own coat on. If they can already do this, encourage them to do their own zip up. This is a really important skill and one which we would be teaching daily at Nursery. If you’d like a few ideas on how to help, there are some hints and tips available on the links below – check which are appropriate for your child. · Putting coats on – Scroll to the bottom of the web page for 2 video clips. In Nursery, we usually start by putting our hoods on first and then finding the arm holes. We don’t always have much space for ‘through the rabbit holes’ and flipping coats over our heads, although children love to do it this way! · Zips fact sheet – Here’s a fact sheet with a few ideas or you could watch this video clip that shows small steps in teaching children how to use zips. In the video, the lady refers to the zip as ‘food’ and a ‘mouth’. In Nursery, we often call the zip the ‘train’ and put it into the ‘station’ so it can run up the track. |
| Key Worker activity and videos In our Key Worker activity this week, Mrs Beesley has some bears that she needs your help to sort. We’ve done a similar activity in group time before so see if you can remember what to do. When you’ve watched the videos, have a go at sorting some of your own toys, such as Duplo bricks or cars. Maybe you’ll have a tin of Quality Street left over from Christmas that you haven’t eaten yet and you could sort the sweets! (You don’t? We’re surprised!) Key Worker activity – Bear sorting Key Worker Song – When Goldilocks went to the house of the Bears |
| Friday Story Time- Veggies Assemble Click here to watch today’s story read by Miss Marsden. Sit back, relax and enjoy the story. After listening to the story, have a look in your kitchen and see if you can find any vegetables. Can you name any of the vegetables? Now, have some fun and make some ‘Super Veggies’ like these below.  |
· Make your own porridge together and taste it. What does it taste like? Do you add anything to your porridge? Does it make it sweeter?I hope you all enjoyed the nursery rhyme themed Zoom. It was lovely to see all your smiling faces. Don’t forget next Wednesday’s Zoom is a Scavenger Hunt theme. You will be asked to go and find lots of different things.
Parents- be prepared to help your child look for things.
See you then!
Super home learners
How are you all getting on with your home learning? We have been enjoying our daily zoom’s. We have loved speak to you each day and seeing all that you have been getting up to. Each day, we have been doing a quick quiz – this has been great fun. If you’re shy and don’t want to speak, but still want to see us and join our zoom, that is fine by us – we have a few children who just give us a thumbs up and a wave.
Here’s a quick picture of one of our zooms this week – we even got to see the chidlren who were in school!
Home learning heroes
I’ve had some lovely emails from people learning at home. Thank you for keeping in touch with me and keeping your brains busy.
Things are feeling tough for some people, but just do what you can and have a day off every now and again, if you need to!
Aubree is really enjoying the geography videos.
Home Learning
Well done to all the children who have been doing their home learning this week. It’s been lovely to see some of you on Zoom and to see and hear about the learning you’ve enjoyed. I particularly enjoyed seeing some of the drawings and models of the solar system as part of the science learning. It’s also been great to hear other ways you’ve been spending your days such as going on walks, reading a book, tie dyeing t-shirts and playing football in the garden. I look forward to seeing some more home learning next week. Remember, if you’re struggling with any of the home learning and you need some support, please ask an adult to email me and I will get in touch to help or you can ask me on Zoom. Happy home learning!