Week 1

Literacy 

 

Hook

The children came into school this week and found a mystery present. Who could it belong to? What might the occasion be? Think of celebrations where you have presents e.g. Christmas, weddings or birthdays. 

 

If you're at home, you could put some objects in a box associated with birthdays e.g. a candle, balloons, invitations, cards, etc. Can your child guess the celebration? A birthday!

 

Then discuss the following questions with your child: 

 

1. What is a birthday celebration for?

2. Why are birthdays celebrated? 

 

Please emphasise that a birthday celebration is to remember a birth day i.e. to celebrate the day you were born. A common misconception is for children to think their birthday changes each year!

 

Writing Activity 

Children will complete a bubble diagram of what they know about birthdays (please click on the link below). Have your child draw a picture of the things associated with birthdays e.g., a cake, and label each picture. For a word like 'cake', see if your child can write the sounds they can hear in the word e.g. 'c' 'a' and 'k'. Encourage your child to write the initial sound independently if they are struggling to sound the whole word e.g. 'c' in 'cake'. 

 

Story

We will be reading and discussing 'Kipper's Birthday' by Mick Inkpen during the week. Here is a video version below for you and your child to listen to and discuss: 

 

The children will also be read a simple Nativity story. Please watch the video clip below and discuss it with your child:

Remember to read and practise your words at least 3 times a week. Click on the link to see some fun ways to practise your words at home.

 

Phonic Activities

This week we will be learning the digraph sounds 'ur', 'ow' and 'oi. Have a look at the clips below to help you learn all about these new sounds.

 

Don't forget to click on the PowerPoint below to practise all your sounds you have been taught so far. 

CVC/VC Word Activity

If your child is practising to stretch their words to hear more sounds in order to create VC or CVC words, the please look at the activity below.

 

 

You will need some coloured paper, a piece of string, glue and some pegs to create a blending line like the one pictured above. Your child can make their own personalised blending line and design it however the like! Write different sounds on various pieces of paper and cut them out into squares. Spread them out on a table in front of your blending line. Say a word e.g. "cat" - your child's task is to break that word into the individual sounds they can hear, and place them on the line in the correct order e.g. "c-a-t". Continue to do this for various words. 

 

Please practise both phase 2 and phase 3 - e.g. "ai" in "r-ai-n") - sounds taught so far ('ai', 'igh', 'oo', 'ar', 'or', 'ee'). Please look at the PowerPoint links for the different Phase 2 and 3 sounds.

 

 

Initial Sounds Activity

If your child is practising to hear and recognise the initial sounds in words then please see the activity below.

 

 

Write down different phase 2 sounds onto large circular pieces of paper. To make them look a bit more exciting you could write these on coloured pieces of paper. Call out a word to your child e.g. "fox". Your child's task is to then hop onto the initial sound for that word (e.g. 'f'). Perhaps you could even turn it into a game of Twister! Play the game throughout the week and keep a score board to see how many your child gets right - will they beat their last score?

 

Recognising Sounds

 

To help your child with recognising their sounds, maybe you would like to have a try at completing the activity below.

 

 

Make a very simple "sound machine" by covering a small cardboard box with tin foil. Wrap up a yogurt pot lid with tin foil, cover the top in glue and sprinkle on some glitter. Leave to dry overnight. Then stick it on top of the box to use as a big button! Leave a little space next to it for the letter-sound cards.

 

Then, write phase 2 letters and the phase 3 letters taught so far onto pieces of coloured card (please refer to the PowerPoint links above for letter-sounds). Cut them out with a starburst edge to make them look a bit more exciting!

 

Introduce the "sound machine" to your child. Encourage your child to click the button on top - oh no! Its broken! Explain to your child that when we click the button, we should be able to hear the sound but now, we need to say the sound using our voices instead. Take it in turns to attach the letter cut-outs with blu-tach, and push the button to say the corresponding sound.

 

 

Maths

This week, the children will be learning about weight and our role play area will turn into a Christmas-themed Post Office! We would like children to be able to order two items by weight and use language related to weight. Show your child a bag of sugar, and a bag of something lighter, but also something that looks physically bigger than the bag of sugar,  e.g., a bag of cotton wool. The lighter object should look bigger to address the common misconception that weight corresponds to size i.e. that heavy means big and light means small.

 

Ask your child which they think is heavier and why. Pass them to your child to hold in each hand. Now put the objects in each hand and show your child a balance. Explain that balance is a bit like a see-saw - if you put something heavy on one side, that side goes down. Ask: "Where will my bag of cotton wool be - up or down?" . Explain that the bag of sugar is heavier  than the cotton wool, the cotton wool is lighter. 

 

Now, pass round two tins/jars of food with very different weights and ask your child which is heavier and which is lighter. Encourage your child to use the words heavier and lighter. If you have any balancing scales at home, use these to check. 

 

Please ensure that your child is presented with large, light things and small, heavy things to prevent the over-generalisation that big means heavy and small means light.

 

Task

Pass round 2 or 3 objects of different weights and ask children to say which is the heaviest, lightest and agree an order. If you have any scales, put them in these to check. To challenge your child further, perhaps you could encourage them to find things which feel heavier and lighter than a given object. Can they check using the scales themselves? 

 

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Please put photos/videos up on Tapestry. Record what your child says in the comments section.

Project