Week 2

Literacy

Activity 1

Listen to Miss Campbell read the story of, 'The Nativity' or watch the BBC's video by clicking on the link below. Talk about what happened in the beginning, who the people were and what happened at the end.

Print and cut out scenes from the Nativity (see below) and ask your child to order and stick them onto the story hill. Can they remember what order they should be in? Can they recall the main parts of the story?Ask them questions to support such as: "what happens at the beginning?, What's next? Who said that? How does it end?". 

Activity 2

Explain to your child that they will now be writing a speech bubble for one of the characters from the Nativity. Your child can choose to write a speech bubble for one of the following scenes:

1. Angel visits Mary

2. Angel visits Joseph and tells him Jesus' name

3. Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem on a donkey

4. Inn Keeper - no room to stay 

5. Inn Keeper - Stable available round the back

6. Baby Jesus is born

7. Angel tells the Shepherds Jesus has been born

8. Shepherds go to see baby Jesus

9. The Three Wise Men/ Kings see and follow a star

10. The Three Wise Men/ Kings give gifts to Jesus

For example if you were being one of the innkeepers you may say, "Sorry i am afraid there is no room, no place to stay."

Maths

This week the children will be reading and ordering numbers . Lay numbers to 10, 20 or beyond 20 on the table (depending on your child's current level of ability). Can your child recognise, select and stick them in the correct order? Please click on the link to print the worksheets below. 

Hidden Number

Cut a small hole into an envelope and write a number a piece of paper, focusing on the numbers 11, 12, 13, and 15. Place the number behind the envelope - can they tell you what the number is? 

Would you rather...

Place two plates of sweets/chocolates in front of your child. One of the plates should have more than the other. Ask your child: "which plate of sweets/chocolates would you rather have? "  Encourage your child to provide you with a reason as to why they would rather have the one they've chosen (e.g. that they would rather have the plate with the larger number of chocolates because that means they get to eat more!) 

Try comparing numbers that are far apart, near to and next to each other. For example, 8 is a lot bigger than 2 but 3 is only slightly bigger than 2. 

Perhaps you could also introduce the concept of 'unfair sharing' to your child. For instance - 'this one has more because it has 7 and that plate only has 5'. 

Phonics

This week we will be learning the trigraph sounds 'ear' and 'air'. Have a look at the clips below to help you learn these new sounds.

Don't forget to click on the PowerPoint links at the bottom of the page to practise all of the sounds you have been taught so far.

Recognising Sounds

To help your child with recognising their sounds, have a try at completing the activity below:

Poppin' Phonics

Place a sheet of white paper with initial letters written on and spaced out so that they show under the sheet of bubble wrap. Call out a letter-sound to your child e.g., 't' and your child's job is to pop the corresponding bubble. Please include phase 2 and 3 phonics letter-sounds (see PowerPoint slide links below).

Initial Sounds

If your child is learning to hear and recognise the initial sounds in words, then please see the activity below:

I-Spy-Box

Place some items from around the house inside an upturned plastic box. Put out some letter cards to help with your child's identification of the initial sounds. Your child's job is to choose an object they can see and listen for the initial sound. For example, if your child chooses the bear, you would say "bear" and your child would have to try and hear and recognise the 'b' sound. 

VC/CVC Word Activity

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

Wordsearcher 

Cut out a rectangular piece of card with three holes in the middle to make your 'wordsearcher'. On a piece of card, draw some circles and write phase 2 and phase 3 sounds in the middle of them (please see phase 2 and 3 PowerPoint slides by clicking on the links below). On a sheet of paper, write a series of CVC words which feature phase 2 and 3 sounds e.g., 'n-a-p' (phase 2) and  'c-oi-n' (phase 3). Your child has to segment the sounds in each word and blend them together to recognise the words they need to find. They can then tick off each of the words that they're able to find!