w/c 8.6.20 FS2 Home Learning

Topic

Hello again everyone!  This week we are thinking about trips to the coast and how it can be great fun to explore rockpools.  If you ever get the chance, it is really good fun to search around rockpools and it can be just like entering a different world!  There are so many creatures to discover such as crabs, limpets, tiny fish, jellyfish and all kinds of plants; if you are really lucky, you may even spot a starfish!

So to get us started, take a listen to one of my favourite stories….. ‘Sharing a shell’ by Julia Donaldson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42fh58uGoY

Remember to repeat this story every day to enable the children to use the vocabulary in their play.  Ask your child lots of questions about the story (I have included some examples below).

• Can you remember who the three main characters are in the story?
• What made the friends ‘fall out’ in the story? (have another listen if you cannot remember)
• How do you think that the crab and the anemone felt after the storm?
• The bristleworm played an important role bringing the crab and the anemone together again and helping them to become friends.  What do you think might have happened if the bristleworm had moved to a different rock pool and hadn’t been there after the storm?
• What do you think will happen if the crab and the anemone grow too big for the new whelk shell? Will they have learned anything from what happened previously?
• Can you retell the story? (by the end of the week)

For another rock pool story, take a listen to the story of ‘Sally and the Limpit’ by Simon James:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX8vgBF1_G8

Hopefully, from listening to these stories, you are starting to learn the names of many rock pool creatures and are starting to think of some stories of your own!

Reading

• Continue to access the range of reading books from the oxford owl website:

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/?selLanguage=en&mode=hub

• Word practise: Keep going through the sounds and words in your red phonics book.  Try doing ‘fred in your head’ and speed reading for fluency.
• Keep looking at the ‘reading support’ resources that Mrs Mills has put onto the blog under ‘news’ and access your level of sounds and words.  If you are in rabbits and owls groups and are feeling confident with your sounds.  Start to learn the set 2 sounds which are all ‘special friends’ (eg. ‘ay’ in play; ‘ee’ in see).  If you are in hedgehogs group and are feeling confident with the set 2 sounds, try looking at set 3 sounds
• Continue to read bedtime stories to your child.
• Continue to access the Sacred Heart story time from the FS2 blog

Writing

All groups:

For inspiration on rockpool stories, make sure that you have listened to the two story links above (‘Sharing a Shell’ and ‘Sally and the Limpit’).

I have also found another lovely story about hermit crabs, which are fascinating creatures.  It’s called ‘a house for hermit crab’. Take a listen and start thinking about what adventures may happen in a rockpool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UlGQUNLwAQ

Hedgehogs/ Owls: Plan your own rockpool story.

Think about who your main character is and what might happen in the rockpool which could be a problem (eg. Maybe the sun is so hot that it starts to dry up all of the water in the pool and the creatures inside have to think of ways to get more water; or maybe a child may come along with a bucket and take one of the creatures away for a while).  Then think about how the problem can be solved so that there is a happy ending. 

Talk to your grown-ups about each step of the story and then write a sentence for each part. Before you know it, you will have written your very own story!!!!

Rabbits group: After listening to the ‘A house for hermit crab’ story above, Talk to your grown-ups about what might happen next in the story.  What will the hermit crab find in the ocean? Will the ocean be as exciting as he is expecting? 

Have a go at writing what would happen next if you were to continue to be the author!  Try writing a really good sentence with finger spaces and finishing with a full stop!

How to help your child to be an independent writer: Remind your child to keep saying their sentence over and over again so that they can remember it well.  Do not tell your child the sounds in each word, instead encourage them to use their ‘fred fingers’ to think about the sounds in words.  Remind them to use finger spaces and finish their sentences with a full stop. 

RE

This week we are continuing our RE topic of ‘friends’ which fits in with our ‘Sharing a shell’ story rather well, as in the story, the creatures discover what it is like to have a broken friendship and then to make friends again.

Create a place at home where you can be quiet and still and reflect.   Each day this week, use this space to share the joys and challenges of being a friend; and to say prayers where you can talk to Jesus, your friend, in your own words.

Read the story above (also using the picture below) to discover what Jesus and his friends did together. 

After listening to the story, reflect on the following aspects of friendship in the story:

• From looking at the picture, how do we know they are friends?
• What does the picture tell us about friends?
• What did Jesus and his friends do? (They worked, told people the Good News of God’s love for everyone, answered questions)
• Where did they go when they were tired?
• What did they do together? (eat, shared experiences, rested)
• Where do you go when you are tired?
• Who do you talk to about your experiences of the day with? eg. what has gone well/what has not.
• Where do you go to be quiet and still?  Have you started to use a quiet place at home for prayers and your thoughts?

Choice of Activities:

• Draw a picture of your friend, put friendship words (e.g. loving, kind, caring, sharing etc), around your picture and talk about what you like about your friend, what you do together.
• Invite your child to talk to Jesus, their friend, in their own words during prayers.
• Role play being a good friend.
• Write a letter to Jesus asking him to help them be a good friend

Maths:

Measuring weight

Show your child some weighing scales and a range of objects from around your house.  Select one of the objects, for example, a glue stick and ask your child to find something in the room that is lighter than the glue stick and use the scales to check. Discuss how the scales will tell us which is heavier and which is lighter.

Ask your child to find something that they think is heavier than the glue stick and use the scales to check.

Select two objects that are more similar in weight and place them on the scales. Discuss which is heavier and which is lighter and ask your child to explain how they know.

When testing the weights of different objects, use the following sentence structures:

The ____ is heavier than the ___.

The ____ is lighter than the ___.

The ___ is the heaviest (lightest).

Comparing weights

Display three objects that differ in weight. Explain that they are going to try to use the scales and place the objects in order from heaviest to lightest.

Problem Solving: Ask your child for ideas on how this might be done. Remind them that the scales can only measure one object at a time and that we have three objects.

Model how to solve the challenge by comparing two of the objects and finding the heaviest one. Then compare the heavier of the two objects with the third object. Is it the heaviest?

Compare the weight of the remaining two objects and place them in order. Use such terms as ‘heavier’, ‘lighter’, ‘heaviest’, ‘lightest’, ‘balance’, ‘weigh’, ‘more’, ‘less’, ‘same’ and ‘about’.  Remember to use the full sentence structures above each time too!

As an extra challenge, you could now ask them to put six objects in order of weight from the lightest to the heaviest.  This will give them lots of practise of using the sentence structures above.

A great way to practise weighing is by baking… follow a recipe and let your child have a go at weighing the ingredients and encourage them to talk about the ingredients that they have weighed.  Eg. Was the flour heavier than the sugar?…

Now have a go at measuring using this fun game:

https://pbskids.org/peg/games/happy-camel

Fun ideas:

• Have a go at making your own smallworld rockpool.  You could use a washing up bowl or tray and fill it with pebbles/ stones/ rocks (of course), plants (seaweed), shells and then fill it with water.  You could then make your own sea creatures to act out stories in your rockpool.

Why not try making your own rockpool using your most creative skills.  Take a look at these for some ideas:

• If you have access to paints, you could explore how to make different shades of blue by mixing with different amounts of white paint. These could be used as watery backgrounds for some rockpool pieces of art.  To build up your picture, you could print off some sea creatures from the internet, cut them out carefully using your best cutting skills and then stick them on to your watery background.

Observations

Remember to keep taking photographs of your child and emailing them to the 2simple/ 2buildaprofile program.  Include what your child is doing and saying and I will link it to the curriculum so that their educational profile continues to build.

Enjoy your rockpool week!

Mrs Swift xx