Hi Pandas – Another huge effort from you last week – you are working so hard on a variety of wonderful things. Your photos and videos have really shown the determination you have to learn whilst having fun. A huge well done to you all!
Maths
The pattern work last week was very impressive. This can be continued to create more complex patterns. It is important that each pattern has at least three full units of repeat. The more units of repeat the easier it is to identify the pattern. Encourage your child to say the pattern aloud.

Patterns can also be found in stories – such as We’re going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. Encourage your child to build their own bear hunt journeys using things you find around the house/garden and repeat the patterned language from the story as they travel through them. They could also invent language patterns of their own.

If you feel you have completed enough work on patterns then we are moving on to Adding through change. Which is when the children will use real objects to see that the quantity of a group can be changed by adding more. This is the first, then, now structure.

For example: First, there were 5 people on the bus. Then 2 more people got on. Now there are 7 people on the bus. This structure uses mathematical stories to create a meaningful context. Create these ‘stories’ for your child and then see if they can make one for you.

Draw them or use every day objects to create the ‘story’.
A good story for this is Mr Gumpy’s Outing by John Burningham – After reading the story ask your child to create a boat and make their own first, then, now stories as different groups of characters climb aboard. This is a link to Mr Gumpy’s Outing

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+mr+gumpy%27s+outing&&view=detail&mid=CCE4919A115A6F76DD8CCCE4919A115A6F76DD8C&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dyoutube%2Bmr%2Bgumpy%2527s%2Bouting%26%26FORM%3DVDVVXX

All of the above is very practical and done through talk but if you feel it could be recorded then that is great but not to be pushed if your child is unwilling. Monster Points seem to be working well as a bribe…

English
Reading – Lots of reading and listening to stories being read.
This is a link to Story Time from Ruth Miskin Read Write Inc.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo7fbLgY2oA_cFCIg9GdxtQ

Writing – Create lists.
This could be linked to the maths work – ‘Who was in Mr Gumpy’s boat?’ Write a list of each character. Shopping lists and ‘To Do’ lists are also good activities.

Children could make stick puppets of the characters and act out the story. They could also act out the story themselves, using props from around the house and garden.

Phonics – These are brilliant free resources that will really support your child’s phonic knowledge – I definitely recommend watching them.
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/api/interactives/29317.html   This is an online booklet for sets 2 and 3 speed sounds from RWI phonics.

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/help-during-school-closure/  This is a Ruth Miskin Speed Sounds lesson schedule, it runs to 19th May at the moment.

If you need any information or support please send me a message and I will gladly get back to you. If you need more guidance and ideas, I have added a link below with some ideas and information about supporting young children with their mental well-being.
https://www.annafreud.org/what-we-do/anna-freud-learning-network/coronavirus/
Have a good week.
Mandy Turner

Well Pandas, you have all blown me away with your effort and determination!  I can see from your messages and photos on Class Dojo that you have been very busy doing lots of wonderful things, such as: daily phonics lessons, baking, learning to ride a bike, amazing adding and taking away, wonderful writing, planting seeds, bug hunting, painting, making volcanoes, building railways and the list goes on. A huge thank you to you and to the grown-ups who are supporting you to do such amazing things.

This week…

Hungry Little Minds is a good source of information with lots of different ideas for learning through play.  Well worth a look.

https://hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk/#3

On the Hungry little minds site there are lots of Apps which are suggested and look good, particularly:

• Fonetti

A Listening Bookshop

The App actively listens to children as they read aloud and holds their attention by turning the words green in real-time when they get them right. This interactive experience motivates the child to read more and then rewards them with fun animations, fanfares and badges.  Free for 3 months then is chargeable.

• Teach your monster to read

This is a game that makes learning to read so much fun.

• • Covers everything from letters and sounds to reading full sentences.
• • Designed in collaboration with leading academics.
• • Complements all synthetic phonics programmes used in schools.
• • Computer version is 100% free.

This week in maths children will hopefully enjoy exploring and learning about repeating patterns.

Children should copy, continue and create their own patterns.  They focus on AB and ABC patterns (Where A, B & C just represent a different item in the pattern).  It is important to provide patterns with at least three full units of repeat. Encourage your child to say the pattern out loud as this will help them identify the part which repeats and supports them to continue the pattern.

If possible, try and provide opportunities to explore pattern in a range of contexts including shape, colours, size, actions and sounds.  Encourage them to build patterns both vertically (this could be with Duplo/Lego) and horizontally.

The link to You Tube below is a really good visual to get children started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBjjxSx45-Q

Twinkl has a lot of patterns to download – but if you don’t want to print you could make the pattern out of items around the house and garden.

In English please continue with the Literacy work from last week.  If anyone has finished and needs more then let me know.

Read Write Inc Phonics is still online, daily – I know a lot of you are really enjoying these brilliant online daily lessons and it is fantastic that the children are continuing to practice their letters and sounds. Thank you.

Have a good week learning through play ?  Please message me if I can help with anything.

Mandy Turner

Hello Panda Parents/Carers, I hope you are all well and have had a good Easter break.

Thank you so much for your continued positivity in continuing to support your child’s learning at home. The sunflowers are all doing well and getting quite tall! I will send some pictures on ClassDojo.

I have put together some links for this week’s learning.

There are links to:

How to use the correct letter formation when forming lower case letters. If at all possible, please do all 26 over the next couple of weeks. This uses the Read Write Inc rhymes too which your child will recognise.  I really believe that using the correct letter formation from the start is far easier than having to undo ‘bad habits’ in later years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmUH2TCsfIc

Talk for Writing – This is in the form of a booklet which guides children and their adults through guided literacy exercises. This is a great resource and starts with a text and then followed by lots of ‘talk for writing’, so important for early writers.

https://www.talk4writing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Reception-Unit.pdf

In Maths this week we are looking at Composition using the Part / Whole Method. (Adding 2 numbers to find the whole/total). To put this in to more context there is a link to The Main Areas of Early Years Maths (From the National Centre for excellence in the teaching of Mathematics) Then there is a link to a YouTube video showing the Part / Whole model for adding.

https://www.ncetm.org.uk/resources/52500

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fc3x3nF0Rg

I hope you have a great week – if you need any help/support at all please do contact me through ClassDojo.

Best wishes

Mandy Turner