Hi Pandas,

it was so lovely to see so many of you on the Panda Zoom session. I will schedule another one for Friday 15th May – I think I’ll set a challenge this time . Keep working hard. You’ve done lots of amazing things and should be very proud of yourselves. I am certainly very proud of you all.

Maths – This week the children use real objects to see that the quantity of a group can be changed by taking items away. Encourage the children to count all the items at the start, take away the required amount practically, and recount to see how many are left.
Use the first, then, now strategy to tell simple maths stories to practise taking away in familiar contexts.

First, there were 5 people on the bus
Then, 2 people got off the bus
Now, there are 3 people on the bus.

Your child could draw and colour a big red bus with windows – then place ‘people’ on/off the bus.

Other stories that involve numbers changing by adding or taking away are:
Kipper’s Toy Box by Mick Inkpen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rzP_HWtaBY 

Incey Wincey Spider game (a lovely home – made game that you could recreate at home)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7SUpivcWBI

Maths songs – encourage your child to adapt and re-enact favourite rhymes such as 10 Green Bottles by making 1,2 or 3 fall each time. Similarly, they could have 10 Currant Buns and choose to buy 1,2, or 3 buns each time. Prompt them to say how many are left each time.

Hidden items game – Count out five cubes (any small item will work) Get your child to check that there are 5 objects so everyone knows there are 5. Cover the cubes with a cloth, check that your child is happy that there are still 5 under the cloth. Then, as they watch, take 2 cubes from under the cloth. Ask how many cubes there are now. Encourage them to tell you the First, Then, Now story.

BBC Numberblocks Series 5: Episode 2 ‘On your Head’ and Episode 14 ‘I can count to Twenty’ are good to re-enforce the concepts and numbers.

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  In writing this week encourage your child to think of things they like and then say the sentence out loud several times. Then say the sentence out loud and hold a finger up for every word. How many words in the sentence? Then begin to write the sentence saying it as they go along. So, for example: ‘I like walking in the park.’ The link below has some sheets to print off or you could write on plain paper, chalk on the path, painting, anything at all that can record the sentence. Encourage good letter formation and spaces between words.
https://teachmykids.co.uk/worksheet/simple-sentences-i-like

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.

The link below gives lots of creative ideas for a variety of activities.
https://abcdoes.com/home-learning/

Have a good week.
Mandy Turner

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