Hello everyone,

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible for our zoom session at 2.15. Please have some paper and a pencil with you if you can. 

1. It is very windy outside today. Yesterday we spoke about the different sounds the wind makes and what they sound like. Somebody suggested that the wind sounded like a howling wolf, somebody else thought it sound like a train. What do you think the wind sounds like? Write one or two sentences explaining what the wind sounds like.

Parents: If your child is struggling to think of an idea you could give them two options to choose from. Children are to use their phonics knowledge to write their sentence. Words, except for sight words, do not have to be spelt correctly, only phonetically e.g. "wolf" being written as "wulf". Read over each word with your child to ensure they have every sound that they can hear. Common errors include not hearing both consonants when they are next to each other. e.g writing "set" instead of "sent" or "cick" instead of "click" Children may need reminders to start sentences with a capital letter and to use a full stop at the end.

2. Listen to the story The Dot (link attached at the bottom of this page). In the story, Vashti create lots of different pictures only using a dot. What shape is her dot? Choose a shape that you like. Split your paper into 4 parts. In each part, draw your shape in a different way. You could draw it  different sizes or in different positions. You could draw lots of it or by itself. Try and make your four sections as different as you can. 

Parents: This activity focuses on language around shape. You could discuss the images your child draws and get them to explain how they are different. Encourage them to use language related to size and position. The activity might also challenge children's creative thinking as they come up with different ways to show their shape. Encourage children to change something different about their shape each time. They should not just be changing the colour each time. 

3. This term we have been looking at space. Listen to Gustav Holst's music (attached at the bottom of this page). He has a different piece of music for each planet. Think about how the music makes you feel. Can you dance or move to the music? Are you going to stamp your feet or tiptoe or skip? Change how you move based on the music. 

Parents: These are a series of classical pieces of music about the planets. I have attached links to "Jupiter" and "Mars" as these are two very different pieces and therefore good to focus on.  If you would like to do others/more simply google "Gustav Holt Planets." Ensure it’s a single planet piece you have chosen and not the whole series. How does the music make the children feel? Can they explain? Ask the children to move/dance with the music. Choose a second piece and ask the children how it is different. Ask them to dance or move to this music.  Note: Children should not listen to the whole piece, just a section, the beginning of Jupiter is good as is the middle of Mars.

Other bits and bobs:

-Children could practice reading and writing their sight word flashcards. If your child can read them all from the flashcards, try putting them into a sentence. Can they recognise that they are sight words when they have been busy blending the other words in the sentence or do they try to blend them also. 

-We have been working very hard on our letter and number formation this term. Common mistakes children make are numbers 2, 3 and 5 and letters s, z, b, d and ones that descend below the line such as j and p. Children could continue working on writing these letters at home. 

Thank you for your continued support, I look forward to seeing you all this afternoon.