Well Reception we didn’t expect this did we? Another week of home learning, but we need to make sure that we are all as safe as possible at this time. I had prepared many things for us to enjoy and learn together but they will all be ready for us when we come back together in a weeks time. This week should have been science week so I will try to put together some simple experiments that you can do at home and we will do more when we come back to school. We will have a zoom call on Tuesday at 1:30pm and more details will be texted out to you.

Well being:

it is really important to look after your well being, especially if you are feeling disappointed that we are not back in class as we had all hoped we would be this week. So I want you to spend time this week playing with your own toys and games. If you have any construction sets (Building bricks, lego or anything similar) what can you build? Maybe a farm or a castle. If you have any play kitchen toys, have a pretend picnic with some of your other toys or dolls. Do you have any games that you could play with your family? Or perhaps you prefer to do colouring to help you relax. I want you to choose things this week that make you feel good.
If you are able to go outside for a walk or just in the garden, take time to take notice of your surroundings. What can you see, hear, small, feel? Look out for signs of Spring. What different coloured flowers can you see? Maybe you could draw or paint a picture of some of the things you could see? Maybe you could make your own flowers from egg boxes or other recyclable materials. Go on a bug hunt around your garden, can you find any ladybirds or other creatures? You could make a chart of how many of each creature you find or draw pictures. Watch this Spring video to look for the signs of spring.

Phonics:

Check out a video I made via Loom

I really want you to be secure in all of our phase 3 sounds, so this week I would like you to revisit both our sounds mat and the sounds video to practise. Use the sound mat and think of words that have that sound in them. Then write down the words that you can think of and finally put them into a sentence.
Then I would like you to choose some games to play on phonics play, phonics bloom or the bbc bitesize website.
You can apply your phonics learning with lots of reading practise this week.

Literacy:

Write about the things that you can see in this farm picture. Try to write 5 full sentences. (Maybe different ones each day)
Maybe you could write a story about some of the other animals on a farm.

Maths;

The lessons this week will be about our calendar and time.

Topic:

Many of you enjoyed our topic last week on the story of ‘What the ladybird heard’, so I though you could decide some of the craft things you wanted to do this week. If you missed out on any of the ideas from last week you can look back at the different blogs and find something to make and do. here are some possible ideas for ladybird crafts: Painted stone ladybirds (All different colours, they don’t just have to be red and black, use your imagination!!!) Toilet tube ladybirds, paper plate ladybirds, milk bottle top ladybirds, there are so many ideas if you google ‘Ladybird crafts’ you will see even more ideas.

Science experiments:

As part of science week we should have been doing some experiments in school together, but below are a few ideas of things I think you could try at home. You could also draw a picture and write about how you did the experiments and what happened.

Magic milk: Put a few drops of food colouring in a shallow bowl of milk, and they'll stay that way — as self-contained blobs. But add a little washing up liquid to a toothpick or a cotton bud and touch the food colouring, and the colours will swirl around on their own like magic.

Lava lamp: Fill a class half full of water and add a few drops of food colouring. The add a couple of spoons of oil (baby oil or cooking oil is fine) Oil and water with food colouring don't mix, teaching kids about density. For fun, add an antacid or other effervescent tablet, and bubbles start to flow all around like a groovy lava lamp.
Storm in a glass: Fill a glass half full with water. Spray on some shaving foam to fill the glass 3/4 full. Use a spoon to spread the shaving foam evenly over the top of the water so it is flat. Mix half a cup of water with food colouring (blue) in a separate glass. Gently spoon or use a pipette to add the coloured water to the top of the shaving foam. When it gets too heavy watch it rain!
Sensory bottle: Make your own sensory bottle. You can experiment with different liquids (coloured water, oil, shampoo, bubble bath, washing up liquid) and add in your own glitter, sequins, beads, buttons, small toys, shells, water bead or anything you choose.
Glitter volcano: Place a bottle or vase in a large dish (to collect the eruption!) In a bowl mix a spoon of bicarbonate of soda, and a spoon of washing up liquid and some glitter. Add 2 spoons of water and mix thoroughly then pour into your vase. In a cup mix together half a cup of vinegar and a spoon of red food colouring. Pour the vinegar mix into the vase with all the other ingredients and watch what happens! You could experiment with different amounts of bicarbonate of soda and vinegar and see how this affects the volcano.
Weather: Observe and record the weather throughout the week. Can you make a rain gauge to measure rain fall? Explore shadows when the sun shines; draw around the shadow shapes that your toys create. What about making a bottle wind spinner

Physical Development:

Last week I encouraged you to make your own ladybird beanbag. Can you make a family of ladybirds, maybe using different coloured material? You couls even try to make a beanbag from an old pair of socks.
Practise throwing and catching your ladybird (or a ball) onto a target drawn on the floor or into a bucket or hoop.
Ride bikes and scooters around your local area looking at the different buildings in our community. Can you see shops, the church, the chip shop or schools?
You can try any of our brain gym dances that we have tried in school or even some we haven’t learnt yet.

ICT:

There are lots of games for you to play on ict games or topmarks, check them out and see which games are your favourite.

Story:

I thought you might like to hear another story about the ladybird; I have included a video below of the story ‘What the ladybird heard next.’ If you have any Julia Donaldson stories at home ask a grown up or older brother or sister to read them to you, or you could find them on youtube.

Reception home learning week beginning 8th March 2021