Home Learning Jan-March 2021

01.03.21

Please continue to complete the activities in your Home Education Pack. It's also 'World Book Day' this week. Please scroll down the page to find resources related to this.

We hope you have found the information sheets about mark making and pencil grip contained within your work pack supportive. We develop our fine motor skills (which help with writing) in lots of ways. Remember to keep using play dough (scroll down for a new 'Dough Disco'), construction toys, threading and lacing activities etc whilst at home. 

Related Activities:

• Notice the packaging you use and talk about this as a family. Are there any ways you could reduce plastic waste?
• Use 'junk' to make models.
• Set up a role play shop and enjoy selling goods to each other.

World Book Day 4th March 2021

It’s ‘World Book Day’ on Thursday 4^th March. We obviously won’t be able to celebrate in quite the same way as usual, but we do still plan on celebrating!

The theme of World Book day this year is ‘Bring a Book to life’ and the book that the whole school is focusing on is ‘The Bear and the Piano’ by David Litchfield. Please take a look at the info below for some wonderful creative World Book day ideas. We are running a competition (see below) to win a great prize! All the children need to do for a chance to win is complete one of the creative activities suggested (below) and send a photo of their creation to acorns@gladehill.nottingham.sch.uk I can’t wait to see them!

We know that children (and staff) usually love dressing up on World Book Day…

If your child is currently learning at home we would love to see photos of them dressed up in a World Book day themed costume, if they would like to. Please email these in to acorns@gladehill.nottingham.sch.uk and I will put them on our class webpage so everyone can see. Your child also has the additional option of dressing up for the Zoom meeting on Monday if they would like to.

Nursery children who are currently in school will be celebrating on Wednesday 3^rd March (as we’re not in school on Thursday). Nursery staff will be dressing up on this day and children are invited to wear costumes too if they wish.

I am very aware that it may be difficult for you to put a costume together in the current circumstances and I really wouldn’t want anyone to feel they have to buy a costume for this event. If you are struggling for costume ideas, but your child would like to dress up you might want to try making a simple mask (eg an animal from a favourite story) or a paper hat or headband with a picture of a favourite story character on it. A Halloween costume you may already have might double up as a costume for the witch from ‘Room on a Broom’ or a skeleton could be from the story ‘Funnybones’. In the past I have even dressed my own son in clothes he’d recently grown out of with a few holes etc and he was ‘Charlie Bucket’ from ‘Charlie and the Chocolate factory!’

We hope you have a fantastic time joining in with the celebrations!

22.02.21

Welcome back to the new half term. Our new topic is 'Paws, claws and whiskers.' We will drop off your new work pack this week. It has a 'zoo' theme. Please listen to the story of 'Dear Zoo' by Rod Campbell in the video below. Unfortunately, we aren't able to go on a real-life visit to a zoo, but you can go on a virtual one! The fantastic Zoo Keepers at Chester Zoo have made some videos to show you the animals! There's a video of some of my favourite animals below, but please click on the link underneath to find more videos of the zoo animals. Which animal is your favourite? I'd love to hear what you think! Email me at acorns@gladehill.nottingham.sch.uk 

PSHE/ People and Communities

Are zoos good or bad?

Some people think zoos are bad because they believe animals shouldn't be put in cages or enclosures and should only live in the wild, in their natural habitat. Some people think zoos are good places because they care for animals and allow people to learn more about animals, hopefully encouraging them to care more for animals in the wild. What do you think? 

Activities:

- find Sharm-el-sheikh on a map

-build you own wall using construction toys or junk modelling

-sing Humpty Dumpty

-Notice walls on a walk around your local area. Talk about the height of them. 

08.02.21

Your next Home Education Pack will be delivered this week. As it's Chinese New Year on 12th February I have included some Chinese New Year activities. Please watch the videos below as part of our People and Communities/ PSHE task to find out more about Chinese New Year and to understand that not everyone celebrates the same things.  

Remember to keep scrolling down this page to see a new Dough Disco video! There's also some activities to highlight Safer Internet day on 9th February. Please talk about this with your children. You'll find some really useful information about esafety for young children, including some great video clips to share with your child in our esafety subpage. Scroll back up the page to find this. 

Have a look at the summary sheet below for a sneak peek of what's inside your pack. 

Purple Mash

Remember to log on to the Purple Mash app and complete the activities set this week. I have emailed you your log-in details, but if you need them again please contact school. 

What do you know about Trees?

Talk to you family about them and try to name the different parts.

Go on a tree hunt around your local area or from a window in your house.

Learn the song in the clip below.

02.02.21

Please find some additional Home Education activities below to complete if you are learning at home without a Home Education Pack. We would love to hear about your learning so please email us at acorns@gladehill.nottingham.sch.uk to let us know how you're getting on. 

Please also remember that children learn so much from playing with their toys. Board games teach maths and personal and emotional skills, playing with construction toys also supports maths development, fine motor skills and an understanding of properties of materials, as well as resilience when models don't quite go to plan! Imaginative role play allows children to apply what they understand about the world around them, whilst developing their language and creativity. If you have play dough at home this is brilliant for strengthening hand muscles and developing fine motor control, which will eventually help with writing. There's a fun 'Dough Disco' video you could do if you scroll further down the page. Have fun playing and learning together. 

Please scroll down to explore the activities on the rest of this webpage and the subpage links at the top of the page. There are some great well-being activities, as well as additional phonics and maths activities too. Also, please remember to log onto Purple Mash to complete the learning activities there too. 

01.02.21

Continue to complete the activities in your new Home Education Pack. How many of the scissor skills building activities can you complete? If your child is finding using scissors tricky have a look at the video below which will give you some support and explain how we teach scissor skills in school. Keep scrolling down for some PSHE activities and for a video teaching Makaton signs for different emotions. We'll have a practice of these during our Zoom meeting this week too! A huge thank you to everyone who is emailing in photos of children learning at home and completing Purple Mash work. It's wonderful to see! 

Miss Mills, Mrs Beet and Miss Doel  

PSED Emotions

We've included some activities based around emotions for you in your Home Education Pack. It's really important that we we take the time to talk about how we're feeling and look after ourselves during this very tricky time. In addition to the games and activities in your pack you could:

-act out different emotions and see if the other members in your family can guess how you feel.

-watch the video below and learn some Makaton signs for different emotions

-use your playdough to make faces showing different emotions

Please take a look at the activities and links in our well-being sub page too. Scroll back up to the top of the page to find this. 

-Where do you like climbing? Can you climb the stairs? A local hill?

-Sing the 'Grand Old Duke of York' Nursery Rhyme 

Internet safety

Take a look at the 'e-safety' page for links to useful activities to help explain internet safety to young children. 

Some useful links:

Tiny Happy People

There are some great activity suggestions and useful videos to help develop your child's communication skills at home. Follow the link https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people

The DFE have written some guidance for parents for helping pre-school children learn at home. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/help-children-aged-2-to-4-to-learn-at-home-during-coronavirus-covid-19

You can find some great support at the 'Family Zone' of the National Literacy Trust website. https://literacytrust.org.uk/family-zone/

25.01.21

We will be delivering your second Home Education pack this week- when the roads and pavements are safer for us to travel on. In the meantime please take a look at the extra activity ideas below and in the 'Additional Links and resources' subpage above and complete what you can. 

Look below for a sneak peek of some things inside your pack! Thank you so much to everyone who has been emailing in photos of children continuing their education at home. We know you are all working so hard- well done!

Snowy day Learning Opportunities

1) Mark make in the snow- use sticks/ paintbrushes/ your finger to make different marks in the snow.

2) Build a snowman! Talk about the shapes and sizes you are using eg "We will need to make a smaller ball/ sphere for the head... we need 2 eyes, 1 nose. What could we use? etc"

3) Take some snow inside and observe what happens when it melts.

4) Look out of your window and draw/ paint/ talk about what you can see.

5) listen to the sounds your footsteps make as you walk in the snow.

6) Make different sized snowballs. Can you line them up in order from smallest to largest?

7) What words can you use to describe the snow? Eg cold, freezing, crunchy, fluffy, etc

8) Look at the shapes and marks made as you print different objects into the snow eg welly footprints.

9) Put on some music that reminds you of snowy days and sing along. 'Do you wanna build a snowman?!" 

PSED- Elmer

Listen to the story. How does Elmer feel? How do all of the other elephants feel about Elmer?Everyone is unique. What makes you special? Talk about this. You could email us at acorns@gladehill.nottingham.sch.uk and tell us too!

Listen to the song below and join in if you can!

Can you think of any leaders you know?

Can you play a game of 'Follow the leader' in your house?

18.01.21

Continue to complete the activities in your Home Learning Pack this week. It has been great to see the photos you have been emailing in of your children working hard- please keep sending them in.

There are some further activities below to keep your child busy learning at home.  

People and Communities/ PSED

Listen to the story of 'Grumpy Frog'. He only likes things and friends who are green like him. How does this make you feel? Would you like to be friends with Grumpy Frog? Does Grumpy Frog think the same things by the end of the story? Who is he friends with now? What makes you grumpy?

We are all different and unique. We don't all communicate in the same way. Some people speak English, some people speak different languages. Some people use their voices to communicate and some people use signs to communicate. Watch the video below and learn some Makaton signs. You could use them when you sing 'Old MacDonald' from your Home Learning Pack. You could watch an episode of 'Something Special' on Cbeebies to learn some more signs too! It'd be great to see videos/ photos of you practising! Email them in to acorns@gladehill.nottingham.sch.uk 

Who has been helping you?

Did you join in with clapping for heroes?

Role-Play being a health worker/ supermarket worker/ other critical worker.

Write a thank you card/ poster to critical workers and put up in your window.

11.01.21

Your child's Home Learning Pack with activities for the next 2 weeks will be delivered to you on MONDAY 11th JANUARY.  Take a look below to see a sneak peek of some things inside your pack. We'll include all of the equipment like pencils, crayons, scissors, glue and play dough that you will need. Please keep these safe. Scroll down the page to see some extra activities and videos from staff for you too.

PSED Activity

We are all wonderful in different ways. It would be very boring if we were all the same! Listen to the story and then talk about what you like about you. You could ask your relatives about what they like about themselves too. You could email us at acorns@gladehill.nottingham.sch.uk and tell us too! 

Can you write a list of what a soldier might need in their bag? Draw this or use words.

Can you make an army style obstacle course around your house?

Hello Everyone.

We are so sorry that we won't be seeing most of you in school for a while, but please know that we are still here to support you as much as we can! You should have received an email about Home Learning for Nursery children moving forward. Please click on the link below if you would like to read the details of this. We feel that work packs including activities for children to complete and equipment they will need are more age-appropriate for the Nursery children. Please help them to complete these at home when you receive your packs and remember to keep everything safe as we'd like the children to bring it to school on their return to celebrate their hard work. 

Please work through the activities below during the rest of this week, until you receive your work pack. Remember to keep checking back each week for messages from staff/ videos of staff sharing stories etc!

Please contact us at acorns@gladehill.nottingham.sch.uk if we can help in anyway and to let us know how you're getting on/ share photos of your children working at home. We'll send them a virtual MarvellousMe badge as a reward for their hard work!

Take Care,

Miss Mills, Mrs Beet and Miss Doel

Phonic Activities/Games

Phonics is the building blocks for reading and writing and it is really important to continue to develop these skills whilst your child is learning at home. Please take a look at the activities below.