Thank you for sending us observations of last week’s learning. We have really enjoyed seeing what the children are doing at home. We have written some positive comments for you to share with your child and on one observation we have written a next step. This should help you are your child to focus on an area of improvement this week. These will be emailed to the linked 2 Build a Profile email address on Monday mornings.

We hope you enjoy this weeks learning. We have highlighted 3 tasks we would like to see observations of this week. These are:

• Writing – Writing sentences about what happens to the seed in each season. (Full details below in ‘Writing Task’ section).
• Maths – Beanstalk height ordering (Full details below in ‘Shape, Space and Measure Tasks’ section)
• Other – You can choose from the activities in Understanding the World, Physical Development, Expressive Arts and Design or Fine Motor Skills.
• You can also send us an observation about what your child has been reading. This way we can try to help suggested how you can move them forward with their reading.

We will give feedback in the same way next week. Please remember that Friday 8th May 2020 is a bank holiday so we have planned for a 4 day week.

This week we are continuing to focus our planning on the story The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. To remind the children of the story, click here to watch Mrs Browne reading it again.

Phonics tasks

• Here are the links to this weeks phonics lessons from the Phonics Hub: You can use your whiteboards for these activities.
• Lesson 1 – zz
• Lesson 2 – qu
• Lesson 3 – ch
• On other days please continue to recap phonemes, blending and spelling using the phonemes and words on your list.
• Use Mr Thorne does phonics to revisit phonemes that your children are finding difficult. Click here to go to his YouTube channel.

Phonics suggestions

• Continue exploring the phonics blending games on the phonics play website. Start with phase 3 but you can also use phases 2 or 4 depending on how you get on. Click here to go to the website.
• Keep working through the activity booklets recommended last week. If you have completed them have a go at these phase 4 sentence and picture matching cards. Find the sheet in the shared drive.
• NB: If these phonics activities are not at the right level for your child there are similar ones available for phase 2 and phase 4 .

Reading tasks

• Continue reading the phonics ebooks available on Oxford Owl. Click here to go to the website.
• Guidelines:
  • Remember to begin by looking at the phonemes and practising the words in the book, building up to reading the whole book over a few days. 
  • Re-read the book each day to build up confidence and fluency. 
  • Talk about the meaning of any new vocabulary and ask lots of questions to develop comprehension skills.

Reading suggestions

• Continue reading stories and sharing any books that you have at home. Encourage the children to join in by blending regular words using the phonemes and digraphs that they have learnt. They can also look out for any of the tricky words that they know.

Story time

Enjoy listening to some stories read especially for you by some of our Reception teachers.

• Watch Mrs Keefe reading a story (recorded live in the classroom this week!). Click here.  
• Watch Miss Quinn reading a story. Click here.
• Watch Mrs Browne reading a story. Click here.
• Watch Miss Simmons reading a story. Click here.
• Watch Mrs Brand (Year 1 teacher) reading a story. Click here.

Writing task

We would like everyone to submit a photo of the activity below. Please take a photograph of your child’s writing and let us know in the comments if they had any support.  (see Reception home learning information sheet). Send it to inbox@2buildaprofile.com. If the photo is not clear you could also email it to the class email address.

• This week we would like you to re watch Mrs Browne’s video reading The Tiny Seed (top of page). Write some sentences about what happens to the seed in each season. This can be done over a few days.
• Some children will be able to write a sentence for each season and some may just choose their favourite season.
• Use the Writing Guidelines and the ‘Every time We Write’ sheet in the shared folder to remind the children of the things that they have to remember when writing. 

Writing challenge

• Make a seed packet by folding an A4 sheet of paper in half. 
• On one side write the name of the plant or flowers you are growing. 
• On the other side write the instructions. 
  • Make a hole in the soil
  • Put the seed in.
  • Cover it with soil etc.
• Use sticky tape to close three sides of the packet
• Fill it with pretend seeds – rice, dried beans etc.

Number tasks

• Daily number games on Number Gym: Please login and click ‘Early Maths’. You will need to enter your personal login. Click here to see instructions to log onto Number Gym. Continue to explore the games we have previously signposted for you. There is another good game using tens frames. To access it, log in and click on ‘The NEW Number Gym’. Select the game ‘Tens Frame Challenge’.  
• Daily counting to 20/Daily counting back from 20.
• Daily 1 more/1 less to 20. (E.g. 1 more than 3 is __ / 1 less than 12 is __)
• Writing numerals to 0-20.
• Count to 100 and sing along to this video. Click here.

This weeks focus: Comparing quantities 

• Watch Numberblocks episode Peekaboo. Discuss the episode with your child. Click here to watch.
• Using the ‘Ladybird cards’ in the shared folder, ask your child to compare the quantities. Ask your child which leaf has more/fewer ladybirds on. Encourage your child to use the language more and fewer. To further your child’s understanding, ask them:
  • I think this leaf has more ladybirds on than this leaf. Am I correct? Can you prove it?
  • Can you tell me a sentence about these leaves and ladybirds? Can you use the language ‘more’ and ‘fewer’?
  • How do you know there are more ladybirds on this leaf?
  • Do the leaves on this side of the cards always have more ladybirds on than this side of the cards?
  • What makes you think this leaf has fewer ladybirds than this leaf?

Number suggestions

• Board games such as snakes and ladders, number lotto, dominoes, dice games.
• Number jigsaws and quizzes.
• Writing number sentences on whiteboards.
• Complete the ‘Odd and Even Sandcastles’ worksheet in the shared folder. 
• Have a look at the ‘Beanstalk Doubles’ sheet in the shared folder. You don’t need to print the sheets out if you don’t want to. You can write the number sentences on your whiteboards or on a piece of paper. 
• Complete the ‘Monsters Adding More’ sheet in the shared folder. 

Shape, Space and Measure tasks

• Talk to your child about the language tall, taller, tallest, short, shorter, and shortest. Print off the ‘Beanstalk Height Ordering’ sheet on the shared drive. Ask your child to order the beanstalks from tallest to shortest. Ask them to explain what they are doing to you as they put them in order. Please write down what your child has said so that you can send this to us in an observation. When you send the observation to us of your child doing this task, please include the ‘child voice’ and tell us if they needed any support e.g. Chris was able to order the height of the beanstalks independently/with some support. As he was doing it, he said, “This one goes here because it is taller than that one. This one is the shortest and this one is the tallest”. 
• If you planted some seeds and they have started to grow, ask your child to compare them. They could compare them to the other shoots or other objects and items in your house. Encourage them to continue using the language stated previously. 
• Using some building bricks (Lego, Duplo, wooden bricks etc.), ask your child to build the height of plants in your garden (if you do not have a garden, use items of furniture). Can they find the tallest? Can they find the shortest? Encourage your child to count the bricks as they build. Question your child to support their comparisons e.g. If this plant was 5 bricks tall and this one was 7, which plant is the tallest/shortest? 
• Take the collage flower or toilet roll beanstalk you have made (see Expressive Arts and Design plans below) around the house/garden and compare it to plants/other objects using the language above.

Shape, Space and Measure suggestion

• Play the ‘Beanstalk Ordering Game’. Click here.

Understanding the World

• We would love to see some photos of how your beans, carrot tops and any other seeds that you have planted are growing!!
• Have a look at the PowerPoint presentation about the lifecycle of a bean in the shared folder. It has a link to a YouTube clip of time lapse photography of a bean growing at the end.
• Can you see the roots and a shoot on the beans or other seeds that you are growing?

Expressive Arts and Design

There are links to the Literacy and the Maths plans below.

• Can you make a collage or painting of a flower that is taller than you like the one in the story. You can then use this to do some measuring around your house or garden. (Links to Shape, Space and Measure plans above). Be as creative as you like. We would love to see some photos of your flowers. You could take a photo of your flower next to you to show us how tall it is.
• As we are continuing to look at the text ‘The Tiny seed’ have a go at listening to this song and see if you can sing along. Click here to listen.
• Continue to explore Purplemash and the games and activities in the Minimash area. Have a look at the garden centre activity and video. Click here to see instructions for parents.
• How are your beanstalks growing? If you haven’t already started: Save the cylinders from the middle of your toilet rolls. Paint or colour them green and start joining them together to begin making your own giant beanstalk. Whose will be the tallest?

Physical Development

• Continue with Joe Wicks daily P.E sessions daily  live at 9am. These can also be accessed at any time during the day on YouTube. 
• Learn some more new games that you can play with the people in your household. This is a great opportunity to spend some time outside. Some games everyone can be involved with are: 
  • Recycled bottle bowling: Make your back garden into a bowling alley by making your own pins from recycled bottles from your house.
  • Nature Scavenger Hunt: In this game, the goal is for children to complete the hunt by finding each item on their list. Create your own list of items for the hunt or use the following ideas: Something round, something straight, two kinds of seeds, something smooth, something rough, a rock, something green, something you think is beautiful, a stick, a leaf, something you think is treasure. Give the children paper bags for collecting their items and see who can be the first one to round up things in nature, like leaves, round things, seeds and treasure.
• Can you beat Miss Quinn in another challenge? She was able to stand on one foot for 20 seconds – Can you beat this? Record the time using a stopwatch and see if you improve you balancing skills.
• Take part in a yoga class, using cosmic kids. Click here for one about ‘Tallulah the Owlet’.
• Listen to BBC Let’s move dance routines; you can involve other members of your household with this. Click here for the enormous turnip part three, a continuation from last week.

Fine Motor Skills

• Find the letter formation activity sheet in the shared folder. This week the children are practicing u, y, v, w.
• Find more fine motor support and activities in the shared folder, these include number formation, a number line, tricky words and the ‘Every Time we Write Poster’ which is useful to revisit before each piece of writing.

PSHE

• This week, the children will be thinking about getting on with other people. Click here to go to the BBC Bitesize page. Watch the video and play the game at the bottom of the page where you have to sort the pictures.