Learning at home
Please remember to scroll down to see previous posts, links and ideas.
Easter Holidays 2020
Well, here we are in the strangest Easter 'holidays' of our teaching careers and quite possibly our lives. School remains open for key worker children and so we are posting new resources here for you to use if you want to over this fortnight. From talking to our families, we know that some of you are keen to keep going with the learning routines you've established already whilst others want to take a break. Whichever you choose, you are doing the right thing!
Accelerated Reader is now live for use at home. Click on the picture at the side and your child can log in exactly as they do at school. Happy quizzing!
They are also posting two daily Easter Fun activities if you fancy something different.
Pobble 365 have also suggested 25 Non-Screen Activities that you might want to try.
Robin Hood MAT's learning activities for the next fortnight are Week 2: The area you live in and week 3: Viewpoints. Again, we are posting their suggestions all the way from EYFS to Y6 so you can pick and choose activities that work for you and your family.
Area you live in: Y5/6 Y3/4 Y1/2 EYFS
Viewpoints: Y5/6 Y3/4 Y1/2 EYFS
If you fancy something different, why not take a virtual tour of a museum, gallery or zoo. Google virtual tours and there are lots available but a few good ones to start you off are:
Finally, a few suggestions for activities that are a little different:
Starters for STEM (linked to Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)
Primary Science Activities to do at home
Focus Trust MAT has also put together a number of fun activities to do at home, including scavenger hunts, more STEM activities and ways for children to help their family.
30.3.20
Good morning all!
We are planning to upload new resources each week for learning at home. As Mr Cates wrote on Friday, these are intended to support you and should be used in whichever way best suits your family circumstances. Home isn't school (and shouldn't be!) but by working together and supporting each other, we can best support our children.
The core of our weekly provision will be based on resources generously shared by the Robin Hood MAT. These cover EYFS to Y6 and have a weekly theme so should make it easier for those of you with children in different year groups - we'd suggest you pick and choose the activities that work best for you and complete them as a family rather than having everyone doing something different. They also have a mix of on and offline activities which may help avert technical (or sharing) issues! The theme for the first week is MY FAMILY.
New spelling lists will go live on Spelling Frame each Monday but children can also gain points by playing or testing on any previous lists.
Mr Gibson has also set a new challenge on TT Rockstars for this week : )
Other sites you may be interested in include:
Carol Vorderman's Maths Factor - usually a charged for site but free at the moment.
Explore More - a story site where you and you family can become Troll Hunters this week.
Lego.com - games, activities and 'Build Together' challenges.
Cosmic Kids Yoga - search on You Tube and there are a variety linked to Pokemon, Harry Potter, Frozen etc - lots of fun for you all!
Please remember to make home learning work for you and your family.
27.03.20
Dear Everyone - we very much hope you are safe and managing these strange times.
It has been extremely odd in school this week but we hope we've been a safe place for the children of Key Workers and others to come. Thank you to all of you who have been able to arrange to keep your children at home - this has made things more manageable in school although like us I imagine you are feeling rather frazzled and pretty emotional after week 1.
Learning Days
We do NOT expect you to replicate school at home. This could lead to all sorts of falling out between you and your children at a time when emotions are already running high.
The work packs that we sent home (and will be providing on the website in the coming weeks) are to support you with filling the days at home with some purposeful and hopefully interesting learning. They do not need to be completed by the end of week 1,2, 3 etc and we are aware that some children (and families) will enjoy dipping into them whilst others will prefer to work systematically through them. Both of these and anything in between is fine.
You must NOT feel that you have to do 6 hours of solid learning each day (although if you can that's incredible and we'd like to know how you've done it!) and we want to say that every little bit of learning each day is a bonus. We are also aware that some families do not have easy access to the internet so TTRockstars / Spelling Frame and many other resources are nigh on impossible to access at the moment.
Learning takes many forms and if you are cooking, teaching household tasks, reading, talking, watching programmes and exercising together, that all counts as learning. We're sure you are doing a brilliant job!
We know some parents are Key Workers doing their bit to support the fight against COVID-19. For you, Learning at Home will be especially hard going when all you want to do is have a cuddle at the end of a hard day's shift.
We might suggest (not expect) that a daily dose of learning could include;
- Reading (independently and as family groups) - Listen to your child read, read with them and to them, listen to online books and read, read, read!
- Writing - Keep a diary/scrapbook/journal of their days. This is an event that will be in the history books and how amazing to have a personal record of this time when your children are parents themselves?
- Maths - Use TTRockstars, Numbots and Spelling Frame if you have the internet. If not, practise times tables with your child plus the inverse (ask them, they should know!) (Helpful hint - the division facts that go with multiplications 7x6 = 42, 42 divided by 6 = 7 etc)
- The CGP books - an exercise every other day
- Learning Pack - dip in and out of this to suit
- Weekly Learning Packs for next week and onwards (published Monday lunchtime-ish) dip in and out of the resources
- Teach them to - tell the time (digital, analogue and 24 hour- tie shoelaces - use a knife and fork correctly (Mr Cates' favourite), boil an egg, work the washing machine, fold clothes or even better put them away!!, bake a cake, put a duvet cover on (preparation for White Hall and London residentials!
- Gardening / den building / whittling - use a potato peeler / rock painting
Texts are being sent from your child's class teachers - some of whom are working from home whilst others are in school. Please regard them as reminders and a way of letting your child know that they are being thought of. The texts may also help you to encourage (bribe) them onto online learning Miss / Mr ....is keeping an eye on you! They are not in any way a deliberate or accidental criticism of you and what you are doing
The last thing we want is for learning at home to be stressful. Make the most of the garden (wet or dry), build in the exercise slot to break up the day and please keep in contact if things are required.
We have personally contacted many of you this week and will continue to contact more of you next week just as a way of saying to the children that they are firmly in our thoughts.
Mr Cates
20.03.2020
Due to the unfamiliar situation we are currently in, we wanted to remind parents about the resources currently available to support learning at home and signpost a few others that might be of use.
The single most important thing you and your child can do is read. Children have their Accelerated Reading ZPD book but should also be encouraged to read as much and as widely as possible. On-line reading materials are available at OXFORD OWL.
Children are bringing their CGP Homework Books home daily. If your child is off school due to self-isolation, please encourage them to complete one activity per book a day.
Please encourage them to complete TTROCKSTARS, NUMBOTS and SPELLING FRAME activities daily. All children have their individual log ons and passwords. We recognise that, as these are online, not everyone will have access to them.
There are also termly homework grids under the year group tabs that children can complete independently or as a family activity.
In the Learning Zone tab there are also some individual subject website links that will enable learning in these areas.
BBC Bitesize KS2 is a useful website that provides many subject specific activities and information.
Go Noodle is a useful website that is sometimes used in class and by our PE coaches that might provide an opportunity for the whole family to have a giggle whilst keeping active.
Many museums and zoos have also launched interactive tours which would allow children to follow particular interests or develop new ones.
Please remember to oversee your child's internet usage and remind them to be SMART at all times.
Now that we have been directed to close by the Government teacher energies will be redirected to planning learning packages for all families to work on with their children whilst managing the learning of some children within school.
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