Ideas for everyone: Week 5
Below are this week's new activities to access (full version on desktop, internet links only on mobile version). As previously, there is no prescriptive set of activities for any individual child but a selection to choose from based on your child's needs and interests. You may already still have lots to do - that's fine - these new activities are here for if you want or need them.
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Miss Campling, Mr Quilter and Mrs Haley continue to monitor the closure@greattotham.essex.sch.uk email address should you need support with your child's learning. Any concerns about your child's social and emotional health should be directed to Mrs Lawrence or Miss Cleghorn.
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We understand the children will want to keep in touch with their friends during this time and recognise how important it is. Could we ask that you recap e safety rules with the children and also remind them that any messages sent via social media should be kind. It can be easy for the children to forget when they are not face to face with people. You can support this through regularly monitoring the groups and apps your child is using. Please also refer to the ParentMail sent on Monday 6th April recapping e-safety rules and reporting.
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All children, no matter what their age and ability, should be reading and being read to, at least once a day. Why not make a 'Book of the day' and complete activities around it?
There are many audiobooks available free online - we understand that 'Audible' has opened it's subcription as free.
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Internet based resources
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A wide variety of educational resource providers have kindly opened their websites with extended free trials to support families with school closures. Please select activities as appropriate for your child based on advice of target areas at the recent parents evening.
Please note: we are led to believe these resources are free but we have not assessed each one individually - there is NO expectation from the school that any of these sites need to be accessed. The choice lies with you as a family, including knowing when free trials may end. These click-to-follow links are signposts to sites we are aware of but not explored; the appropriateness of each site needs to be assessed by an adult within the family.
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The BBC have this week started their offer of home learning support.
There is a schedule for the BBC BiteSize aspect - please click the BiteSize picture to access it.
We anticipate that more information will become available soon about the iPlayer and podcast options.
Wide variety of information, games and activities on a wide variety of topics.
Printable resources for a wide variety of subject areas.
Online platform for computer programming practice.
Some lovely activities for our young constructors.
BBC touch typing resource.
Wide variety of information, games and activities on a wide variety of topics.
Activities to support children's health and well-being at home.
Lots of online reading books - lots of different categories. Select a level on the top right hand corner.
Activities, ideas and book recommendations for different age groups.
Wide range of activities, games, recommendations and ideas.
The Reading Realm - App for Apple devices. Activities and games linked to texts.
Free ebooks, reading activities and reading, English and maths activities and support.
Online times tables games.
Read something new - find something out! Activities, games, quizzes and resources.
Some lovely activities for our young constructors.
Concerned with nature and the outdoors, this organisation offers outdoor, mindfulness and reflective activities.
Printable and online resources for maths and English.
Online games and activities for a variety of subject areas.
Games and resources for spelling.
Free support with learning languages.
Online maths games.
Online maths games.
10 minute game ideas to keep active.
Online maths and English games.
Reception, Year 1 and Year 2
Websites and activities to have a look at
Phonics play is now free during the closure period using
username: march20 password: home
Have an explore!
Mr Thorne does phonics - search him on YouTube, there are videos for lots of sounds.
This week we are learning about ponds and the animals that live in them.
Where possible, when you are completing your daily exercise you could visit a place with a pond, river, lake or stream. You may even have a pond in your garden. What animals can you see? Can you describe the habitat they live in? What types of plants can you see?
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Try this quiz on pond habitats
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You could create a fact sheet about one of the animals that live in or around ponds. This site has lots of information about pond animals.
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There are also some books on Rivet about ponds. You can use the link on the website to find them.
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Share the frog prince story.
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Can you write your own story of the frog prince and draw some illustrations for your story? Or write a diary from the point of view of the frog or the princess. How would you feel if you had to live with a frog? How would you feel if you had been turned into a frog? You could make your own puppet show to retell the story.
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There are lots of poems about pond creatures.
Can you create an acrostic poem about a dragonfly?
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Learn about the frog lifecycle by watching this video.
Now have a go at creating the lifecycle of a frog.
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Can you help the turtle find a route to the pond in this fun interactive game?
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You could try this balancing dragonfly experiment.
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Make a picture of a pond. You could draw, paint or create a collage. There are some videos to show you how to draw animals you might find at a pond.
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Reception additional printable resources - click to download and print
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Year 1 additional printable resources - click to download and print
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Year 2 additional printable resources - click to download and print
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Non-fiction word reading revision mat
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Year 3
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This week at school the children will be exploring the school pond which has undergone a complete revamp thanks to PTFA funding. Below you will find some activities linked to ponds and mini beasts to join in the fun from home.
Maths
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This week the focus is on shapes and angles. There are also worksheets set on MyMaths.co.uk to help the children. As before, if unsure of how to complete these tasks, please refer to the MyMath.co.uk lessons available with each worksheet or contact the closures email account for further guidance. Don’t forget those times tables and play countdown: both simple ways to build number fluency skills.
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These websites are also useful to practise and revise the maths skills we have focussed on this week (HWB links are two different ones and requires Flash Player to be enabled)..
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English
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A picture prompt has been provided on this document, but feel free to use any other pictures of ponds that have, and some ideas to get the children writing. Push the children to think outside the box and write with imagination. Spend a small amount of time discussing ideas and helping them develop their creative writing. A small amount of prep work can go a long way! Sharing ideas certainly helps and makes a world of difference to what the children produce.
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Spelling
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You will find a spelling crossword and spelling activity mats for the year 3/4 statutory word list.
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Cross word Spelling activity packs Spelling list
Grammar and punctuation
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Much like the spelling, here are some activity mats to complete. They are fairly short activities.
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Reading Comprehension
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Please find 4 reading comprehensions based on building inference skills and revising retrieval style questions.
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Art week 5 (continued project)
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Now you should have all the skills you need to create your very own LS Lowry cityscape. Have a go a creating your own now using your perspective skills and the work you have learnt about how Lowry drew people and buildings. These are the skills you have been practising over the last few weeks.
Some interesting ways to be inspired by Claude Monet, an artist famous for his pond and waterlilies paintings. Some fun art activities can be found on this document.
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Try this simple step by step guide to drawing a Why not try this step by step approach to drawing
pond skater with some interesting facts too a pond scene
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Science
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Play top trumps with mini beasts or create your very own superhero based on the special abilities of some pond insects.
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Pond Top Trumps Pond Superheroes
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There are a full range of DT, Art, Science, Geography and English activities related to ponds on this ARG UK web pack (click picture to link).
I particularly liked the hopping frog and ‘ponds on a map activity’.
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History
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Learn a little about the Roman Empire, how they treated slaves and entertained themselves with this gladiator game. Did you know there was a chariot racing track in Colchester in Roman times as well as a gladiatorial theatre?
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Why not read some of the information found on this website and see how far you can get with the questions in the quizzes tab?
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Geography
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Here is a chance to revise your eight points of the compass.
Read the questions carefully! It is not as easy as it first appears.
DT
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Make a hopping frog with your origami skills – don’t forget to give your folds a
super keen crease so the frog hops well.
PE
Try out your dance moves with a partner using the prompts found here.
Try using 2 old towels or other suitable household objects. Can you get to the end of the garden with a family member?
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No hoops? Use things around the house just don’t jump on them!
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Frog symphony; a much slower and easier pace than
previous weeks but perhaps not quite as tuneful!
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How about this fish dance routine?
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Computing
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Try this scratch activity. If you click ‘look inside’ you will see all the programming you need to make the game. Don’t forget to look at each individual character in the bottom right corner, as they all have different programming blocks. With a little investigation we're sure you could rise to the challenge!
You can never spend enough time working on your typing skills, try these activities and improve your speed. In this digital word, being able to type well will be a huge advantage to you.
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Music
Explore the interrelated dimensions of sound. Watch the videos and try the quizzes.
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Just for fun
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Another creative activity that should keep you thinking logically and help with your problem solving skills. This one is called ‘Plan the School Fete’.
Year 4 - as Year 3, with the exception of Maths, English and History (as below)
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Maths
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This week the focus is on co-ordinates in the first quadrant and also on distributive law. Included in some of the activities are explanations of both concepts. There are also worksheets set on MyMaths.co.uk to help the children. As before, if unsure of how to complete these tasks, please refer to the MyMath.co.uk lessons available with each worksheet or contact the closures email account for further guidance. Don’t forget those times tables and play countdown: both simple ways to build number fluency skills.
These websites are also useful to practise and revise the maths skills we have focused on this week.
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(Only in first quadrant though)
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English
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A picture prompt has been provided on this document, but feel free to use any other pictures of ponds that have, and some ideas to get the children writing. Push the children to think outside the box and write with imagination. Spend a small amount of time discussing ideas and helping them develop their creative writing. A small amount of prep work can go along way! Sharing ideas certainly helps and makes a world of difference to what the children produce.
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Spelling
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You will find some spelling crossword and spelling activity mats for the year 3/4 statutory word list.
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Cross word Spelling activity packs Spelling list
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Grammar and punctuation
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Much like the spelling, here are some activity mats to complete. They are fairly short activities.
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Reading Comprehension
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Please find 3 reading comprehensions (a poem, story and non-fiction text) with questions and activities linked to the text, take a challenge and complete the extensions.
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History
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Imagine yourself as an evacuee by reading the information and writing a letter as if you had just been evacuated. Think really carefully about how to use vocabulary to hep the reader understand how you feel as an evacuee.
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Why not read the interactive information about the different places WWII took place and create a quiz for someone to answer? Use this website to help you:
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Just for fun
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Another creative activity that should keep you thinking logically and help with your problem solving skills. This one is called ‘A problem in Scrufton’.
Year 5 and 6 Pond themed activities
Y5/6 This week in school, the children are finding out about ponds and pond life. You may like to try some of the activities below:
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Science
This pack has lots of information about pond life. You could use some of the pond wildlife information to help you complete the activities below.
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More information about food chains.
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Interactive activities based around food and feeding.
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Food chains and webs: Use the food chain in a pond photos to create a food chain for a pond. If you can print them, you can cut the pictures out or otherwise try to draw them. Make sure you remember which way your arrows need to go! To extend your work, you could make a food web. You may need to do some research online to find out what is eaten by what. The food web information page may help you.
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Frog life cycles: Read the frog life cycles information page. Find out about the life cycle of another pond animal or plant and create your own diagram of its life cycle.
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Art
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Make a hopping frog
Create a picture of a pond using a medium of your choice. You could draw or paint, make a collage or even a model, depending on the resources you have available.
Year 5
English
Use the English activities sheet. The work is based around a short story by Kevin Crossley-Holland called Butterflies.
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Spelling
Try these spelling games
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Maths
The website link will take you to the White Rose Home Learning Page. You should be on Week 2. The videos will help to support learning of decimals, fractions and percentages. You can access the worksheets online or via the links on the website.
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Lesson 1 – Rounding decimals
Lesson 2 – Order and compare decimals
Lesson 3 – Understand percentages
Lesson 4 – Percentages as fractions and decimals
Lesson 5 – Equivalent FDP
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Use MyMaths to help you revise – go to the library – number – decimals and look for Y5 lessons. You could even try the homework activities for fun!
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The website link takes you to the NRich website where you can play nice or nasty – game 4 links well to the work on decimals. You can also download the instructions and scoring sheet using the links.
NRich Nice or Nasty Instructions
NRich Nice or Nasty scoring sheet
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Beam Decimal Jigsaw – cut out the pieces and remake the decimal grid.
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Keep practising your times-tables recall.
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Design Technology
Links and sliders – make a moving picture. You could try to base your picture around plants and animals found in a pond.
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Computing
Make a chase game. Can you change the sprite to link it to a pond creature?
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French
Complete the worksheet to label the parts of the body.
Year 6
English
Activity 1: around Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Activity 2: Spelling, punctuation and grammar.
The advanced punctuation activity has two sets of questions. Choose whether to complete the expected or greater depth level for each sheet.
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Activity 3: Character description
Read back through the extracts introducing Hagrid. Draw your own labelled picture of him with his huge coat laden with useful items. Include as many of the things mentioned in the text as you can.
Write a character description of Hagrid, using interesting vocabulary, different sentence openers and a range of advanced punctuation.
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Activity 4: Writing in role. Imagine you are Harry and you have just received the news that you are a wizard. Write a diary entry about your thoughts and feelings based on the events in the extracts you have read. Make sure you use your Y6 writing skills!
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Spelling
Words with the long vowel sound ‘i’ spelt with a y
Maths
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The website link will take you to the White Rose Home Learning Page. You should be on Summer Week 1. The videos will help to support learning of angles. You can access the worksheets online or via the links on the website.
Lesson 1 – Vertically opposite angles
Lesson 2 – Angles in a triangle
Lesson 3 – Angles in a triangle – special cases
Lesson 4 – Angles in a triangle – missing angles
Lesson 5 – Angles in special quadrilaterals
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Use My Maths – library – number – ratio to find lesson examples and you could even try the homework just for fun!
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Problem solving activity linking angles to with clock faces.
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Making Maths – making equilateral triangles form paper and creating patterns.
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Olympic turns and angles – an activity to get you thinking!
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Keep practising your times-tables recall.
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Computing
Make a chase game. Can you change the sprite to link it to a pond creature?
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Design Technology
Links and sliders – make a moving picture. You could try to base your picture around plants and animals found in a pond.
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French
Complete the worksheet on the verb - faire
