Hello Crocodiles and Elephants,

I have some exciting news: our caterpillars are just starting to change into their chrysalises. They started on Thursday heading up to the top of the pot to hang upside down.

Oswin is very confused about what is happening but is still keeping them company. I wonder what she will think when they turn into butterflies. Once the last caterpillar moves to the top I will transfer them to the butterfly net so they can spread their wings when they come out.

Writing

This week I have a song that you can learn to sing called ‘If I Were a Minibeast’ which you can find here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eajwaH0_2c

This got me thinking about what minibeast I would like to be. This was my idea:

Could you make your own, thinking about what minibeast you would like to be and why. Remember to use your phonics strips, finger space sticks, tricky words mats and to try and use a conjunction to create an extended sentence. I look forward to seeing your ideas!

Phonics and Reading

This week we are continuing to learn how to build bigger words.

We are continuing to look at CCVCC words where there are two consonants, a vowel and then a final consonant at the start as well as the end. For example, spell and crept.

There are games in Education City- Subjects- English-F2- Letters and sounds- Phase 4 and 5. Please encourage the children to play these games, along with any others of their choice.

Please play stamp and grunt

There are lots of games you can play with these words that you already know such as pairs games, hangman, writing on ground grass, sky boards, magnetic letters, eye spy, anagrams, buried treasure in the sand etc.

More games can be found at https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/Phase4Menu.htm

This week on Espresso (which you can login to through the SIMS ID login):

Please can you play the game called words beginning and ending CC.

Please watch the video called words beginning and ending CC

Finally, there are 3 games we would like you to play in the activities section.

Please let us know if you are having problems signing into SIMS ID.

In Espresso please play the alien word and  tricky word games shown here.

For reading this week, we have allocated either 2 or 4 books on Bug Club at the appropriate level for your child to read and answer the questions to the quizzes as they go by clicking on the bugs so we can see how they are doing. We have ensured all children have the minimum books allocated to them as of Sunday afternoon.

Maths

Hello Crocodiles and Elephants,

This week I went on minibeast hunts during my daily walks. I found many different minibeasts and I would like you to help me sort them into different groups. When we have done sorting in school we have used special sorting hoops that have over lapped and look like this:

If you have two hula-hoops at home, you could use those. If you don’t, then you could ask a grown up to draw two over-lapping circles on a piece of paper or you can print of the sheets I have put on the website. I have also put pictures of the minibeasts I saw for you to print off but if you can’t, you could draw pictures of them or write their names onto paper.

Can you remember how we sort with the sorting circles? Can you tell your grownup? Don’t worry if you can’t, here is an example to help you remember:

These sorting circles have been used to sort some autumn leaves, do you remember when Elmer the Elephant asked us to do that? One side of the hoops is where all the yellow leaves go, the other side is for the red leaves and then section in the middle is for leaves that are yellow and red, they go into the middle because they are both.

Before you sort the minibeasts, I wonder if you can estimate how many there are? Estimating is when you look at a set of objects and make a sensible guess about how many there are. You can then count the minibeasts to see if your estimate was accurate.

Happy sorting!

Mrs Fogwill

Computing

This week, could you create your own pairs minibeast game? Watch the videos to see how to do it.

Don't forget you can still use and watch News Bites every week too in Espresso.

Creative

Hello Crocodiles and Elephants,

We have looked at a lot of different minibeasts and we bet you are all minibeast experts now.

This week to begin with we would like you go on a minibeast hunt.  It could be in your garden or when you are having a walk with your grown up.  There are lots of minibeasts around at the moment because they love the warm sunny weather we are having.

Every minibeast lives in a home which is perfect for them, the home needs to give them food, water, shelter and space to move around.  This is called a ‘habitat’, that’s a really grown up word isn’t it?

When you go on your minibeast hunt, look carefully to see what each minibeast habitat looks likes.

Here are some clues to help you guess which minibeast we would like you to make a habitat for:

• This minibeast you often pick up and bring to us on the playground, in the outdoor classroom and especially at Forest School.

• This minibeast doesn’t have eyes, it can sense light but doesn’t like the light.

• This minibeast breathes through its skin.

• This minibeast needs to stay moist (wet) to stay alive.

• This minibeast lives in the soil but must come to the surface when it rains or it will drown.

• This minibeast has lots and lots of little rings around its body, called segments.

• This minibeast can be as small as 1mm or as big as 3 metres!

• This minibeast has no arms or legs.

• This minibeast has tiny hairs all over its body.  The hairs are to help it move.

• This minibeast eats dead leaves, plants, flowers, old fruit and vegetables.

Have you guessed which minibeast it is?  That’s right, it’s a worm!

Like a lot of minibeasts, worms are very important in our garden, they fertilise our soil with their poo so we can grow beautiful plants, flowers and trees.

This week would like you to make a wormery.   

We have some instructions to show you how.

As always, please ask your grown up to send us a photograph, we love to see what you have made!

Happy worm hunting!