Term 3
January 24td 2021
ACE Centre Nursery School
Home Learning Newsletter no.3
Dear Parents and Carers,
We are now well into January at school and for those of you who are remaining at home for the time being, we hope your home learning routines are going well and that you are enjoying doing some of the activities we have described. Are you finding some of the links we have suggested helpful? Have you enjoyed listening to the stories we have recorded for you? It would be great to get your feedback and requests for any particular interests or requests.
This coming week we have four great recordings – and fresh ideas for you to have a go at. Thank you also for sending in some pictures of what you have been doing. We will share these in the section below “What we have all been doing this past week”.
Story Video One
Georgia has recorded two stories this week. First, Sleepy Places by Julie Hindley :
Do you have places you like to have a little sleep during your day at home? Maybe you could make a den or a nest or an indoor camp and listen to this story and then have a snooze.
Story Video Two
Well, what can I say about this one – only that you will enjoy it!
Amy and Martha are reading
Make sure you clear a big space before you start! You may be inspired to join in!
Story Video Three
The Little Raindrop by Joanna Gray. Click in this link:
We have had this story at school this week as we couldn’t beat the weather, so we joined it in style; we whipped up a study of wind, rain, cold, cloud, sun and frost.
We looked for rainbows in the sun and rain, but couldn’t find one, so here is a link to learning to find out more about them:
Link to Learning
What is a rainbow?
A rainbow is a weather event formed when sunlight light shines through droplets of water, hanging in the air. The colours of the rainbow are: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
Find out more with this video.
Make your own rainbow
You can fill a clear glass cup with water (about 3/4 full) and use it as a prism. Find a sunny spot and put the glass in front of it and aim towards white paper – you will see a rainbow! It works! See if you can get some photos of it – or draw a picture!
What we have all been learning this week
WIND: it blows the clouds, its good for kites because it fills them with air and blows them too.
A Challenge
Feel the wind
‘Wind Dancer’ with a music player with whirling swirling music, thin floaty scarves and ribbons, thin floaty material. Play the music and make a wind dance. Even better if you have a fan.
RAIN: Rain clouds are grey and made of raindrops. when the rain drops are too heavy to stay in the air they fall down to earth and it rains.
A Challenge
Just in case it rains next week – here are 10 really good adventures and experiences to have in the rain. Choose one to turn a rainy day into a fabulous day! Click on this link:
https://www.earlyyearsresources.co.uk/blog/2016/06/10-amazing-rainy-day-activities/
ICE: It cracks when you cycle on it, it melts when you put a warm hand on it, you can touch it, its cold frozen water, you can see through it, make a picture of it, put it in an ice pie, the sun melts it and it goes away as the day warms up.
ICE CHALLENGE
You will need:
- Various containers to fill with water
- Water
- Fruit juice/food colouring (e.g. peppermint, lemon)
- Glitter or plastic animals and shapes
Instructions:
- First, have fun deciding what shapes you would like to create – for example you could fill balloons, an ice cube tray, jelly mould or a bowl with water to freeze.
- In some of the vessels, add some food colouring or juice to change the colour and add a smell. Adding plastic animals, shapes can help you extend a theme or interest.
- Freeze your containers until the water is solid.
- Put the shapes onto a tray (or similar) and then explore the ice shapes with the children.
- You could ask “What does this feel like?” and then support children’s developing language. For younger children you could model touching the ice and appropriate words such as “cold” and “slippery”.
Further development:
- Make three ice blocks and add salt to one, sugar to another and cinnamon (or another spice) to the third block. Talk about the smells and textures of these added ingredients and then explore which one makes the ice melt the quickest.
- If the weather allows you could put a plastic container of water outdoors overnight and see if the water freezes outside, or find an icicle and bring that indoors to watch it melt.
Below are some of the lovely photos and news which you have sent in to share.
You were all busy learning at home as well. Lily was learning to do straight lines and circles and tracing dots 🙂
Atti was busy cooking. He was making delicious biscuits. What do you like cooking at home?
Story Video Four
This is an extra story this week, that everyone can enjoy!
A Maths Video Story
Jenny is reading One Fox. You have enjoyed this one before, but we wanted you to have it again to practice counting.
A Challenge
Can you make your own counting book? We would love to see what you can do! Find 1 thing, bring it back to your book and draw it. Your mum or dad will help you write the number; then, find two of the same things and repeat till you get to 5 …..
What number comes next?
6…… or 4 ….
Finally – Poetry Basket Challenge
Watch our poems below, then learn a poem you like and send us a video of you reciting the poem and doing the actions!
Poems
Cup of Tea by Marlena and Issy
Breezy Weather by Jenny and Lexy
More Links to Learning (so much to explore here so we are including these each week)
- BBC Number Blocksis a really good way of helping children practise their early number skills and there are also activity ideas here to go with the programmes as well as Number Blocks games to play online.
You could watch one programme each day as part of your Home Learning with a short activity to follow up the programme. Remember, the programmes get progressively more difficult so find the Series that is right for your child as a starting point and go from there – you can always go back to programmes to remind your child and reinforce what your child has been learning.
- Hungry Little Mindsis a website that offers activity ideas for children aged 0-5 years old. They also provide links to age-appropriate apps that have been carefully selected for pre-school children.
- Click herefor the link to Government guidance on ‘Helping children aged 2 to 4 learn at home during lockdown’
With our best wishes,
The ACE Centre Nursery School Team