Hello Everyone!!

As the summer holidays are fast approaching this week's home learning is beach/summer related.
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Hope you have fun doing the activities!!

Miss Miller :)

Hello Everyone! Home learning for this fortnight will again be linked to one of Gary the Gorilla's favourite stories. This time he has chosen The Ugly Duckling. Please find a copy of this story attached below. Also attached below is a word document with additional activities.

Gary sat outside in the garden to see if he could spot any birds. He sat quietly and still on the grass so he wouldn't scare away any birds that flew into the garden.

He saw lots of birds flying over the garden, high up in the sky. He also heard lots of birds singing and squawking from the trees.
CHALLENGE: Can you spot different birds in your garden?

Gary asked me, why didn't we see any ducks in the garden? I wonder if you can answer Gary's question!!

Gary wanted to find out the names of the birds we saw and heard in the garden so we're going to use this website to help us!
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-songs/what-bird-is-that/ 
CHALLENGE: Can you find out the names of the birds you saw or heard in your garden?

In the story of The Ugly Duckling, the chicks hatch from eggs. Gary used eggs to  practise his maths skills.

Egg shapes were drawn onto coloured paper and were then cut into various shapes as if a chick had hatched out from the egg. On each piece of the broken egg shell a number was written. Gary then had to look at the numbers on each piece of broken shell, putting them in the correct order to put the egg back together.

CHALLENGE: Can you look at the numbers and put the eggs back together correctly? 

Gary and I talked about how we are all different, special & unique.
We drew self portraits and discussed some of our differences.

Gary said that our eye colour was different. He has orange eyes but Miss Miller has blue eyes.

Gary said that he has brown, fluffy fur but Miss Miller has got long hair instead of fur.

Gary said that he was small but Miss Miller was tall.

There were also differences in our favourite foods, what programmes we liked on the TV and what things we like to do in our spare time!

CHALLENGE: Can you draw a picture of yourself and ask your family to draw a picture of themselves too? Then discuss how you are different.

In the story, the farmer took the ugly duckling in because it was very cold in the winter. I got a variety of clothes out of the cupboard for Gary to look at. 

Gary had to sort the clothes out into clothes to wear in the summer and clothes to wear in the winter.

CHALLENGE: Can you sort clothes into things you would wear in the summer and things you would wear in the winter?

In the story, sadly there were some animals that weren't very kind. Gary started to think about ways in which he could be kind to those around him. Gary then decided he would be kind and help Miss Miller's sister by watering the vegetables in the garden!

CHALLENGE: Can you think of a way to help and be kind to someone else? 

I took a walk around the lake and spent some time watching the ducks and the swans. Perhaps you and your family could go for a walk to a local pond or lake and see if you can spot any swans and ducklings. Here is a little video of what I saw...

All of the activities for this fortnight are linked to another one of Gary's favourite stories- The 3 Little Pigs.

After Gary listened to the story of The 3 Little Pigs several times and completed some of the discussion activities in the document attached at the bottom of the blog Gary drew some pictures of the story.

Gary explained what he had drawn in his picture. He said he had drawn the three little pigs but he had drawn only one house because the nasty wolf had blown the other two houses down.

CHALLENGE: Can you draw a picture and explain to your adult what you have drawn?

Gary had some paint and a kitchen sponge, he had to look at the number on the door and stamp the correct number of bricks onto the house. 
For bigger numbers you may want to use bigger paper or cut the sponge smaller.
CHALLENGE: Can you stamp the correct number of bricks onto your houses? 

Gary thought about the part of the story where the wolf blew the pig's houses down. He wanted to investigate what would happen to objects if he blew air from a balloon pump onto them. He choose 4 items from around the house to test: feather, bottle of squash, cake case and a roll of tape.

Gary found out that some items moved when air was blown onto them from the pump but others didn't move at all.

The feather and the cake case blew along the table and onto the floor whilst the tape and bottle didn't move.

CHALLENGE: Can you investigate what happens when you blow air onto different objects?

As it was rather windy that day Gary decided to sit by the window and watch the effects of the wind out the garden.

He noticed that there were many things that the wind blew around. He also noticed that he could hear the noise of the wind too! Gary could also hear the letterbox making a noise as the wind blew it open and shut.
CHALLENGE: Can you look and listen for the effects of the wind in your home/garden?

Gary was given simple pictures that I had drawn of the three little pigs. They were organised in a line- the 1st little pig, the 2nd little pig and the 3rd little pig. I also had some animal picture cards that I laid on the table.

I gave Gary instructions: put the cat on the 1st little pig, put the duck on the 2nd little pig and put the frog on the 3rd little pig.

I then asked Gary to pretend we were back in school and were lining up to go into our classroom. Gary had to line the animals up correctly putting the cat first, the duck 2nd and the frog 3rd or last.

CHALLENGE: Can you play games with your adult focusing on the words 1st, 2nd, 3rd/last? 

Gary loves mark making and wanted to explore mark making on the different surfaces mentioned in the story. He had a go at mark making on bricks and on wood. We then discussed his experiences. Gary thought that the bricks felt smoother which made writing easier but thought the wood felt bumpy where there were different planks joined together which made writing harder.

CHALLENGE: Can you go outside and have a go at mark making on different surfaces?

Hope you have LOTS of fun doing these activities! Please feel free to get in touch by leaving us a comment below. 

Miss Miller & Gary the Gorilla!!

 As the weather has been beautiful for the last few days- Gary has been out enjoying the garden! Whilst he was out in the garden he was interested in all the little creatures that live in the garden too! So all the activities for this fortnight will be linked to mini beasts.

 I printed off some pictures of mini beasts we might see in the garden.
I have put a link for these photos at the bottom of the blog. On print settings I selected certain pages and then on more settings I put 9 pages to a sheet to save ink/paper.

Gary and I looked at the photos and spent some time learning the names of each mini beast. 

Gary had to find the correct mini beast when I said the name.

We also looked at the pictures and discussed the features of the mini beasts. 

CHALLENGE: Can you name the different mini beasts pictured that you might find in your garden?

,Gary enjoyed playing different games with the mini beast picture cards. He enjoyed playing pairs. But his  favourite was "Guess who" Gary listened to me giving him clues and he had to guess which mini beast I was describing. For example, Gary correctly guessed snail after I said- this mini beast has a shell and leaves a slimy trail. 
CHALLENGE: Can you play pairs & Guess who with your adult?

Gary practised a few of his maths skills with this ladybird.

All you need is a circle cut from red paper/ white paper coloured in red, pieces of paper with numbers 1-10 and little black paper circles.

Gary turned over 2 number cards and placed them either side of his ladybird.

Gary then counted the correct number of spots onto the ladybird.

We then discussed which side of his ladybird had MORE spots.

CHALLENGE: Can you tell your adult which side has MORE spots?

I then put spots either side of the ladybirds body and Gary had to count how many there were and find the correct number.

Gary used these simple sound spiders to practise his sounds.

All I used were pegs with sounds written on them and some black circles with sounds written on the sides.

Gary had to say the sounds as he pegged the spiders 8 legs onto his body.

Gary also said that next time he wanted me to time how quickly he could do it and he would try each day to beat his score!

CHALLENGE: Can you practise the sounds with your sound spider?

Gary was excited to look for mini beasts in the garden. 
He got his recording table ready to take outside with him. First of all we talked about what day of the week it was. After singing the days of the week song together Gary worked out that it was Thursday today.

Once outside, we discussed the weather. Gary said it was sunny and said Mae hi'n heulog- Da iawn Gary!!

CHALLENGE: Can you discuss the day of the week and what the weather is like with your adult?

Gary looked UNDER things to see if he could find any woodlice.

He counted them and drew a line on his paper for each one he saw- there were 8!!

Gary thought that by the flowers would be a good place to look for bees or butterflies. He saw 1 bee by the flowers but it was too quick for him to catch it on camera!!

Gary drew a line in the bee box.

CHALLENGE: Can you count the mini beasts you see in the garden and record them in a table?

Gary is fascinated by snails. He loves to look at the slimy trail they leave behind. 
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Gary made his own slimy snail trail on the floor.

All Gary used was water and a paint brush.

Gary practised writing letters and his name.

CHALLENGE: Can you write letters and your name in the snail slime?

Gary found some flower seeds in the shed- he is excited about planting them in the garden and watching the butterflies and bees. 

CHALLENGE: Can you plant some flowers to attract some butterflies /bees?

Gary the Gorilla has chosen another one of his favourite books- Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, all activities for the fortnight are linked to this story. A copy of this book is attached at the bottom. 

Gary found 3 bears of different sizes.
One big- daddy sized bear, one medium- mammy sized bear and one small- baby sized bear. 

CHALLENGE: Can you find a big- daddy sized bear?
Can you find a medium- mammy sized bear?
Can you find a small- baby sized bear?

Gary found a big brush, a medium sized brush and a small brush.

CHALLENGE: Can you find 3 different sized objects at home?

Gary gave the big brush to daddy bear, the medium sized brush to mammy bear and the small brush to baby bear!

CHALLENGE: Can you give your bears the correct sized item?

Gary then said the sounds and gave the big sounds to daddy bear, the medium sized sounds to mammy bear and the small sounds to baby bear.

CHALLENGE: Can you tell your grown up the sound each letter makes and give them to the correct bear?

Also you could make the sounds in different voices/pitches for each bear. Say the sounds in a deep, low pitched voice for daddy bear or a high, squeaky voice for baby bear.

You could also then say a sound in one of the Bear's voices and they have to go and find the sound from the correct bear.

We then looked in the kitchen for some oats and a baking tray.

The children are used to making marks in things I put in trays in class.

​ I tell them to use one finger, their index finger- rather than sticking their whole hand in.

Gary practised making letters and numbers in the oat tray.

CHALLENGE: Can you make letters and numbers in your oat tray?

Gary felt a bit sorry for baby bear whose chair was broken by Goldilocks. So Gary went looking in the recycling to find some items to make baby bear a new chair.

Gary did well- he made a chair that baby bear could sit in.

We had a discussion about how Gary could make his chair EVEN better. Gary wasn't sure at first, so I asked him some questions. I asked Gary if he thought baby bear's chair would be comfy- he didn't think so. Then he had an idea of how to make it EVEN better- he needed to try and make baby bear's chair comfy.

After much thought, Gary found a washing up sponge which he would use to make his chair more comfy.

Baby bear was pleased, the new improved chair was really soft & comfy!

CHALLENGE: Can you make a chair for baby bear? Can you think about how to make your chair even better?

Now he had made baby bear's chair nice & soft, Gary wanted to find other items that were soft. He also found some things that weren't soft, they were hard.

The blanket was SOFT. The curtains were SOFT.

The wall was HARD. The saucepan was HARD.

CHALLENGE: Can you look for things that are SOFT and HARD?

Hope you enjoy these activities. Any questions feel free to leave a comment or if you just want to let me know what tasks you've had fun with please comment below!

Stay Safe Everyone,

Miss Miller & Gary the Gorilla :) 

All of the activities for this fortnight are again linked to one of Gary the Gorilla's favourite stories. This time he has chosen Jack & the Beanstalk. (I have attached a copy of this story below).

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We used an empty box to create a giants' footprint.

Gary then had to find items from around the house which were bigger or smaller than the giants' footprint.

The TV remote was smaller than the  footprint.

The mop was bigger than the footprint.

CHALLENGE: Can you  find items around your house that are bigger/smaller than the giants' footprint?

We made a beanstalk by using paper and green pens. 

Gary measured how long the beanstalk was using objects from around the house.

The beanstalk was 6 cushions long.

CHALLENGE: Can you use objects from around your house to measure how long the beanstalk is?

See how many different objects you can measure the length of the beanstalk with- shoes, cuddly toys etc.

Written on the back of the leaves were some sounds. 

​Please continue to practise sounds on a daily basis.

When I said a sound, Gary had to go to find the correct leaf.

CHALLENGE: Can you listen to the sounds and find the correct leaves?

Gary also found items that began with each sound and placed them on his beanstalk.

He found a pen and put it on p.

CHALLENGE: Can you find objects that start with the different sounds to put onto your beanstalk?

We drew around our hands on a plain piece of paper.

I then gave Gary 5 "magic beans" and asked him to estimate (make a sensible guess) whether his hand would be able to hold 5 magic beans or if he thought his hand would hold more than 5 or less than 5.

Gary then placed the magic beans onto the palms of both hands and counted them.

We discussed whose hand held the most magic beans.
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We checked to make sure our hands could actually hold that many magic beans.

CHALLENGE: Can you draw around the hands of your family? 

Can you count how many magic beans each person's hand can hold?

Can you discuss whose hand held the most beans?

Gary drew a small picture of Jack and placed him next to some gigantic furniture. He used the Ipad to take photos of him.

CHALLENGE: Can you take photographs of Jack next to some gigantic furniture using an Ipad/phone/other device?

Gary had a look through the kitchen cupboards/freezer to see if he could find any other kind of beans. 

He didn't find any magic beans but he did find green beans, haricot beans, baked beans and cannellini beans.

CHALLENGE: What different kinds of beans do you have at home?

Gary used his imagination to think about what might grow from these different kinds of bean if he planted them.

Gary drew a picture of a green bean man who can run very fast.

CHALLENGE: Can you think of some inventive ideas about what may grow from the different beans in your house and                                                        draw a picture?

I've also attached a word document with some additional activities.
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If you need any help or support with the tasks comment below and I will get back to you.

Also feel free to leave a comment to let us know what activities you've been enjoying!

Stay safe everyone- hope to see you very soon!

Miss Miller & Gary the Gorilla :)

All the activities for this fortnight are linked to one of Gary the Gorilla's favourite stories- The Gingerbread Man. There is an attachment with a copy of the story below.

Here are some of the activities Gary has enjoyed and wants to share with all his friends in Nursery class!

Gary had some help to draw and cut out 10 gingerbread men shapes.

​We used these in a variety of activities. 

No snazzy craft materials needed- our gingerbread men have been cut out from empty cereal boxes.

Gary then took his numbered gingerbread men, some pegs and a clothes airer out into the garden.

Gary pegged his gingerbread men (in any order this time) onto the airer. Opening and closing pegs is great for strengthening little fingers for writing. 

CHALLENGE: Can you peg your gingerbread men onto a washing line/ clothes airer?

Once Gary was  able to peg his gingerbread men onto the airer we moved onto this task.

Gary again pegged the gingerbread men onto the airer. This time he pegged them in the correct numerical order from 1-10.

CHALLENGE: Can you peg your gingerbread men in the correct order?

Begin with ordering 1-3, then 1-5 and then extend to ordering 1-10. 

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Gary was then blindfolded whilst a number was taken and hidden in the garden. Gary had to look at the numbers and say which number was missing before he could go and look for it in the garden.
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Gary then practised his counting using his gingerbread men. He looked at the number and carefully counted out the correct number of pompoms onto each gingerbread men. 

CHALLENGE: Can you count the correct number of objects onto your gingerbread men?

A line was drawn down the middle of one of Gary's gingerbread men. A pattern was made on one side of the gingerbread man.

Gary had to make it the same on the other side.

Gary looked carefully he saw that there was a blue pompom on the gingerbread man's arm so he put a blue pompom on the other arm.

He saw there was a green pompom on his foot so he put a green pompom on his other foot etc.

CHALLENGE: can you copy a pattern to make your gingerbread look symmetrical? 

Gary went for a rummage in the recycling area to find some materials which he would need for his next challenge- Making a trap to catch the gingerbread man!





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CHALLENGE: Can you make a trap to catch the gingerbread man?

Gary thought carfeully about each part of his gingerbread man trap....

In the bridge was a secret gingerbread man sized hole, which he would fall through and land in the gingerbread catcher container at the bottom. Once inside a cover would close ensuring he couldn't get out.

CHALLENGE: Can you explain your gingerbread man trap to your adult?
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Can you answer questions about the different parts of your trap? 

Gary then had to decide where the best place to lay the trap would be.

He had a few ideas.

First he thought he could put it by the kitchen door to catch him before he ran outside. However, he then thought that perhaps the gingerbread man may jump out of the window instead of going out of the door.

Gary then decided he would put it underneath the oven so any runaway gingerbread men could be caught instantly!

CHALLENGE: Can you think of a place to lay your trap and tell you adult why you want to put it there?

Gary the Gorilla has been missing the boys & girls and is sad that he can't enjoy his usual weekend excursions (A big thank you to parents/carers who have filled his Weekend book with such lovely pictures & adventures).

​But he has been very, very busy doing some home learning of his own! 

Gary has been practising recognising his name.

He had pieces of paper with names written on them. Some said his name, others didn't. Gary had to create 2 piles, one which had the pieces with his name on and another pile with the pieces that didn't.

Gary has been practising finding the letters that are in his name. He then put them together in the correct order to spell his name.

Gary has been practising writing his name.

​CHALLENGE: Can you practise writing your name?

To begin with children can overwrite a highlighter/felt pen, then progress to forming the letters independently. If they struggle with forming a particular letter get them to practise this letter on its own (like Gary is practising a).

Easter egg fun!
Gary used some Easter eggs (just cut out from coloured paper- if you don't have coloured paper- empty cardboard/cereal boxes cut out will work!) to practise lots of important maths skills.

To practise the skills, your eggs will need to be different colours and different sizes.

Gary created a repeating pattern with his Easter eggs.

CHALLENGE: Can you use your Easter eggs to create your own repeating pattern?

I've attached some other documents with additional things to do. Please feel free to leave a comment below if you have a question/query about an activity or you just want to let us know what activities you've enjoyed. 

Keep safe everyone and wishing you a very Happy Easter!

Miss Miller and Gary the Gorilla :)