Week Four: Monday 27th April

Hi Badgers and Squirrels, welcome to another week of Holwell Home-Learning. We hope you are all safe and well, and enjoying spending this time with your families. It has been so lovely to receive lots of emails, photographs and videos of the fantastic learning you have been doing at home, and a huge thank you to all your Mummies and Daddies who have been helping you explore the stories.

First of all, make sure you look at the Creepy Crawly Caterpillars page for the latest updates about our beautiful butterflies! We hope you have enjoyed seeing them grow and change.

This week we are learning the story Little Red Riding Hood. Can you join in with the story as Mrs Delaney takes you on a woodland adventure?! 

Below there are lots of activity suggestions for fun ways to learn - while some of these may be on Purple Mash www.purplemash.com/sch/holwell there are also lots that do not need a screen.

Make sure you take lots of photos of your learning and crazy creations, and send them to your teachers at badgers@holwell.hert.sch.uk or squirrels@holwell.herts.sch.uk

We miss you all, keep smiling and stay safe!

The Reception Team

x x x x

We may be closed but never fear, the Going for Gold assembly is here! Join in with the virtual assembly by clicking on the link below - (parents, if you're old enough you may recognise a blast from the past!). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQtckEpusrM&feature=youtu.be

Esafety

You will have been sent an email about e-safety.  Please ensure you read it, click on the links for further information and take any action you feel is appropriate.  

Useful websites:

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/articles/keeping-your-under-five-safe-online

https://www.childnet.com/ufiles/Young-children-and-screen-time---a-guide-for-parents-and-carers.pdf

Keep safe

Mrs Delaney retells the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

Topic

What do you think the moral of the story might be this week? Little Red Riding Hood teaches us about not speaking to strangers and keeping ourselves safe! While we probably won't meet a wolf (!) there may be times when we have to think about the best way to stay safe - just like now when we all need to try and stay home to keep safe from the Coronavirus! Here are some activities we would like you to try this week...

...make a map for Red Riding Hood to take on her journey so that she doesn't get lost in the woods on the way to Grandma's. What will you include? Can you label the things you draw? 

...Pretend you are Red Riding Hood taking some treats to Grandma - what would you pack in your basket? Perhaps you could draw a picture, make the items out of play dough or even find a real basket and real items from your kitchen! Make sure some things are healthy to help Grandma get better!

...there is also a nice story pack of activities on Twinkl  - don't forget to use the code UKTWINKLHELPS. If you have a printer you might want to print some of the tasks out .

www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/little-red-riding-hood-story-pack-ages-3-5-t-tp-2549445

Maths

This week we would like you to think about Patterns and Symmetry.

Patterns are where we see something repeat - it could be colours, size, shapes, objects, there are so many different types of patterns! Symmetry is a special kind of pattern where it is like looking in a mirror - we sometimes call it mirror-image as the pattern is the same on both sides, just like a reflection in a mirror.

Here are some ideas for activities to practise these skills:

• Create a butterfly painting - fold a piece of paper in half, then open it out again and paint half a butterfly on one side of the paper. Fold the paper together, press down gently then open it out - what can you see? Which colours will you use? Can you use orange, black and white to create your own painted lady butterfly? 

• Create a repeating pattern using Lego, Duplo or another construction kit? Can you make your pattern using three different colours? Can you say what would come next in your pattern when you have finished? 

• Create a symmetrical model such as a house. Put a piece of paper down the middle and look at each side in turn. Can you see the symmetry? Did you build your model correctly?

• Use natural objects from your garden or collected on a walk to create a pattern and take a photo of it, such as leaf, pebble, leaf, pebble or flower, twig, feather, flower, twig...

• Try this pattern train activity, choosing what comes next by looking carefully at the shape and the colour: www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/shape-patterns

Phonics

From this week, online phonics lessons are available from Letters and Sounds for home and school

and are well worth checking out. These will practise sounds we have learnt in school and also start to introduce new sounds too! See which session is best for you - one session will focus on Phase 2 sounds, the other will focus on Phase 3&4 (if you are able to read words like 'fish' or 'chips.') 

If you are a Shooting Star you could do the daily session at 10am and if you are a Roaring Rocket you might find the 11am just right for you.

As well as exploring this exciting new opportunity we thought you might like to use your phonic skills to...

• Create a poster to warn people about the wolf - can you describe him carefully?

• Draw a picture from the story - perhaps of Red Riding Hood and the Wolf - can you label your work?

• Sometimes when people are unwell, like Grandma in the story, we send cards to make them feel better. Could you send a card or letter to someone, one of your friends or family, to help them know you are thinking of them and make them smile?

• Watch the Alphablocks version of Little Red Riding Hood and read-along with them:                       www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEI9QWcX2aA 

Thank you for the lovely video compilation from the Squirrel class arranged by Volly's mum. We were shocked and delighted to receive it. The adults were bought to tears! What a fantastic way for the children to see each other!