Focus: Rainforest Explorers
This week we have planned some activities around Rainforest Explorers. Here we have another great story which shows so many different animals that live in the rainforest. You can find the story on the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfU2qyWssiI
How many animals did you recognise? Where there any new animals that you haven't seen before?
Writing
For this week's writing challenge, we want you to have a think about Max and Rosie's adventure when exploring the rainforest and looking for orangutans. Which part of their adventure was your favourite? Can you draw a picture of your favourite bit and write a sentence or a couple of sentences about it? We'd love to see which bits of the story you enjoyed the most! You could also have a think about which part of the adventure you didn't like and do the same.
Maybe you could think about your own Rainforest adventure. You've already had a go at deciding what you would bring with you in your suitcases and it was great to hear so many ideas. Max and Rosie went together on their rainforest adventure to look for orangutans. Who would you bring on your adventure and which animal would you be looking for? Can you draw a picture and write a sentence or two about who you would bring and which anila you would be looking for?
Phonics
This week we are looking at the Phase 3 tricky trigraph sounds! A trigraph is where 3 letters come together to make 1 sound. We often find that these sounds can be tricky to remember so your child may need a bit of extra practise and consolidation here, especially when spotting these sounds in a word.
air - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZHKK9jnfFQ&t=59s
ear - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JSwmP61nXo&t=59s
ure - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_2Oju8WKW4
Here is a lovely clip from Alphablocks which shows the above three trigraph sounds for further practise/consolidation.
Alphablocks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN0vbgpCThI
Here are the 3 Roll and Read games which go along with this week's trigraph sounds. You could also read some of these words aloud to your child and ask them to write the word down independently.
Reading
The two attachments below are the 'Tricky Words' for Phase 3. Just as a reminder, tricky words are those words which cannot be sounded out easily. They are common words that have complex spellings in them.Your child will need to learn what these words look like in order to recognise them in text. The first document has all 12 words together on a mat and the second document shows each tricky word on a page separately. This words do not need to be learnt by next week and will need lots of repetition to practice and consolidate.
Don't forget you can still continue to use the useful websites from last week to continue practising reading with your child.
Phonics Play - https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/Phase3Menu.htm
Phonics Bloom - https://www.phonicsbloom.com/uk/game/list/phonics-...
Oxford Owl (Ebooks) - https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page?view=image&query=&type=book&age_group=Age+4-5&level=&level_select=&book_type=&series=#
Teach Your Monster to Read - App
Maths
This week in Maths we will be exploring weight and thinking about the words heavy, light, heaviest and lightest.
Here are some home learning challenges that could be done around the house to explore weight and heavy and light objects.
Weight Treasure Basket Activity
We will be adding a Maths challenge video to Dojo this week too :)
Topic
We saw so many animals in Max and Rosie's adventure in Rainforest Explorers! Were there any animals there that you recognised already? How many new animals did you spot?
In this story we learnt that there are different layers in the rainforest. Below is a link that explores the layers of the rainforest a little bit more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gHXoDPHTLw
You can also have a look at this poster with the layers of the rainforest. Can you make your own poster showing the layers of the rainforest?
Can you choose one of the layers that you'd like to learn more about and explore it with your grown up? Maybe you like to choose two or even all four layers? The following links will help you and your grown ups explore the layers a little bit more.
https://www.dkfindout.com/us/animals-and-nature/habitats-and-ecosystems/canopy-layer/
https://sciencing.com/rainforest-layers-5365735.html
Creative
We know it rains a lot in the rainforest. We thought it might be nice to have a go at making your very own rainstick - a musical instrument that sounds just like rain! On the link below you can find step-by-step instructions on how to make your own rainstick using resources from around your house.