Summer 2
Home Learning Link - Shoots
29/06/20 - Hello blue class and parents!
Hello blue class - it is Monday 21st June already!
I hope you have been enjoying the videos which have been uploaded by all of the teachers. My video this week will be a maths activity - patterns. I will show you how to develop your pattern skills using household objects, food, shapes and colour.
Describing, continuing and copying patterns are all targets which the children in blue class are currently working on.
Their current ability level is a 2 part pattern e.g:
red, yellow, red, yellow, red, yellow ...
You can challenge and extend these tasks by forming 3 part patterns: a b c a b c a b c
blue, red, green, blue, red, green, blue, red, green...
HAVE FUN MAKING PATTERNS...USE EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING FROM YOUR HOUSEHOLD WHICH MOTIVATES YOUR CHILD!
Below are some songs to recap shape, colour and patterns:
Shape Song:
Colour Bubble Song:
Banana Banana Meatball Song:
Hello lovely blue class!
Please explore this week's new videos which will be uploaded each day under the 'shoots' section. Feel free to explore the videos in the 'roots' and 'leaves' sections too.
On Sunday it is Father's Day - a day to celebrate your father, grandad, uncle, brother or any male relative or person who cares for you.
Say THANK YOU by making a card or an acrostic poem - here are some ideas for you and some for inspiration.
08/06/20
Good afternoon wonderful blue class.
Please click on the links to the videos in the 'shoots' section to access learning videos spanning our curriculum to watch, join in with and enjoy from home.
New videos will be uploaded each week.
My video this week is a maths activity, next week will be attention skills.
ENJOY!!!
Summer 1
Hello lovely blue class and parents!
THIS WEEK'S INDEPENDENCE AND REAL LIFE SKILLS CHALLENGE: LEARN TO MAKE CORDIAL SQUASH COLD DRINKS.
Begin with a cold drinks tasting session - use every juice you have in the cupboard and water. Can your child use their senses to describe the colour, taste, smell, what it sounds like when shaken in the bottle and feel the temperature with their fingers?
Taste each drink and identify which ones they like and dislike. Can they answer if they like it by saying "Yes" or "No"? (Answering questions with yes / no is one of their targets.
For the second session teach your child how to make a cup of blackcurrant or orange squash. Experiment what it tastes like if too much juice is added - not nice! Repeat this with pouring in too little squash - again not nice! Can your child compare the colours of the drink with too much and too little squash?
Use a dry wipe pen, sticker or piece of tape to mark on the cup how much cordial squash to pour in - can your child accurately pour to the line?
Do the same to make a mark higher up the cup as a water line - can your child accurately pour water to this line?
This should make the perfect cup of cordial squash juice drink - they can then enjoy and drink it.
To extend this - transition to a cup without the marker lines on until your child can accurately and independently make a cordial drink with the correct ratio of cordial to water. To extend this further use opaque cups or mugs - can your child accurately make a cold drink of the correct strength in any cup or mug?
You can then roleplay as a cafe or simply put your feet up and request a cold drink for your child to make for you each day - perfect as the weather gets hotter! Incorporate money handling and counting within this - you might ask for 5 cups which requires counting. You might ask your child to 'buy' each ingredient / equipment e.g. 2p for a cup, 1p for water.
This covers a range of cross curricular targets. Using vocabulary more, less, stop, too much, too little, hot, cold, big cup, small cup, colour names, yes please, no thank you, request language; "I want x please", how many; 3 cups, naming utensils and kitchen equipment.
Turning on and off the tap, opening and closing bottle lids and pouring are all fine motor skills. Tidying away by reaching up high and low to put the cup away are gross motor skills. The hand to eye coordination for accurately pouring is a valuable skill and one of their targets. Being able to carry one cup to you or even several on a tray is excellent balancing practise.
Can they learn to identify the different flavours by looking at the initial letter sound on the bottle? Or by the colour of the liquid? Can they read any other words or identify any other sounds on the labels of the bottle? Can they learn which tap is hot and which tap is cold?
This may seem like a simple task but consider how many times per day your child asks for a cold drink? Now they will be able to prepare this themself!
Please send any photos of this challenge in action to our class email address!
Good morning blue class and parents
THIS WEEK'S INDEPENDENCE AND REAL LIFE SKILLS CHALLENGE: LEARN TO MAKE A SANDWICH.
Spreading and slicing bread using a knife is something that the children in blue class practise regularly with reduced support - many can do this independently. TIP: remind your child to always use two hands - hold the bread slice with one and spread with the other, "Two hands" is a phrase they are very used to hearing.
Make this a full cross-curricular, holistic experience: maths, science, english, speaking and listening, PSHE.
Explore and discuss each food item - where it grows, which animal it comes from, how it is made, how / where to store it, how to check if it is safe to eat or has it gone mouldy? Is the fridge hot or cold? Check the packaging to see if they can identify the halal symbol. Look at the traffic light symbols - is this food healthy or unhealthy?
Incorporate maths, number work and money handling. Your child can pay for each slice of bread, knife, plate, filling, e.g. a slice of bread is 2p - your child can give you 2 separate 1p coins (only use 1p coins). They can then recount these by pointing and counting at the same time.
Practise request communication, speaking and listening - your child should use 3-4 words to request the butter, "I want butter please". Develop understanding of comparison language more/less, big/small, hot/cold.
Sabotage techniques - when your child requests the knife - give him / her the spoon. Your child will have to recognise this error and request again.
Develop senses - what does it look like, smell like, sound like, feel like to touch and taste like?
Ensure hand washing takes place before and after - counting to 20 each time.
Of course practise tidying away and washing up. Can your child correctly learn where each cutlery piece goes? Forks with forks and knives with knives? Which food items must be kept in the fridge? Why?
After the first few days, make this into a fun CAFE or restaurant. You can order your sandwich which your child can make for you...time to relax for you!
Hello blue class and parents
Below are some links to songs and videos. Please look on the main Richmond Hill School Page - Parents Tab - Home Learning for more resources
Temperature - Hot and Cold Song
Sight Words - High Frequency Words
Cookery challenge for this week: TOAST! Can you support your child to safely make toast? The children of blue class are familiar with using the toaster and can identify that it is hot and dangerous. They can also slice and spread with a little support.
As you are doing this, ask what goes in the toaster, what comes out, is it hot, is it cold, what colour is it, is it hard, is it soft, has it changed, which parts are dangerous, which equipment do they need, where are these kept? Make sure they tidy up and wash up themselves afterwards!
Good morning wonderful blue class
Our story this half term is ‘Superworm’ by Julia Donaldson. Our topic is Creepy Crawlies. Below are some links for the Superworm story and songs / videos about worms and creepy crawlies.
There are also some craft activity ideas to do at home. Why don’t you go on a bug hunt or a worm hunt in your garden? How many Insects can you find? Would you like to make your own worms in a sensory tray using cooked spaghetti or noodles? You could add paint and do ‘worm’ (spaghetti/noodle) paint printing?
Superworm story read aloud:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4pZwNie69n8
Superworm song:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3ACKMwCvhkY
‘Wiggly Woo’ worm song:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vdWsez-CD5o
‘Worms for Kids’ information video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7O40A-6Jmt4
Earthworms:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZHTerOJYMA
Creepy Crawlies song:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f-EsQHr2TQ8
Bugs song:
Home Learning Advice
Hello parents of blue class - please click the link below to the ThinkuKnow Website which offers a range of valuable resources, activities and advice for home learning.
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/Support-tools/home-activity-worksheets/
The following link is to the e-Safety page on the Richmond Hill School website. The page shares essential information about keeping safe online - this is particularly important at a time when we are relying more on virtual communication and lots of online purchasing.
Ramadan Kareem!
Please find below our curriculum map for this term.
Spring 2
03/04/20
Hello blue class and parents!
Hello blue class, 30/03/2020
Hello parents and children of blue class!
Hello Blue Class & Parents
Hello blue class and parents! Below are some YouTube links for songs the children in blue class LOVE to watch throughout every school day. These songs are important to signify the time of the day or what is coming next e.g.the days of the week song and good morning song we watch and listen to at the start of the day, the lunchtime song before we eat our lunch. I have put these on our webpage as they could help you with your children at home to add some familiarity and routine.
Weekly Update
Blue class have worked extremely hard to tidy their outside garden area and play house - amazing team work!
They also made mini muffin vegetable pizzas.
In our weekly speaking and listening lesson they used telephones to order food or toys from restaurant menus or catalogues such as Argos - they were FANTASTIC. This activity is speaking and listening focussed but also practices a lot of maths skills including numeral recognition when 'dialling the telephone number' and answering measurement questions such as a large or small pizza? how many? hot or cold? halal or non halal? how much money? etc.
Holi Festival, Speaking & Listening, Music
Blue class have been learning about and celebrating the Holi Festival - they covered themselves (pictures) in bright, colourful shaving foam paint. They have loved watching videos about the Holi Festival and have enjoyed dancing to the music.
Blue class have also been learning to make hot chocolate and have used this experience as a focussed speaking and listening session. DELICIOUS!
The children have also been expressing themselves by learning to play the keyboard and piano. They individually performed in-front of the class audience and clapped loudly to celebrate the beautiful sounds their peers made.
Enterprise Fair
Blue class prepared posters for this year's Enterprise Fair - they posted them around school. The children decorated biscuits with icing and sweet toppings. This formed part of our science lesson with a focus on colour changing. Blue class also made popcorn cones and filled them with sweet popcorn. Our total profit was £13.74!!!
WOW
What a start to the Spring 2 half term. In this first week, blue class have celebrated Shrove Tuesday by making and eating pink pancakes at our pancake party. The children tasted different toppings including sweet strawberries and zesty lemons.
Welcome Back
We have a wonderful half term ahead of us.
Our topic this half term is ‘Town and Countryside’. We will be learning about both environments and comparing similarities and differences between the two. As part of this topic we will go on a trip to find each child’s house. We will also spend time exploring the countryside and go to Harpenden Town on the train.
Our story for this half term is ‘”Stand Back”, said the Elephant, “I’m Going To Sneeze”.
Blue class will continue to share and write their weekend news every Monday. They will also have daily speaking and listening focuses throughout the day. Blue class are learning to recognize, say and write their full name.
Leading up to Easter we will have lots of exciting activities. We will develop our real life skills with our shopping trips and this time will focus on purchasing Easter eggs. Within this focus we will explore healthy/unhealthy foods and be searching for the halal symbol.
Please check our web page regularly to see all of the great things that we have been doing as I will regularly add photos.
Please see Blue Class’s curriculum overview for this half term. I have sent a copy home in the home-school books for you to refer to. You can also view our curriculum map below.
Spring 1
Snakes & Ladders
Blue class had a wonderful trip to Snakes and Ladders - they practiced road safety, putting on their own seatbelt, stranger danger, using public toilets safely, public etiquette when around other children, sharing, turn-taking and playing safely.
Fine Motor Skills and Art
Blue class have been developing their fine motor skills and art skills by applying mehndi/henna to their hands. The children LOVED doing this. They used squeezy icing to apply their patterns to their arms / hands. They had to sit very still to allow it to dry!
Cookery
Blue class have been developing their baking skills - expert muffin bakers!
Stockwood Park Discovery Center
Blue class had a wonderful trip to Stockwood Park Discovery Center - our aim was to practice travel safety, road safety, stranger danger and general 'public etiquette'. The children practiced putting on their own seat belts, crossing the road correctly, walking through the car park safely and keeping themselves safe by staying with the group.
Each child interacted with the staff at the center - they said please, thank you and were prompted to ask questions. The children were asked which adults were 'safe' familiar adults or 'stranger danger' adults - who could they talk to? The children were all fantastic and were also able to identify important signs such as 'toilet' / 'boys' / 'girls' / 'no running'. SUPER!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Blue class have 'hit the ground running' with a fantastic beginning to their new story 'Here Come The Aliens' and to their new topic 'Art Attack'.
The children already love the rhyming story and love the individual alien characters. Each child created their own alien for our display board.
Blue class have also received an alien of their own to look after as a pet - the children are voting on a name for the alien - at the moment there are 3 names in the final: John, Alien Alien and Sticky.
This term all of the children in blue class will develop their independence and life skills even more! We started today with unpacking the Asda delivery - each child selected at least one food item, said the name of the item, whether it is healthy / unhealthy, halal / nn-halal, said where it must be kept (cupboard, fridge, freezer, shelf) and took it there to carefully put it away and store it. They can achieve so much from this everyday activity - try it at home when unpacking your next shop!
Hello and Happy New Year 2020!
Welcome back to Spring term at West site in blue class. We have a wonderful half term ahead of us which will begin with making New Year resolutions / promises (adults included!).
Our topic this half term is ‘Art Attack’. Our English focus is rhyme and poetry and our lessons will be centred around the book ‘Here Comes The Aliens’.
The children will continue to visit Blue class’s snack shop every snack time. So far this academic year, this snack shop has developed the children’s money and number skills, speaking and listening, turn taking, sharing and real life etiquette of shopping / eating in public places. I am so impressed and proud of the children’s progress. We will now develop our understanding of food choices, balanced diet, portion size, healthy and non-healthy, origins of food, compost and recycling, identifying halal and non halal foods.
Please check ‘blue class page’ on the website regularly as I upload lots of photos of all of our wonderful learning. Jacqueline ☺
Please see Blue Class’s curriculum overview for this half term. You can click to view to document or download the PDF on the link below.
Please find below our curriculum map for this term.
Autumn 2
Christmas Shopping & Poundland
Blue class went on a Christmas shopping and lunch trip to Poundland and McDonalds. Before going, the children explored the Poundland website to see which present items they could buy for their friends in purple class (who have bought presents for blue class).
Blue class had a wonderful morning and throughout the trip they were asked to find specific items in the store with a PSH focus - such as 'things to keep your teeth clean', they checked food packaging for the halal symbol and discussed whether the item was healthy or unhealthy.
At McDonalds the children practised safe toileting in public places - checking the gender sign on the door and ensuring they closed the door. Trips like this are fantastic for developing safety and awareness.
When blue class returned to school, the children wrote a Christmas card for the friend in purple class who they had bought the present for and wrapped it in Christmas paper.
Christmas Performance!
Our wonderful class did a superb performance for the Christmas play.
They loved dressing up and were singing and dancing in the classroom beforehand.
Buddy Class
Blue class had a wonderful time visiting their buddy class at East site for their joint Christmas party. The children were so excited to see their old school and to see their previous teachers.
Winter Wonderland
Blue class have had a wonderfully festive time selling their reindeer for at Winter Wonderland. The children in blue class have also made and decorated clay Christmas decorations.
Pictures Below...
Stranger Danger
We have also been developing our stranger danger - roleplay with masks and identifying strangers and familiar adults. It is essential that the children learn and practice how to respond if a stranger approaches them.
Pictures Below...
Money Handling Skills
Blue class have also been practicing their daily shopping and money handling at snack time - each child now takes turns to be the shopkeeper.
Festive Activities!
Blue class have been very busy making 'Magic Reindeer Food' ready to sell at RHS Winter Wonderland! Great teamwork! Their Christingles are looking wonderful too.
We went to space!
We also prepared our healthy snack and sorted the banana and raisins into two groups.
Cookery!
We think Blue class should enter for "Young Master Chef" because their cookery skills are fantastic. Our cookery this half term is different egg recipes...this week blue class made omelettes and they were delicious!
Halloween
Blue class celebrated halloween and bonfire night - everyone had a spooktacular time! The children used all of their senses to explore different materials, foods and activities - they described each sense using WOW words (adjectives!)
Some more photos :)
What have we been up to?
Please find below our curriculum map for this term.
Autumn 1
Herring Green Farm
Blue class had a wonderful trip to Herring Green Farm to learn about different animals. This was as part of our English story 'I Want A Pet'. The children observed owls, birds of prey, farm animals. They stroked guinea pigs, rabbits, a snake, a skunk and a hedgehog. It was a wonderful day!
Hello and welcome back to Autumn term at West site in blue class. We have such an exciting and fun-filled half term ahead of us – with the excitement of the year 4 children exploring their new school and many different trips / celebrations. I am the teacher (Jacqueline) and we have 4 other adults in the team: Emily, Anne, Zubaydah and Michelle.
Our topic this half term is ‘What a load of junk’. It is focused on looking at different materials that can be found and how they can be recycled. Each week we will have an Eco monitor who will go around making sure lights are switched off and compost is emptied
Our book in English is a lovely book called ‘I Want a Pet’. We will be doing lots of reading and writing work based on this book. In speaking and listening lessons we will be making phone calls to the local vet to book our pet in for an appointment. We will also visit the animals at ‘Pets At Home’ and a trip to Herrings Green Farm where we will observe and handle lots of different animals including guinea pigs and lizards.
The children will visit Blue class’s snack shop every snack time. They have each been given given a purse / wallet with real money in – they will ‘buy’ their snack each day to develop their real life skills and independence with shopping.
Below is a copy of our curriculum map which shows what we will be working on across this half term.
