Mad Minute

• You can do this with letters or sight words.

• Choose one letter or one word.

• Set the timer for 1 minute.

• See how many times you can write the letter or word correctly.

• Each correct one gets a point.

• Remember...all the letters have to be formed correctly and writing should be tidy!

Treasure Hunt

You can do this with letters or sight words.

Make your own flashcards. Ask a member of your family to hide the letters or words around the house or in a room. You need to find them all. Use the ABC card or your word list as a checklist. Lay all the flashcards out to check you are not missing any!

Label game

Can you write labels for household items in your lounge or kitchen? You could ask an adult to write these for you and you could copy the words to practice your handwriting.

Your challenge is to put the labels on the correct item using clues to help you work out the words. Look at the first letter sound, look at the last letter sound. It is easier to work out lamp from mat ... but can you work out which word is table, television , toaster or telephone?

Head over to PebbleGo and make your way to Animals and then Fish.

You can choose between Fish or Sharks!

Read/listen to all the information about your chosen animal.

Write down 5 new facts you learnt.

A Little Bit More.....

Use your 5 facts to create a poster.

Don't forget to add a picture.

Here are some drawing classes that may help you...

Fish Drawing Class

Shark Drawing Class

Check out the Athletes page on PebbleGo

Go to: Biographies - Athletes

Choose a sports person/sports star that you like.

Write 3 facts about them (for example - they play netball).

Challenge...

Try get your bubble to guess who the sports star might be from your facts you've written down!

New to Writing...

Don't forget you can copy the words from the screen.

Have a go at writing a recount of the

'Monsters University Short Story.' https://video.link/w/B0cHc

Use the 5 finger retell to help you think about what to write.

Challenge:

See if you can include a 'WOW' word!

New to Writing?

No problem...see if you can write a sentence using your pink words.

Eg: Look at my monster. He is big and scary.

Extra Task:

Draw Mike Wazowski from Monster's Inc

https://video.link/w/I0cHc

Visit - https://thewordsearch.com/

Have fun completing a word search or challenge yourself to make your own!

Click HERE to listen to the story. Write about what your perfect pet would be.

In your story include...

Where would it live at your house?

What would you feed it?

How would you keep it entertained?

Why would you like to have that animal as your pet?

Challenge...

Can you include at least one conjuction in your story?

Can you include at least one WOW word in your story?

What is your favourite toy?

Choose one toy and draw a picture of it.

Can you describe it? What does it look like? What does it feel like? Does it have a name?

Challenge...

See if you can include at least one WOW word and conjuction in your story

Using an Tablet or Phone...

• Open 'Google'

• Type in an animal name eg: tiger

• Click 'View in 3D' and follow the instructions

• View this video if you are stuck.

Use the animals to write stories in your learning journal. Be creative and use your imagination.

• What animal is your favourite? Why?

• What did the animal do at your house?

• How did your parents react when they found a tiger in your room?

• What was it like having a tiger at the breakfast table?

• Write an information report about your chosen animal. Using 'Pebble Go' for your research.

I love learning new things!

Use the website/app Pebble Go to find something new to learn about. Your teacher will have sent you the password for Pebble Go.

Draw a picture and then write two facts about something new you have learnt.

If you chose an animal you could have a go at labelling it (Like in the picture).

Extra for Experts

If you enjoyed this...choose something else to write facts about.

Or

Scroll down to the 'Bubble TV' activity and host your own documentary using the new facts you have learnt.

Have you ever wanted to be the anchor (presenter) on the television news? Now is your chance to make your own Bubble TV. It is important to write a script down first so that you are prepared. What are the exciting things that will be happening in your day or week? If you have a sibling or a favourite toy they may like to be your co-host. Ask someone in your whanau to film your presentation on their phone! Have fun watching yourself and ask if you can email it to your teacher.

Have you got an A4 piece of paper and some scissors? Well you are well on your way to becoming an author and/or illustrator! How exciting!

• Click on the first picture to learn how to make a 16 page mini book.

• If that is too tricky click on the second link for an easier 8 page book.

• It's just as much fun making the book as it is writing it!

Draw some pictures and write your very own story. If you are five, use your book to practice letter or number formation, OR use your HFW words to make little sentences.

Bigger kids can write stories or retell their favourite stories.

Having fun? Make a LITTLE BOOK LIBRARY to take to school when it is time to see each other again.

1. Listen to the Gruffalo story here.

2. Draw a big picture of the Gruffalo.

3. Have a go at labelling your picture. Eg: Orange eyes, purple prickles. Can you listen for the sounds in the words you are trying to write? Try to record them in order. Did you get the first sound? Last sound? Any middle sounds?

4. See if you can write a retell of the story.

TIP: Don't forget to use the words first, next and then. Draw a 3 picture plan to help you remember.

Extra for Experts

Did you enjoy this activity?

Listen to the story 'Gruffalo's Child' and see if you can retell that story also. Click here for the story.

Get a group of your toys together and play schools. You can be the teacher.

You could teach them the ABC song. Do they know the name and sound the letter makes?

Make a 100's frame and teach your toys how to count to 100.

Explain how to write a recount to your toys using the words First, Next, After that and Finally.

Now write a recount of your teaching experience.

<<<< Look at this cloud picture. What do you see?

Just clouds? What about shapes? Can you see a dog shape?

Lay down on the grass and look up at the sky. Notice the clouds floating by. Your challenge is to notice shapes in the clouds. Can you see any animal shapes? When you have finished cloud gazing, draw pictures of what you saw. You could also write a story about the shapes you saw.

You will need:

• A paintbrush

• Water

Practice your letter formation, your name or your high frequency words. Dip your paintbrush into water and write with water on your fence, wall or concrete driveway.

Read your favourite story. It can be fiction or nonfiction. Make a gameboard like the one you see here. Then on pieces of paper, write questions about the story. Write the answer on a different piece of paper. Start playing the game! When you land on a happy face, pick up a question card. If you know the answer without looking in the story you can move ahead 2 spaces. If you need to look in the story for the answer you can move ahead 1 space. If you don't know the answer at all, stay where you are. See who can get to the finish first!

Delicious. That was simply delicious. She very rarely came across a strawberry, but whenever she did she always made the most of it. Chewing through the sweet, juicy flesh, she savoured every mouthful.

Now, though, she was full, and slowly eased herself (shell and all) out of the hole she had made in the side of the strawberry. It was time to explore another part of the garden…

1. Can you continue the story of the snail? Try to describe everything she might come across during her sloooooow journey!

2. Imagine you can see the pattern on the snail’s shell. Can you draw or describe what you have imagined?

It is Autumn!!!

Collect some leaves outside. Look at the shapes and see what animals you can make from them.

Write a story about the adventures of your leaf animals.

Older children ... you might like to keep a diary of your experiences. Here is one example you could download and use.

Younger children ... you could work on this with someone in your family.

https://www.mylockdowndiary.com/

Have a go at completing this scavenger hunt!

On a daily walk play a game of I Spy.

One person thinks of something they can see and shares the first letter of that word with everyone.

The person who guesses the word has the next turn.

You could use a similar idea and write a desctiption of an object in your learning journal and someone has to guess what it is.

Click on the story link and listen carefully to the story of Leaf Man.

The author finishes the story by saying:

"Maybe you'll find a Leaf Man waiting to go home with you".

Explore your backyard or the streets around you when you're next out walking with your family. Can you find some autumn leaves and make your own Leaf Man? Or maybe you can make Leaf Man a pet for company?

You will need some glue and some paper or cardboard to stick your leaves onto. And maybe some googly eyes too. If you don't have googly eyes at home, can you make your leaf creation some eyes using something you can find in nature - maybe some pebbles or seeds? Check out the examples below for inspiration.

Imagine for a minute that your leaf creation has come to life... can you write some sentences in your Learning Journal about its adventures? Remember to describe what your creation looks like and how it behaves using WOW words. For example, does it talk with a crackly voice?

Write letters of the alphabet on the footpath, wall or fence. Use a spray bottle of water to spray off one letter at a time to spell a high frequency word. Can someone else guess what word you've spelt?

She turned in the saddle and looked behind her. Emma could see the others gaining on her.

Digging in her heels, she whispered some words of encouragement in the ostrich's ear as it burst into full speed. They were making good time, but there was so far still to go....

Can you continue the story? Who is chasing Emma? Is this a race or is she on another adventure?

Talking points

Read the story Seven Steps

Discuss the ideas presented in the story with your family—at home or over video conferencing. Find ways to involve as many people as possible, especially those who you know are isolated by the lock-down.

• Have you ever seen a moa skeleton or a moa egg in a museum? How about a moa sculpture or reconstruction? What do you know about moa?

• Can you imagine how Michael Johnstone , the man who found the footsteps, must have felt when he noticed the giant prints in the river? What do you think you would do if you saw something like that?

• Were you surprised by the size of the footprints—30cm by 30cm? Do they look similar to any other kind of bird footprints that you've seen before?

• Did you know that some people take artefacts such as moa bones and footprints and sell them on Trademe? Do you think this is fair? Why or why not?

• The footprints were buried under clay and soil, where they lay hidden for millions of years before being exposed by flooding. Is it possible that similar footprints could lie beneath the soil in lots of other places - even where you live?