Dear Parents/ Caregivers,

Welcome to learning at home for Week 8 Term 3. Remember our learning at home tasks give you the flexibility to plan these into your day around other commitments.

This Week’s Story Time

This week our spotlight story is Alpaca’s with Maracas- Read by Miss Findlay

Reading

This week for reading, there is a book to read each day. Each book also has some follow up activities for you to complete.

There are also some skill activities for you to do. This week the skills focus on making the long ‘e’ sound, learning what homonyms are, and lastly some comprehension practice when reading non-fiction texts.

Onlines resources available

There is a new ePlatform you can access from Wheelers. When you follow this link https://puhinui.eplatform.co/ you will find access to a range of eBooks and audiobooks.

To sign into this digital library you will need to enter a username, which is the students first name and last name without spaces, with a full stop in between (e.g. Mary.Smith).

Password: library1

Sunshine Online provides access to a range of readers for junior children. To access Sunshine Online for digital readers please visit http://www.sunshineonline.com.au/

In the top right corner of this website, select the red login button and in the dropdown select the option ‘Student Login’

User name: Puhinui

Password: Books2015

Books & Activities

Frog in a Log - Ready to Read online story

Focus: - Blends with a r (br, gr, fr, tr) and rhyming words (a rhyming word has the same sound at the end like cat, mat)

You can click on the ‘play’ button beside the story to hear it being read and you can also click on the TEXT (brown button) to download the story and follow the words.

Activities:

1. Read or listen to the story two times.

2. Blends - When you see a blend you say both sounds together. Listen to this song on how to blend the letter r - Consonant blends

3. Look at page 8 and 11. Can you find any words with the blend gr? Write them down.

_________________ _______________ ________________

________________ ______________

4. Look through the whole story. Can you find a word with each of these blends?

gr__________ br______________ fr______________ tr____________

5. On page 4, find the word frog and log. Can you think of any other words that rhyme with frog and log? Write them down.

Challenge questions: Write down your answers.

1. Why did Huhu need help?

2. Where is the story happening?

3. How did Ruru first try to get Frog out of the log?

4. How did Frog finally leave the log?

5. Name the 3 characters in the story.

6. Think about what the word ‘brags’ means. Can you write a sentence with the word brags in it?

The Hissing Bush L11- Ready to Read Online Story

Answer the following questions in full sentences. Have a go at writing your answers in full sentences.

1. Who are the characters in the story?

______________________________________________________________________

2. Do you think this story is set in the summer or winter? How do you know?

______________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

3. What does the word hiss mean?

______________________________________________________________________

Retell of a story

Have a go at retelling the story using the mind map below, (you can draw pictures in detail for the mind map). Once you have completed the mind map, have a go at writing the story using your own words. Remember to introduce characters, the problem and the steps characters to figure why the bush was hissing

Go to - Sunshine Online: Learning Space 2 - L14 Non-Fiction

I Know That!

What animal is the tallest animal in the world?

____________________________________________________________________________

From our trip at the zoo can you remember what colour a giraffe's tongue is?

___________________________________________________________________________

On page 4 it says: “A baby kangaroo would fit into a teaspoon”

Can you think of 5 different things that a baby kangaroo would be the same size as?

1._________________

2.________________

3.________________

4.________________

5.________________

Write one “I know that!” fact about an animal of your choice. Use this sentence starter to help:

Did you know that _____________________________________________________

Complete the follow up activity on Sunshine Online

Before you read this story, have a look at the picture on the front cover. Where is Greedy Cat?

What do you think he’s going to do?

Have you ever been to a barbeque before?

This book has two Maori words. Ngeru, which means cat, and nui which means big.

Comprehension Questions

1. What are Mr Rata and Anaru having for dinner?

2. Where did they go before the story started?

3. Near the end of the story, Mr Rata says “Haere ra, ngeru nui” What does this mean?

4. At the end of the story, Mum says “Don’t worry, I think he will be just fine.” Why do you think Mum says this?

5. If you lived next door to Greedy Cat, would you feed him? Why/Why not?

6. Use the clues in the pictures and words of the story to complete a table describing Anaru’s feelings through the book. The first one has been done for you.

Activities

• Draw a picture of a cat with a big tummy, then cut and paste the pictures from out of a grocery mailer to show what Greedy Cat might like to eat.

• Write down all the WOW words in the story and challenge yourself to use at least one in your story writing. Here are some of the WOW words I found.

Design your own dragon: Draw a picture of your dragon, think about its size, colours, and shape.

Write a description about your dragon. Tell me:

• What it can do

• What it looks like

• If it is a friendly or mean dragon

Comprehension questions: Have a go at answering these questions, you can talk about your ideas with a family member. Remember to write your answers in full sentences.

1. Why was it a big problem when the dragon got a cold?

2. What happened to the thermometer when they put it in the dragon’s mouth?

3. Why do you think the Doctor was nice to the dragon?

4. What cured the dragon’s cold?

Online quiz: Complete the follow up activities on Sunshine Online

Skills Practice

Long vowel sound - e (ee, ea, ey, e)

There are different ways to make the long vowel sound e. Today we’ll look at 4 of these ways:

ee = see, feed, peel ea = read, sea, dream

ey = key, money, turkey e = me, be

1. Focus: ee

Can you find the right ‘ee’ word for each sentence below? Read each sentence and choose a word from the boxes that fits the sentence.

• Today I am going to climb a ____________________ .

• I _________________ like playing outside because it’s sunny.

• We have not ____________________ to the shops today.

• I ________________ to eat a sandwich because I’m hungry.

• Can you ______________ the cars parked on your _______________ ?

Challenge: Can you think of 3 more ‘ee’ words with the long ‘e’ sound?

________________________ ________________________ ________________________

2. Focus: ea - Poem - My Dreams

3. Focus: ey

Read all the words in the picture. Which one doesn’t have the long ‘e’ sound?

Tell an adult which word it is or write it down _________________________

Can you think of a silly sentence with the ‘ey’ words in the picture? I’ll start one and you can finish it or write your own.

The turkey took the key ……………...

Read your silly sentence to an adult. Can you think of another silly sentence that’s even more silly than your first one?

The money ate the purple monkey ……..……….

4. Focus: e

Sometimes the letter ‘e’ on it’s own has a long ‘e’ sound like: me, be

Below are silly sentences with words that have the long ‘e’ sound. Circle the long ‘e’ sound words (e) or write them down.

Tip: there are words in the sentences below that have the short ‘e’ sound so be careful not to circle or write those down.

We will get the jet to be orange and red.

He likes to pat his pets and she likes to wet the car.

My Aunty is helping me to be noisy at the supermarket.

Challenge: Can you find the long ‘e’ sound words (e) in these sentences? There’s 7, can you find them all?

I am going to relax this evening.

My sister will decide between having an apple and an orange.

The kids yelled in delight as they ran around the park.

We have an emergency kit in case someone becomes sick or gets hurt.

Poem- Mmm… Apple Pie!

Read the poem two times

Activites:

Rhyming practice: Make a list of all the rhyming words you can find in the poem.

crunchy + munchy ___________ + ___________

___________ + ___________ ___________ + ___________

Punctuation spotter: See if you can point to all the different types of punctuation in the poem. There are exclamation marks ! full stops . commas , and an ellipsis...

Here are some words that are homonyms. There is a picture to show the meaning of one word, can you draw another picture to show the other meaning?

Non-Fiction Comprehension Skills Activity

Read the little blue penguin fact sheet two times.

Little Blue Penguins Comprehension Questions

1. Which of these statements is true about little blue penguins? Choose one

• They are the smallest animals in the world.

• They are the smallest penguins in the world.

• They are the largest animals in the world.

2. What other names are little blue penguins known as?

• goblin penguins and hoiho

• fairy penguins and kororaa

• New Zealand small penguins and tawaki

3. Where do little blue penguins live?

• near Australia and New Zealand

• in Antartica

• only in Australia

4. Look at the Did you know? Section. What is on the end of little blue penguin bills to help them hold onto their food?

• spikes

• hooks

• teeth

5. How often do little penguins dive when they are looking for food?

• an average of 200 times a day

• less than 50 times a day

• an average of 800 times a day

Draw a picture of a little blue penguin and have a go at labelling its body parts

You might want to use some of the following words:

Writing

When writing your stories don’t forget what good writers do...

Draw a plan for your writing, this could be a picture of the present and keywords describing what it is and what it does.

Next, write your story. Don’t forget to read your story to yourself, and then share it with someone in your family.

Challenge: If you remember who gave you that amazing present, write a letter to that person thanking them for the gift

A Cloudy Lesson

Watch this video

Talk, or think about these questions after watching the video

• How were the clouds made in the video?

• What was the device they used? Did it work well?

• Is that really how clouds are made?

Imagine you were in charge of making a device for other types of weather: rain, thunder, lightning, wind - what sort of device might you use to make those? What would it look like? How would it work?

Divide your picture planning space into 3 sections, using these headings. Draw a picture for each question, and add at least 2 key words for each to help you write

My weather device is called _______________________________

Here are some keywords that might help you write an amazing story:

Challenge

Can you include a WOW word in at least one of your sentences?

Here’s mine: My weather device is called the wind-o-matic. It can make the most blustery wind that is perfect for flying kites.

If you need some help, here are some sentence starters you can use.

1. My weather machine is called _______________

2. It makes ___________ weather

3. I use it because ___________

Need something else to do?

• Make your weather machine and test it out!

• Watch Mrs Virk’s Cloud experiment

• Do the sweaty leaves experiment

• Create a weather log and observe the weather near your house every day

Diary of a Worm with Mr Gadd- Jasmin

Watch this video of Mr Gadd- Diary of a Worm

Think about the following questions

• What type of text did Mr Gadd read? (fiction, non-fiction, fairytale, diary entry, journal)

Before you begin writing, discuss with an adult - what is a diary and is there anyone who keeps a diary in your family?

You will be creating your own diary for a day. Choose creature of your choice- you may want to be a butterfly, worm, snail, spider

When writing your diary entry, you must include the following things

• Date and time of the day (use time words which are listed below)

• Write in the past tense (remember you will recording events that have already happened)

• Use pronouns (I, we, my, our)

• Write the most important events

• Talk about where events happened (this might your bedroom, backyard, garage, garden or imaginative place)

• Describe your feelings

• Remember a diary entry is not a long story about one event. It’s giving the reader small amounts of information about events.

Time to make a diary entry as a creature. This is fun and imaginative writing.

Make a plan using keywords. You can either plan like Mr Gadd using a mind map or see the example below

Reminder- when planning for writing, only record keywords. Remember keywords give us important information to form our ideas

Example of a diary entry

Monday 10th September

In wormland this morning, I discovered a human was trying to invade our habitat by turning the soil so he could plant his vegetables. As a worm, I live underground so I can play hide and seek with the birds.

Challenge

Create a diary of a day

Choose a day that you're going to be creating a diary entry for important or fun events that take place. For this challenge, you can do your entry as events take place in the day (you don’t need to plan for your events but think about your ideas before you write them).

Reminder- As you are recording your events to re-read them back to yourself. For example- You may make an entry after breakfast time, an entry after lunch time and a final entry about your afternoon.

At the end of the day, read your diary entry at bedtime to a sibling or an adult in your family.

Write an imaginative story about you being trapped in a bubble. Remember you are writing as if you are the one stuck in the bubble and telling the reader what you are doing.

Plan your story with a picture and key words

Challenge: Can you use an interesting opening sentence to hook the reader in? Here is mine:

As I was wandering along the magical forest, I saw this colourful puddle on the floor. I jumped into the puddle and suddenly a soapy film circled around me. Up, up, up I go. I am trapped in this bubble.

Seasons

There are four seasons in the year: Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring.

I know I have my favourite things about each of the seasons.

Your task is to write a poem about your favourite season using your 5 senses. These are smell, taste, look, feel and sounds.

To plan for your poem choose your favourite season and write one or two things for each of the senses. You can also draw a picture of your favourite season.

Season: __________________

Here is an example:

Summer tastes like orange chocolate chip ice cream melting in my mouth.

Summer sounds like the laughter of my friends playing at the beach.

Summer feels like the cold ocean waves running through my fingers.

Summer looks like sunshine and clear skies.

Summer smells like sausages being cooked on the barbecue.

Challenge:

Can you add detail (+D) to your poem? In my poem, I could have just said “Summer tastes like ice cream” but instead I added detail of the flavour of ice cream and how it melts in my mouth.

Maths

Measurement focus: LENGTH & HEIGHT

This week, our maths activities are all about measurement. In particular, we will be focusing on measuring length and height. There is a different activity for you to complete each day.

Comparing length

When we measure length we want to know how long an object is and we measure from one end to the other end of an object.

When we compare length we are comparing which object is the longest and which is the shortest.

Here are some video’s you can watch about length:

• Miss Lee comparing the length of objects directly to find out which is the longest or shortest

• Miss Ashley ordering objects from shortest to longest

• Miss Revilla discussing the length of objects

Here are two animals; an ant and a snake.

Can you see which is the longest and which is the shortest?

Problem: I am at the pet shop and I am going to get a pet fish. I have a very long fish tank so I want to have the longest fish. Which fish can I get?

Follow up activity:

Can you label for each of these objects which is shorter and which is longer.

Challenge: Can you find 3 items that are longer than a pencil (or pen) and 3 items that are shorter from around your house?

Comparing height

When we are measuring height we measure how tall an object is and we measure from the bottom of an object to the top.

When we compare height we are comparing what is the tallest and what is the shortest.

Watch Miss Tailby talk about comparing height in her video.

Problem: I went to the Savanna to see the African animals and I wanted to know which animal is the tallest and which animal is the shortest?

Here are some pictures: For each of the 6 boxes can you identify which object is the tallest and which is the shortest?

Follow up task:

Can you label which object is taller and which is shorter?

Measuring length using non-standard units

Click on the links to watch Mrs V’s video and Miss Revilla’s video about using non-standard units of measurement. They will give you helpful tips about how to measure different items.

How to measure length

Start from one end and measure in a straight line. When measuring using non-standard units, you must place each unit right up next to the next unit. Do not leave a gap/space between.

Tip- non-standard units are objects that are the same size. For example- paper clips, wooden blocks, teaspoons, pegs, toy cars, your hand

Imagine your string is a snake and you need to find out the length of your snake. Lay your string flat on the ground. Make sure the string is straight and it has no bends in it.

Next choose your non-standard units for measuring the length. You could start with teaspoons. Lay your teaspoons next to your snake (remember they need to be in line). Ensure your non-standard units (teaspoons) have no gaps between.

Record how many units used to find out the length. For example- 7 teaspoons.

You could create a little table (see example below)

Next, use pegs to measure your snake. Lay your string on the floor and lay pegs next to the string leaving no gap in between. How many pegs did you use to measure the length of your snake? Record your findings on a piece of paper.

Thinking questions

• How many more pegs did I use then teaspoons? Why?

Follow up Task

Print and cut out the snakes below (or draw your own snakes, making sure they are all different lengths) and measure using non-standardised units. You could either use buttons, small pebbles, or raisins.

Challenge

Try measuring the length using other resources such as your feet, handspans, cubes or toy cars (choose two), record your findings and compare.

Or

Cut out two strings at different lengths. Ask an adult to help you decide the lengths. Use a non-standard unit to measure the length of each string.

• What did you use for measuring length?

• Discuss your findings with an adult

Measuring height using non- standard units of measurement

In our last maths activity, you had practise of measuring length using non-standard units of measurement. This activity is going to get you measuring using non-standard units again but this time our focus is on height!

You can re-watch Mrs V’s video and Miss Revilla’s video to remind you about how to measure using non-standard units of measurement.

Remember: When you measure an object using non-standard units, the non-standard unit stays exactly the same size. For example, you can’t use different sized pencils when measuring. If you don’t have a group of items that are exactly the same, then stick to using one item and use that to measure the whole length or height of an object by moving it along from where the last one ended.

Problem: At the zoo, there are lots of different animals to see. I want to know which animal has the longest legs. Can you help me measure the height of different legs using non-standard units of measurement?

The animals I want to compare the height of their legs are a giraffe, meerkat and rhino. Because these animals don’t live in our houses, can you find three different sized tables or chairs in your house? We will pretend each of these is a different animal and measure the height of the table or chair leg.

Here are mine below: Giraffe = dining room table, Rhino= coffee table, Meerkat = chair

Now you can measure the legs using a non-standard unit of measurement. You could use your hands, a peg, a wooden spoon or anything else you can think of.

Record your findings in a table:

Here is an example:

Challenge activity:

What other things in your household can you measure the height of? Remember to measure the height, you are measuring vertically.

Here are some suggestions, measure the height of a:

• Door frame

• Bookcase

• Family member

• Bike

• Fridge

Using a ruler to measure length

We can use a ruler to measure different objects in centimetres. Centimetres is an example of a standard unit of measurement.

Watch Miss Dreadon’s video about how to use a ruler when you are measuring.

Here is a ruler, the long lines with the numbers

Little Kiwi was digging for worms for her dinner.

She found 5 worms, and she used her ruler to measure them.

These are the lengths of the worms she found.

• 4cm

• 2cm

• 8cm

• 11cm

• 13cm

Can you draw the worms she found?

Tip: Remember when you start ruling your measurement out, always begin from the 0cm mark

Want some more activities to do?

• Can you find something in your house that is the same length as one of Little Kiwi’s worms? Use your ruler to make sure.

• Use the playdough recipe from Week 7 to make some worms to feed Little Kiwi. Use your ruler to measure them.

For an extra challenge:

• Can you make a worm that is longer than 10cm?

• Can you make a worm that is thicker than 2cm?

• Can you make 4 worms where their lengths double each time?

• Can you make a family of worms where

• Dad is 4cm longer than Mum

• Sister is 2cm shorter than Mum

• Brother is half as long as Dad

Here are some worms to measure. Write how many centimeters each worm measures in the box

Telling the time

Focus - on the hour (o’clock) and half an hour (half past) using an analog clock

If you can, watch Mrs Kirkwood’s short video about making a simple clock and Telling the time

If you don’t want to make a clock you can draw a clock with time arrows/hands. Either draw a circle or trace around something round (like a mug or a small plate) and write the numbers 1 to 12 around the circle like the clock below.

How to tell the time - o’clock

There are two hands on an analog clock. One hand is long and one hand is short. The shorter hand is called the “hour” hand and the longer hand is called the “minute” hand. When the time is o’clock the hour hand is always pointing to the 12.

The baboon gets fed at 8 o’clock. This is what the clock looks like.

But the zebras always get fed at 10 o’clock. Make a clock or draw a clock on paper and make the time 10 o’clock so the zebras can be fed.

The monkeys always get fed at 11 o’clock. Change the hands on your clock or draw another clock and make the time 11 o’clock.

Help the zookeeper know when to feed the giraffes. Write the time for the clock below

______________________________________

Next, help the zookeeper know when to feed the penguins. Write the time for the clock below

______________________________________

How to tell the time - half past

When the long hand (minute hand) is pointing to 6 the time is “half past”.

The seals have their first meal at half past 8. This is what the clock will look like.

But the tortoises eat their food at half past 10. Change the hands on your clock or draw a clock on paper to show half past 10.

At half past 11 the elephants need to go and have an afternoon nap. Change the hands on your clock or draw a clock to show half past 11.

Now the seals are tired and are having a sleep. Write the time for the clock below

______________________________________

It’s playing time at the zoo for the leopards. Write the time for the clock below

_____________________________________

Challenge: Choose 2 or more animals at the zoo and decide when they need feeding. Draw each animal, draw a clock and write the time for each animal’s feeding time, like this

Science

Challenge: Can you make a bubble wand? What wand makes the biggest bubbles?

Here are some things you might have at home to help you experiment

• String

• Straw

• Whisk

• Hands

• Pipecleaner

• Plastic bottle (see picture)

Seasons

Have you looked outside and seen flowers starting to blossom on the trees? That’s because we are at the end of winter and it’s spring!

So what are seasons and how do they happen? Watch this video to help learn why there are seasons.

The science behind it

The Earth is tilted on an axis and it orbits the sun once a year. As it orbits the sun the seasons change if we are closer or further away from the sun. Summer happens when we are closest to the sun and winter happens when we are furthest away. Spring happens when the Earth has been furthest away from the sun and is getting closer to the sun. Autumn happens when it changes from summer and is close to the sun and is moving further away.

Task:

Other than temperature what do we notice happens to our trees during the different seasons? Can you draw 4 trees and colour them the way they would look during the different seasons?

If you want to get creative can you make your 4 trees using any of these ways pictured below?

Go for a walk with your family and collect some leaves from the ground along the way. What colour are they? Are they different from the leaves on the trees?

Leaf rubbing: Grab a leaf and put it under a piece of paper. Using the side of a crayon or coloured pencil, lightly colour over the leaf.

Challenge: Can you tell me what your favourite season is and why?

Is it summer because you can play at the beach? Or winter because you can snuggle up with blankets and have hot chocolate? What about spring when the beautiful flowers come out? Or autumn when the leaves on the trees turn a beautiful orange colour.

Leaf Transpiration

Did you know that leaves transpire which is a bit like sweating? If you go for a big run on a hot day you will sweat.

Well, this is what happens to a plant but it’s called transpiration. We can’t see this happening but if you do this simple activity you will.

You will need:

• A plastic bag

• A rubber band or string

• A big leaf or some smaller leaves that are still attached to a tree.

Watch this video or follow the instructions below:

LEAF TRANSPIRATION Experiment (what is transpiration?)

How to do this experiment:

1. Go into your garden and find a big leaf on a tree or a small branch with lots of smaller leaves.

2. Cover the leaf or leaves with the plastic bag and seal it tightly around the branch with a rubber band or string. Try and push out the air before you seal it.

3. After a minute see if you can see the bag begin to fog up. This happens because the leaf or leaves are sweating/transpiring but the water can’t get out of the bag.

4. Leave the bag for about 20 minutes and see what happens.

5. You could even leave it until the next day and see what happens.

What happened? Did you have much water in the bag? Did the leaves change colour? What colour is the water? Does it smell of anything?

The Science - Why do leaves transpire?

Transpiration happens when water is pulled from the roots of the plant or tree through the stems and leaves and released through tiny holes in the leaves called stomata. A very big tree might lose about 1000 litres of water through transpiration on a hot, dry day.

If you enjoyed this activity then try the following changes to see what happens:

• Try this experiment on two different types of trees at the same time. Did one lot of leaves transpire more than the other? If it did, why do you think that might be? Is one tree bigger or smaller than the other? Is one in the sun and one in the shade?

• Try this experiment on different leaves on the same tree if you can find some leaves that are in the sun and some leaves that are in the shade. Does it make any difference? If it does, did the sun or the shade make the leaves transpire more? Why do you think that is?