Dear Parents/ Caregivers,

Welcome to learning at home for Week 2 Term 4. 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 PJ Mask Saves the Library! read by Mrs Virk.

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 and poem activities for you to do, this week the skill activities follow on from last week's work around nouns and verbs.

Reminder: Online resources available

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 AND ACTIVITIES

Sunshine online- Catherine the Counter

Access Sunshine Online: Learning Space 2, Level 9

Activities:

Complete the online activities, making some ‘ate’ words, completing the punctuation and record yourself reading

Draw your favourite part from the book

On page 12, can you find the word with a long ‘a’ vowel sound? It will have the letter pattern a_e. This is a split vowel sound because it has a consonant letter in between

a _ e

However, it is like they are holding hands so remember when two vowels go walking the first one does the talking - so the ‘e’ is silent.

Awesome, did you find the word plate? Write it down, now can you think of and write down some more words that have the long a_e vowel sound. See if you can think of 3 more, your rhyming words will be able to help you

__________________ __________________ __________________

Missing vowel sounds - can you work out what vowel sound is missing from these words from the book

c ___ ts c ___ nt str ___ t c ___ kies p ___ s str _ p _ s

Level 13 Ready to Read Online Story

Greedy Cat and the Vet - click on this title and listen to or read the story.

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.

It’s time for Greedy Cat to go to the vet for his check-up and flu injection, but he’s not happy about it and he makes his feelings known!

Once you have read or listened to the story, try these activities. Talk to someone in your family about this story and ask them for help if you need it.

Questions: You can write your answers on your own paper or you can print out the questions below.

What is a vet?

_______________________________________________________________________________

Why is Greedy Cat unhappy about going to the vet?

_______________________________________________________________________________

What is the vet doing to Greedy Cat?

_______________________________________________________________________________

On the last page, what do you think Dad meant when he said, “The cat is fine. But I’m not sure about the vet”.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Challenge questions:

What do you think Katie will tell Mum about the vet visit?

_______________________________________________________________________________

What do you think the vet will tell her family when she goes home?

_______________________________________________________________________________

Have you ever taken your cat to the vet? How did your cat feel?

_______________________________________________________________________________

There’s 5 words in the story with the “ch” sound. Can you find them?

Here’s 1 to help you start: much

______________________ ______________________

Ready to read- Greedy cat and the visitor L15

Read the online story - Greedy Cat and the Visitor

Click the link to read the book two times.

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 read it yourself.

Before you read the story, have a look at the front cover and read the title. Who do you think the visitor is? How do you think Greedy Cat is feeling about the visitor?

Answer these comprehension questions after you have read the story:

Who are the characters in this story?
On page 2, what 3 words are used to describe Poppy?
What did Nan and Katie see Poppy and Greedy Cat doing at the end of the story?
Use the clues in the pictures and words of the story to complete a table describing Greedy Cat’s feelings through the book. The first one has been done for you.

Sunshine Online - Red Socks and Yellow Socks

Read the story two times, then complete the activities

Find the word in the story that has a ‘-ck’ at the ending.

Can you think of any other words that have a ‘-ck’ ending? Write them as a list

_____________

Choose from the table below, the words that rhyme with ‘sock’. Write and say them to someone in your family.

Plurals are words that are used when referring to more than one person or thing.

For example, if there was one cat, we would say “cat”. If there was more than one cat, we would say “cats”.

Turn these words into plurals using their base word and add a ‘s’ on the end. The first one has been done for you.

Sock ---> socks

Dog ----> ______

Chair ---> ______

Door ---> ______

Tiger ---> ______

Book ---> ______

Dress-up and/or draw a picture of a silly pair of socks like the silly billy’s in the story, and write a story about the silly socks.

Sunshine Online- Good Habits

Log on to Sunshine Online: Learning Space 3, Level 17

Read the story ‘Good Habits’ two times and complete the quiz online.

Good habits are things that you do a lot of and they keep you healthy.

Write down three good habits that you do:

One good habit from the book is to give hard things a try. When you try hard things and you don’t give up, you’re a winner!

Can you think of one hard thing that you keep trying? Use the sentence below to help you write your answer

I think that ____________________ is hard but I keep trying. I’m a winner!

Contractions

There are some contractions from this story, such as, I’m, don’t and it’s

Practise breaking apart these contractions, you can use the words in the box to help fill the gaps

Example: Don’t = Do + not

We’re = We + _________ They’ll = They + _________

Won’t = Will + _________ Doesn’t = Does + _________

I’m = I + _________ They’re = They + _________

skills practice

Poem

Bake a cake

Read the poem to yourself a few times

Answer these questions

What was the poem mostly talking about?
What is wrong with the first pan?
How many pans will the baker need?

Make a list of all the rhyming words, for example, small + tall

_____________

Find all the different punctuation marks, for example, question mark, full stop. How many of each of them are there?

Design your own cake and draw a picture of it

Verbs

A verb is an action word. Examples of verbs are, running, jumping, singing.

Can you find the verbs in the sentences below?

Example: The boy is climbing up the ladder.

Sarah is singing her favourite song.
The cat hissed at the brown dog.
Dad was washing the car outside.
Gurnoor walked home from school.
The children watched a movie at home.

You can make up your own simple sentences and repeat the same task.

Nouns

A noun is the name of a person, place or thing.

Write some sentences to match these pictures, then underline the noun.

Be careful, sometimes your sentence will have more than one.

The Zebras are cleaning each other’s backs.

Nouns and Verbs

Circle/ highlight the nouns and underline the verbs in the following sentences.

Example: Jonah ran outside to play with the dog.

The Hulk crashed through the wall.
Superman flew high into the sky.
Wonder Woman saved the people from the sinking boat.
Batman drove his batmobile as fast as lightning.
Spiderman climbed to the top of the building.

You can make up your own simple sentences and repeat the same task.

Writing

Write a Letter to someone

Write a letter to someone you haven’t seen for a while who’s in your family or you could even write a letter to your teacher or someone at home.

If you want to, you can watch this short video about Letter writing for kids

Writing a letter is different to writing a story. There’s 5 things you need to include when writing a letter.

You need:

Date
Greeting and the persons name that you’re writing to
The body of your letter (what you’re telling the person)
Closing
Your name (who the letter is from)

Below are two letters. They both have the 5 things you need: date, greeting, body of letter, closing and the name of who the letter is from. Can you find those 5 things on each letter?

Here’s another letter but it has a picture too.

This letter is from Mele to her Auntie.

First, Mele drew a picture about what she wanted to tell her Auntie and then she wrote key words for her picture.

Next, she used her picture plan to write to her Auntie. She told her Auntie about visiting her Grandad.

Then she closed her letter and wrote her name.

Did Mele include the 5 things you need for a letter?

Writing your letter:

Who could you write a letter to? Maybe a cousin, an Aunty or Uncle or your Grandma or Grandpa? Or even your teacher? Or someone at home?
What do you want to tell that person? You could tell them about your home learning, or a place you visited in the car, or someone you visited outside?

You can write a letter with a picture or without a picture. If you want to draw a picture and write key words to help you with the body of your letter then use the letter template below or make your own. When you write your letter remember to add Capital letters and full stops.

Challenge: Can you add some WOW words and more detail to your letter? This will make it more interesting to the person you’re writing to.

When you finish your letter, check that you have included the 5 things you need for a letter.

Read your letter to an adult at home and then ask the adult to take a photo of your letter and send it to the person you wrote to. I bet they would love to hear from you!!!!

Writing Instructions - How to make your favourite sandwich

“Hi, I’m a green alien and my name is Pongo”.

“My family loves eating sandwiches from planet Earth”.

“Can you please show me how to make your favourite sandwich so I can make it for my family?”

“I’m from the planet

Bego. This is my planet”. “This is my family. They LOVE sandwiches!”

Pongo needs a lot of help to make a sandwich because he’s from another planet. Can you please help him by writing each step that you need to take to make your favourite sandwich.

Planning your writing: Start by planning your instructions, like this:

When you have finished writing all the steps, read them to an adult to see if they can follow your steps to make your favourite sandwich.

Make sure you don’t miss any steps because Pongo wants to make the sandwich exactly the same way as you do.

And don’t put your steps in the wrong order, like telling Pongo to put cheese on the bread before he has got the bread out.

Once your list of steps is correct you can start writing them for Pongo to follow.

Here are some words that might help you write your instructions

You could start your writing by telling Pongo who you are and what your favourite sandwich is, like this…..

Hi Pongo, my name is Maira and my favourite sandwich is chicken and cheese. First………

Challenge:

Can you add more detail to your opening sentence to make it more interesting for Pongo, like this……

Hi there Pongo, my name is Maira and I just love eating chicken and cheese sandwiches because they are so delicious. First…….

I bet Pongo will LOVE making your favourite sandwich and eating it too!

The Gingerbread Man - Writing a different ending to the story.

Watch the The Gingerbread Man video. You can just listen or read the words yourself.

The Gingerbread Man story.

Once upon a time a little old man and a little old woman lived in a cottage. One morning the old woman decided to bake a gingerbread man. She rolled the dough and cut it into a gingerbread man shape. She gave him eyes and a smile, buttons and a cherry for a nose. She put him in the oven. When she opened the oven to check, he jumped out and ran out the door. “Don’t eat me!” he shouted. The old man and the old woman ran after the gingerbread man. “Stop!” they yelled. But the gingerbread man kept running and he sang, “run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!” The gingerbread man met a pig who wanted to eat him but he kept running and singing, “run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!” The pig ran after the gingerbread man too. Then he met a cow and then a horse and they both wanted to eat him but he kept running and singing his song “run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!” The cow and the horse chased him too! Soon he came to a rushing river and he knew he would melt if he crossed it but he didn’t want to be eaten!! Just then a sneaky fox came along and said, “I can help you cross the river. Climb onto my back and I’ll swim across”. The gingerbread man didn’t trust the fox but he didn’t know what else to do so he climbed on the fox’s back because the fox promised that he wouldn’t eat him. Halfway across the river the fox said, “I’m getting tired, climb onto my head.” So the gingerbread man did. When they were nearly across the river the fox said, “I’m getting really tired, climb onto my nose.” So the gingerbread man did. Then the fox flicked his nose and tossed the gingerbread man high up into the air. He opened his mouth and ….. CHOMP……. CHOMP……..CHOMP……. And that was the end of the gingerbread man.

Changing the ending of the story:

At the end of the story, the Gingerbread Man wanted to cross the river but he didn’t trust the fox. Would you have trusted the fox?

The Gingerbread Man thought he had to cross the river with the fox’s help but was there another way he could escape the old man and the old woman?

How could you help him escape? You can think of the wildest and wackiest ideas in your imagination!!

Here’s the Gingerbread Man waiting for you to change his story……...

Thinking of ideas to change the ending:

Do a brainstorm on paper to think of ideas to change the ending, here is an example:

You can use as many ideas from your brainstorm that you want.

For example, 3 ideas from the brainstorm were used and here is part of the story ending.

When the Gingerbread Man came to the rushing river, a green speed boat suddenly came to help him. He jumped into it and it took him across the river. Then the Gingerbread Man got superpowers and he ran very fast but suddenly a big eagle swooped down and he jumped on the eagle’s back……...

Challenge:

Can you add some WOW words to your story like Mrs V did?

Describing a flower

Go into your garden or on a walk and find a flower. Can you describe this flower? Remember to add in lots of detail so that when I am reading your story I can picture your flower in my head.

Plan your story first.

Draw your picture and add some key words you will talk about

Here are some words you might need for your description:

Challenge: Can you add some detail to your story. In my plan, I know I am going to talk about bright yellow petals, not just yellow petals. This makes it easier for the reader to picture what they look like. I could even add more detail and say “The yellow petals are as bright as the sun”.

Writing an Acrostic Poem

Acrostic poems are fun to write! Here’s two acrostic poems called SPRING and RAINSTORM.

Can you see the word SPRING going down the page vertically?

This is the topic word for the poem and what the poem is about.

Here’s another poem called Rainstorm.

Can you see the word RAINSTORM going down the page vertically?

This is what the poem is about.

Acrostic poems can be easy to write and lots of fun!

How to write an acrostic poem

First you choose a word. Any word. Maybe the name of an animal, a season, something you like to play, the name of a person, any word at all. I’m choosing the word “elephants”.

Then you write the word down the left side of a piece of paper. Write each letter on a different line. Like this:

Then you’re going to think of a few words or a sentence about your topic word that starts with the first letter. I’m going to think of a sentence about ‘elephants’ that starts with the first letter, E.

“Extra long nose to eat with and smell “ or “ Ears that are huge and flap around”

I’ll choose one of these sentences and write it beside the first letter E. Like this:

Extra long nose to eat with and smell

Then you can do the same with the second letter. I’ll think of a sentence about ‘elephants’ that starts with the letter, L.

“Large and lumpy legs to walk around” or “Loose grey skin that is very wrinkly.

I’ll choose one of these sentences and write it beside the second letter L. Like this:

Extra long nose to eat with and smell

Loose grey skin that is very wrinkly

Continue thinking of sentences about your topic word that start with each letter. Then write each sentence beside the letter.

Here’s my acrostic poem about ‘elephants’ and a picture:

Extra long nose to eat with and smell

Loose grey skin that is very wrinkly

Ears that flap and swing in the breeze

Powerful trumpet sounds they make

Huge and heavy animals that can run

African elephants are big and strong

New baby elephants are super cute

Two hard tusks that are beside their trunk

Slow moving animals that live in herds

You can write a short acrostic poem or a long one.

Here’s a short acrostic poem. Here’s a longer acrostic poem.

Challenge:

Can you add some WOW words and extra detail to your acrostic poem.
Write an acrostic poem about someone in your family and then read it to them.

maths

Reminder: Online resource available

Matific: Follow this link https://www.matific.com/nz/en-nz/home/ and access the website by using the login your teacher gave you.

This week, our maths activities are all about subtraction with a focus on two strategies called “counting back in 1’s” and “counting back in 10’s”.

Strategy one- Counting back in 1’s

Here are two videos to help you learn this strategy:

Watch Mrs Brand teach you how to use the counting back strategy
This youtube clip shows the strategy being taught as well

Counting Back Practice

Last week you practised counting on to solve addition problems, this week you can practise using the count back strategy to solve subtraction problems. To use the count back strategy, you need to track your backwards counting carefully so you know when the right place is to stop your count.

Lock in the biggest number and count back the smaller number

For example, 8 - 3, we start our backwards count from 8 - 8, 7, 6. The next number you say, 5, is how many will be left. Use a number line or your fingers to help you track how many you have counted back. If the problem is less than 10, hold up the number of fingers you are starting with, then fold down each finger as you count back. The fingers that remain unfolded tells you the answer of how many are left. e.g.

Extension: If your child is showing confidence with counting back for problems involving 10 or less, extend to using your fingers to just track what you are counting back. For example, the picture below shows tracking the count back of 4 for 14 - 4 = 10, and count back of 4 for 9 - 4 = 5

Use the counting back strategy to solve these subtraction equations. You might want to use a hundreds board to help you count backwards.

18 - 4 =

25 - 2 =

36 - 5 =

17 - 6 =

58 - 3 =

29 - 7 =

45 - 1 =

Below are some subtraction problems for this week. You can show how you solved each problem by drawing a picture representation, hands or a number line

Before beginning the problems for the day, help your child practise their counting backwards sequence. Ask them to count backwards from a given number they are familiar with, this could be a number between 20-100

Strategy two- Counting back in 10’s

Watch this video to see the counting on in 10’s strategy being taught by Miss Dreadon

Here is a hundreds board. You already know how to count forwards in tens from any number, but now can you try counting backwards in tens from any number?

Try starting from 100 and going up the board to count backwards

If we start from a different number, like 86, the pattern goes

What patterns do you notice?

Can you try counting backwards in tens from these numbers:

77 62 43 89 56

Now let’s use our skills to work out this problem:

What if there were 64 children at the party and 20 went home early?

What about if there were 73 children at the party and 40 went home early?

Can you put your own made-up numbers in the spaces and work out how many children are left at the party?

Below are some subtraction problems for this week. You can show how you solved each problem by drawing a picture representation or a number line

Before beginning the problems for the day, help your child practise their counting backwards sequence. Ask them to count backwards from a given number in 10’s.

Word problems

Each day pick one of these word problems to practise the subtraction strategies to solve the daily problems. For an extension, you can choose your own numbers to fill in the blanks.

Stars in the sky

Aryan was looking at stars in the night sky. He counted out ________ stars but a cloud made ________ stars disappear. How many stars could Aryan see now?

For example:

15 stars in the sky and a cloud covers 3, so Aryan can see 12

15 - 3 = 12

Jelly beans in a jar

Yesterday, I went to Countdown and bought a pack of jelly beans. There were _____ jellybeans in the packet. I was feeling hungry and ate ________. How many jelly beans are left in the packet?

Colouring pencils

I had a box of ________ colouring pencils, ___________ are broken. How many pencils can I still use?

Milking cows

Max the monkey

topic - gardens

What do plants need?

To grow a plant you need 5 main things: air, water, light, soil and space.

Watch this video: What do plants need

Water

Just like humans, plants also need water to survive.

Plants use water for lots of things. The roots of a plant absorb the water from the soil which gives them all the good nutrients they need to grow. Water also helps plants stand up.

Colour changing flower experiment

You will need:

Flower
Cup
Water
Food colouring

Instructions

Pick a flower from your garden or from a park close to your house (white flowers work best)
Fill up a cup with water
Put a few drops of food colouring in your water
Put flower in the cup
Wait a few hours

How does this work?

Flowers and plants get water from their roots and bring it up through the stem into the flower. Because our flowers don’t have roots, the water goes up the stem and into the flower. Since the water is coloured it changes the colour of the flower.

Follow up activity

Can you draw 4 things that plants need to survive. Can you draw things plants don't need? Do plants need pizza to survive?

What do plants need?

To grow a plant you need 5 main things: air, water, light, soil and space.

Watch this video The needs of plants

Listen to this fun song to help you remember.

Light

Light is extremely important for plants. Plants use light for a process called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process where plants use light to help make their own food. Plants trap light from the sun with their leaves. Without light plants will starve and die.

Potato Maze Experiment

Can you make your own potato maze?

Watch this video to help you create your own maze

What you will need:

1 potato
Cardboard box
Extra cardboard pieces
Tape

Instructions

In a cardboard box cut off some extra cardboard and make a maze like structure
Place your potato at the end of the maze away from the sunlight (if you want you can put your potato in a cup with some soil in it and a splash of water)
Watch and wait this may take a couple weeks.

Science behind it

Sunlight helps plants make their own food by a process called photosynthesis.

Plants will bend and move in order to reach the sunlight so that they can make their own food to help them grow.

Life Cycle of a Plant

We now know what we need to grow a plant, but what is the life cycle of a plant?

Just like how we grow from a baby, to a child, to an adult, plants grow too.

Watch this video to see how a plant grows

First, we have a seed. With the right water, soil and light the seed will begin a process called germination.

Germination is when the seed pops out a small root that grows down and a shoot that grows up towards the light.

Next, more roots grow and a seedling grows. This is where you have a small plant with some leaves.

Finally, the plant will fully grow with a thick stem, roots and leaves. It will then begin to flower. Some plants will grow flowers that will then turn into fruit or vegetables.

Plant growing experiment

You will need:

A broad bean seed - If you get a broad bean from the supermarket you can open it up and get a seed from inside
Soil
Water
Cup

Instructions

In a cup place some soil (if you don’t have soil you can use sand, or a cotton pad)
Add your bean seed
Water your seed.
Continue watering your seed every 3-4 days. Remember not to over water it or it will drown
Keep watching your seed grow!

Follow up activity

Can you draw a life cycle of a plant?

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