April 27th to May 1st

Hello everyone,

Lovely to see you all clicking in for this weeks activities. This is all a big new learning curve for me and hopefully this site will make it a little easier to access resources for your children. Let me know how it goes!

Literacy: Like every day last week we will start off with the Oral Language and Interactive activities on the Gill Website. Hopefully if you click on the link above, it will bring you to the log in page. We are going to start Unit 3 today. The theme is The Cafe. Begin by looking at the Oral Language Poster in Story Mode. Examine the picture very carefully please and talk about it and then click on the play button to listen to the story. Then we will go on to the Interactive poem and listen to it and say it a few times. Click on the circle with the 3 lines going across to read the text of the poem. Now the fun stuff! Matching Memory Cards.... play it a few times, set a timer, what is your fastest time. Next up is Balloon Pop - sight word practice. You must say the word as you pop the correct balloon. Now there is a Sequencing Activity based on the poem. don't forget to read the sentences under each picture please. Sorting activity 1 is based on the ai sounds, read the words and put them in the correct box. Look at the video below if you cant remember the ai sound. Sorting activity 2 is on the oa sound. Take a break and save the last 2 sorting activities for tomorrow

Next let's go back to the main menu and select Unit 3 and the Non Fiction Reader eBook called Pancakes. Look at the inside cover before reading for some excellent guidelines to help read this book. Your child might like to listen to the story first and then read it a few times by them selves. Remember practice makes perfect!

Writing. Get out your copy and write a list of 6 or more things you would like to order in a cafe and draw or stick a small picture beside each one. Maybe you could make it look like a real menu. You will find lots of pictures in supermarket leaflets that might help if you fancy a cutting and sticking activity.

Spell Well: Week 29 Box 77 exercise B

Maths.... Finish off page 54 please, use your fingers, pasta shapes, lego pieces etc to help you add, maybe you might like to draw some dots beside each number and count them all together. It is very important to count every day so..... today count all the spoons big and small in your cutlery drawer? which set has more? How many more are there?

Literacy: Click on the Gill website again and the usual Oral Language and Interactive Resources. This time select Explore Mode when looking at the poster and today we will start with the last 2 Sorting Activities. Today we are going back over the ie and the ee sounds. Try and do some of the other activities in this section again when you are finished

Next we will go back to the main menu in the G|ill website and select the Genre story. It is called Friday at the Cafe. Have a listen to the story first by clicking on the yellow triangle on each page. This story is bringing the children's attention to the procedure writing genre which is giving instructions on how to.... the components of this are

1. The title.... state what has to be done

2. Equipment/ingredients ...... A list of what you need

3. The method ..... the steps to be done

After you have listened to the story, have a go at reading it by yourself. Ask help for the difficult words or else have a guess and use the pictures to get a clue. Then for a little challenge. Can you discuss some procedures that you do every day for example ..... getting up in the morning.... what do you do first next then and last. We use this language at school all the time How do we show we are listening? Remember the procedure that you learned with Miss Harrington. Other procedures that we do.... how do we wash our hands? how do we set the table? How do we get dressed?

Watch this video carefully and see what happens first, next, then and last. Now in your writing copy can you write the title Fairy Bread..... then a list of what you will need. now can you write a 4 step procedure describing how to make fairy bread. now try out your procedure writing and maybe you can make your own fairy bread too!

Can you back to the main menu again please and select Unit 3 and the Fiction Reader eBook. It is called Liz's Little Cafe. Look at the inside cover for some helpful hints. Hopefully your child will be able to read most of this book by themselves. Please tell them any words that they find too difficult. There are also lovely ideas for discussion after the have read the story on the inside back cover. It is important to have a chat after a story and help the children make a connection between themselves and the story. Ask them to show you the sign we use with our fingers when we are making a connection..... i hope they remember it. Don't worry if they don't.

Today we are going to look at Unit 4 which the children will love as it is based around the theme of Christmas. Back to the Gill website and as usual start off at the Oral Language and Interactive Resources. Hopefully the children are in a good routine at this stage and be able to do some of this by themselves. Have a good look at the oral language poster in Story Mode and then listen to the story. remember to discuss the 5 W's Who, What, Where, When and Why?

Next have a listen to the Interactive poem a few times and have a read of it by clicking on the circle with the 3 little lines going across under the poem.

Then have a look at the other activities. There are 3 sorting games based on the sounds or, ng and the long and short oo sounds. The long and short oo sounds can be tricky but these two 3 min videos will hopefully help. The videos all show the correct way to form both sounds .

Literacy: Gill Website. Unit 5 today and the theme is The Estate Agents. We did this back in January. We are going as usual to the Oral Language and Interactive Resources first and today we will look at the Oral Language Poster in both Story and Explore Mode. Answer the 10 questions please. Listen and read the interactive poem. Then play the Matching Memory Cards. Please read each word when you flip the cards over. Lets play 2 Sorting Games today- the ou and oi sounds. These videos will remind you of these sounds.

Now can you please select Non Fiction eReader Houses from the main drop down menu in Unit 5 and have a read of it. Your child may need some help with some of the tricky words. Lots of nice tips in the inside and back covers. We had loads of fun exploring the Estate Agents theme during our Aistear time at school and I've given some play ideas in the Aistear section further on.

Writing. Draw a picture of your house and then write 6 sentences about it. Pretend you are trying to sell it so make it like an ad and write all about the best parts!

Spelling Test.

For your STEM Challenge this week can you please design, draw and build a rocket or a space ship using whatever materials you are allowed inside or outside your house. Don't forget to send me a photo. Have fun

Also try and do a little cutting, sticking, gluing or painting

Construction.......

Build some tables and chairs for the cafe. Use whatever you want. You might also like to build a kennel for a tiger in case one every comes to tea, maybe build a lego or lollipop kennel for a toy tiger. Build a wall or build a house

can you make a post box

Role Play/Imaginative play ......

Set up a cafe with menus etc. The children do this all the time at school. Pretend to take reservations, answer the phone, take orders, deal with spillages, complaints and angry customers!

Set up a post office, make some signs... open, closed, queue here etc! look at the Oral Language poster for ideas, sort the mail, serve the customers,deliver the mail etc

Art.....

Make Playdough food for your cafe. Draw and design some lovely tea cups or plates for your cafe.... draw around a real plate and then decorate the circle. Make a stick puppet tiger.

Create Santa's sleigh using an old cardboard box and decorate it and attach some string of ribbon for the reins. decorate some paper and use it to wrap some of your small toys

Sensory Play......

Wash the dishes in the sink .... real or plastic! scrub some vegetables and wash some fruit. Sweep the floor. Do you have a sand box? ask someone to hide some toys in it and dig for them with a teaspoon.

Buy s bag of cheap rice and put it in a large basin or bowl and let the children play freely with it. add in spoon, small containers etc

Small world.....

Make a tiny cafe for your dolls or action figures or even your dinosaurs. make some tiny menus and maybe collect some things from outside or around the house to set the table for them, daisies could be spoons, little leaves for plates etc whatever works for you!