I am not going to give any new words this either just to give everyone a chance to go over all the tricky words in the word box but we will be back on track next week and hopefully I will be able to sort out links to read the next book in our reading series. till then I hope you enjoy all the interactive games and resources in the Gill website.

Literacy Unit 3 Click on the image above to bring you to the Gill website and log in please, Go back to the Poster and this time select Explore Mode and clicking on the little question mark at the bottom of the picture please answer all 10 questions. Now pick a few activities to do again from the menu? Maybe the matching game and a starting sounds? What ever your child would like to try again. Remember to say Miss Polly had a Dolly again .

Today we will have a look at the other 2 stories from the main menu, The Fiction eReader Ella in Hospital. Again please look at the suggestions in the inside cover of the eBook for lots of lovely suggestions to help you tackle this book with your child. it is looking at capital letters and lower case letters and their sounds. Can you also look at the Non Fiction ereader The Hospital. More great ideas in the inside of this book to explore the book and to have some fun playing doctors and hospitals. it could be a good time to root out a play doctors kit and an old white shirt for a doctors coat.(AISTEAR alert!)

We really enjoyed this story when we were covering this Unit 3 . It is called Baby Brains by Simon James. You can have another read of it here

Explore with me: Firstly ask your child what they know about maps? Who uses them? Where do we see maps? A bus stop, a train station, the shopping centre? why do we need them? Then look at page 43 of their explore with me book and ask the children to suggest a route around the town listing all the places they will pass. The little explorers have just finished school. they are each going a different route home. Who has the longest? the shortest? what will they pass? Now a challenge can your child draw a map of their journey to and from their home to someplace you travel to frequently. Maybe they might like to draw a treasure map for the sitting room or garden. The videos below might help.

Literacy Click on the Gill image at the very top of this page and time go to Unit 4 please. The theme is ....... Christmas. The children will be thrilled to do this Unit as we only touched on parts of it as we were so busy getting ready for the Nativity Pageant and Jumble Sales and other school activities. We will start as usual with section Oral Language and Interactive resources. Look firstly at the poster in Story Mode and examine it carefully and then go on to do the nursery rhyme a few times 'A chubby little snowman'. Clicking on the yellow house in the left hand corner will bring you back to the interactive activities every time. Have a few goes at the Matching memory cards, Balloon pop concentrates on the sight words we, me said and to. This is a great activity to help build their sight vocabulary and ask them to say the word every time they pop the balloon. Odd one Out - again they must explain why something does not belong. Starting sounds are concentrating on the letters j, z, and w. I will put up some videos on this a little further on. The last activity is on syllables. This is very important. Say the word. now clap the word for example Santa. 2 claps, If your child picks the wrong number the circle will show up red so ask them to clap it again and the circle will show green when they have the right number. Next can you please have a read of the Non Fiction reader eBook from the main menu. It is called Toys. Lots of excellent suggestions on the front inside cover to help go through this book and loads of lovely questions to discuss with your child. This is a fantastic book and will go over some new sounds v y x and qu and v. this book most importantly help your child start sounding words on each page. encourage them to copy Tom's voice and point at each letter and sound out the words themselves.

Maths: Page 53 Figure it Out . Lets go outside today for 2 minutes. Can you look up to the sky and count the clouds, birds, butterflies? Now look down.... what can you find to count on the ground? stones, daisies, daffodils? You decide. Counting is fun!

Just Phonics: Today can you do the 2 pages on the letter v in your Just Phonics book

Handwriting. Page 46 the letter t. Remember to do the rainbow letter at the very top with all your colours! start at the top, straight down a flick and the lift your pencil and a straight line across. Name some other things that start with the t sound

Literacy: back to the Gill website and lets look at the poster again in Explore Mode and answer the 10 questions. Click on the question mark to bring up the questions and off you go! Try do some other of the interactive activities in this section again please specially ones that were tricky or difficult yesterday. Then click on the Genre Reader eBook called The Week before Christmas and have a read of it a few times looking for words you know every time. Then can you click on the Fiction reader eBook called Waiting for Santa . Look at the inside cover for guildelines and work through the book as usual, practising letter formation and sounding out the words. It is such a well laid out book and along with all the books you have read so far this week, it will really your child's reading, writing and language skills.

Maths: Page 54 Figure it Out. Then a very tricky activity - go on a triangle hunt inside and outside your house. How many did you find? Can you draw and decorate some triangles? Here are 2 super little videos you might like to watch before going on your triangle hunt!

Hand writing. the letter t page 47. pencil first and then colours.

Explore with me; Today we are looking at Magnets. Watch this Dr Binoc video first please. Now can you find a magnet? try your fridge! Have a walk around your house and see can you find lots of things that are magnetic and lots that are non magnetic. Then have a look at page 44 of your book and see can you find some of the objects listed and see are they magnetic or not.

Literacy Today we are back as usual to the Oral language and Interactive Resources but today it is Unit 5 . I know you and your child have been working really quickly through these Units but it is revision and when we get on to Units 7,8 and 9 we will be taking a lot more time and exploring the resources more slowly and carefully. This Unit's theme is Ella in Africa. Lets have a look at the poster in Story Mode and discuss it and listen to the story. Then have a look through the rest of the interactive resources by clicking each time on the little yellow house in the bottom left corner. Then practise the nursery rhyme African Animals a few times, Can your child make up some actions to go with this rhyme. Look at the letter animations section and select the letter b. We will be doing writing this letter next week. Can you trace it with your finger on the screen, in the air, on the ground. Now lets look a the other activities - Odd One Out - It is getting trickier.... look at the pictures, say the words and listen to hear which one sounds different. Matching Memory cards.... again trickier. This time we have to match the sight words. Say each word when you turn a card. Heads Up - describe the animal by saying what it looks like, what it eats and what sound it makes without saying it's name. Then 3 more Odd One Out activities. The first is all about categorisation for example the carrot is the odd one out because it is a vegetable and not a fruit, The cow because it is a farm animal and not a zoo animal etc, The next one is which word is the odd one out and the last one is based on initial sounds, look at the pictures, say the word, which one starts with a different sound.

Can you then go back to the main menu and select the Non Fiction Reader called Africa. Have a quick look at the inside cover for the sight words in this book and also for some before and after reading activities. There are also some lovely ideas of the inside back cover for after reading activities and game.

Maths : Can you cut out some triangles, circles, squares and rectangles and make a shape picture. Practise lots of different shape pictures before deciding to stick them down Have a look at the link below for some ideas or maybe you might be able to print off a picture to colour. I think it's more fun to cut out your own. You might even find some shapes in old magazines or shop leaflets to cut out. Don't forget to ask permission first!! Ha.ve a listen to some number rhymes while you are cutting

Construction:

Unit 3 : Design, Draw and Construct a new children's hospital with everything that children might need, examination room, wards, a waiting room an ambulance bay.... they might also add their own features like.... a play room, a library, an ice cream shop, a cinema any thing at all that they like. they could also plan and build roads and routes that the ambulance could take to the hospital

Unit 4 Using lego and blocks construct some new toys for Santa to deliver, design and build stables for the reindeer and a home for the elves......

Role Play and imaginative play

Unit3. Make a Doctor's surgery, you will probably need to organise a waiting room, an appointment book, a check in desk, maybe an X- machine, a doctors kit, medicine and a prescription pad.

Unit 4 Set up Santa's workshop with your toys , Design some new toys, set up an assembly line, pretend you are an elf keeping an eye on everyone in your house, make a list of naughty and nice, maybe you could wrap up some presents.

Small world.

Unit 3 Make a small hospital with your figures etc and maybe poor Santa has to visit it with an unfortunate accident with his sleigh... or maybe he got stuck in a chimney or worse maybe he........ ask your child to suggest some other scenarios where Santa might need a doctor!

Build a town for Santa to visit, use your cars, blocks, toy animals whatever you have in your toy box or play room.