RE - Mosques

For RE, the kids are doing a bit about mosques and what the call to prayer is for.  There aren't many resources for KS1 kids about Islam online and the ones that I can find are descriptions about mosques in the UK.

This RE online site has some nice simple resources for KS1 kids to introduce the beliefs of Islam.

Here are some colouring sheets with mosques:

• mosque and inside rooms
• a simple external view
• minarets

Science - Grouping Materials

This week the kids are taking a first look at the different materials that things are made of and the qualities of those materials (e.g. soft, see-through, can float).  I was a bit confused about what they should be doing but luckily KS1 resources on the web make it clearer.

Here's a nice animation to get going...http://vimeo.com/19112994

• The bbc has a game and a worksheet.
• Crick web has the Materials 1 drag and drop activity which complements the kids' homework well.
• Here's another materials sorting activity from the bbc too.

We've just had a lot of fun walking back from the shops identifying the materials we saw and imagining what it would be like to live in houses made of different types of materials. Gabi's idea for the worst kind of house = a house made of steam!

Finally, here's the UK Dept. of Education link for this aspect of the curriculum .

English - AIR words

Gabi has been very amused by the story they read in class for Read-Write Inc this week Hairy Fairy. Hopefully she won't be calling anyone that name!

1. Here's a poster for air words;
2. an air words worksheet with clues;
3. and a whole host of printable worksheets, poems and activities from Cherry Carl.

Maths - Time (on the hour)

They've been doing o'clocks this week.

Just focusing on hours, here are some nice online games that we've found.

1. Help Max and Molly fix the clock in Clockworks.
2. Level 1 this game practices the o'clocks. 
3. Move the hands on the clock to the correct time in the Room 108 game.
4. Drag and match the clock in the first level of the Stop the Clock game.

This interactive story is really nice - Nash's adventures.

Also, there are a few free iPad and iPhone apps which help with learning the time such as:

• Tell Time
• Basic Time App

Maths - addition to make 20

Two digit numbers:
1. An online number labelling activity

Addition up to 20:
2. Number bonds to 20 - a powerpoint presentation using insects to illustrate
3. (printouts) From the BBC, making numbers and
4. Tanto's hiding place.
5. From sparklebox, addition to 20 board game
6. A lovely robot colouring activity where the code shows the colour.
7.  Our favorite: Levels 1 and 2 of the online digit workout

Adding and subtracting up to 20:

8. (printouts) One more and one less Bingo.

9. Loop cards - you need a few people to play this one.

Maths - Positions

This week the kids have been working on the concept of position. They've used the language: in between, above, below, under, to the left of and to the right of, to describe the position of objects.

Here are a few online activities for reviewing that.
1.  Lulu's travels.  Take turns to give/get directions to direct Lulu back to his  spacecraft.
2.  Lulu the ladybird.  Same concept as above, this time picking up flowers and avoiding holes.
3.  (printout) Complete the grid according to position instructions.

Just for left and right:
5. Left-Right race.
6. (printouts) Help Captain Calamity find his treasure.  Page 1 and Page 2.

Here's a nice set of preposition posters, with a bear illustrating the positions.

Science - Healthy Eating

It's Healthy Eating Week and the kids are checking their lunch-bags to make sure the food groups are included properly.

There are so many amazing resources from the UK about healthy eating.  Here are some of the best I've found.

From foodafactoflife.org:

1. Information and print outs for activities about the 'Eatwell Plate'
2. A flash game about food groups 
3. A second flash game about how much to eat of different groups
4. A make a healthy lunch box game
5. Stories that include food sources and healthy eating

The Supermarket ASDA has made some lovely resources for KS1 kids on this topic.

1. Dr Meejee's food groups game
2. The High Five game for choosing food from different groups

For kids who like crafts, here's a food group mobile activity.

For young scientists, Sid the Science Kid has an idea for collecting data about snacks in a chart.

If you are dealing with a picky eater - Maureen's blog might have some good ideas for you.

Here's the link to the UK Department of Education for this aspect of the curriculum.

English - R controlled OR words and OO

Bossy R is back again and this time she's working on Os.  At the same time the kids are looking at OO words.  Gabi tells me they read a Read-Write Inc story in class called, 'The Poor Goose'.

OR
Here are three R controlled O activities from Starfall:

1. Make a Word
2. My Horse Glory interactive story
3. Picture Hunt

This quick phonics activity reviews AR and OR.

For more tactile learners, the printout (r_controlled_or.doc) on this page has word and picture cards

OO

Lovely Roy the Zebra has a straightforward OO reading game

This silhouette video is good for noticing the two different oo sounds.















Following that, the British Council's Good afternoon baboon activity helps the kids differentiate between long and short oo sounds.

Again for tactile learners, the printout (oo-oo_sort.doc) on this page has word and picture cards 

English - Days of the Week

So this year the kids have to learn the days of the week (easy) and how to spell them (not easy - I teach 20-year olds who can't spell them!).

There are so many days of the week videos and songs on YouTube but often the days are spelled out in capital letters or in fonts that use a rather than ɑ, which is confusing for children who are starting out on handwriting.

This video has good font, a gentle song and shows the days as a cycle.

Here's a lovely Roy the zebra activity for reading and ordering the days. It has a set of flashcards too.

For practising the spelling here are a few online ideas :

1. Days of the week spelling with a monkey
2. Days of the week hangman with a robot
3. Catch the spelling 

One 'making' idea is the days of the week word wheel from enchanted learning.

'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' is great for reading, talking and writing about days.

Finally, this is a great weekdays song for singing in the car!

Science - Frog Lifecycle

Froggy life-cycles!


Here's an interactive video about the life cycle of the frog and a drag and drop frog life-cycle game.

There's all kinds of making and colouring stuff on the web:

• I like the look of this box book craft activity.
• Of course, there are plenty of colouring pages too 1, 2 and 3.

We haven't tried it yet but here's a low-cost iPad and iPhone app about life cycles - A Life Cycle.

Here's the link to the UK Department of Education for this aspect of the curriculum.

Maths - Handling Data 2

The kids had a worksheet in which they sorted big and small, striped and spotted (or were they plain?) fish.

Here's a very simple sorting online activity 

Even better - here's a free demo of some software that helps kids with the concept of sorting according to different criteria.  It's very suitable for visual learners.

Firstly, choose how many Furbles you want to sort and their shapes, colours and number of eyes.

Then select the table or bar chart icon at the bottom to sort the Furbles...

and then choose the sorting criteria to and click on the tick icon.

link to Furbles Demo site

As we've been playing with this we've been doing a lot of estimating about how big a group would be.  So it's a really nice review of estimating too which Gabi says they did in class last week.

Maths - Handling Data 1

Last week one of the homework worksheets for maths was about counting fruit and vegetables and then completing a block chart for the data.

This game and worksheet from the BBC looks like a fun way of reviewing that:
Animal Island Game
Animal Island Data worksheet

English - R-Controlled AR words

In Read - Write Inc last week, the kids were working on 'R-controlled' ar words. Sometimes those are called 'Bossy R's too.

 Here are some extra resources:

 1. A simple word making game from the excellent Starfall website.
starfall.com

2. Printable pdf worksheets for -ar with a range of different activities.
www.wordway.us.com/BossyR/arSet

3. Finally, here's a video with a 'Bossy R' rap!

p.s. Gabi was retelling me the 'Barker' story from class this evening too.

Welcome!

Hi! I've been meaning to do this for ages. Here's a blog where we can share ideas for supporting the kids with their learning, class projects and homework. When Gabi gets home from school, she tells me what the kids are doing in class and then I can share links to videos, worksheets and other learning ideas here. Feel free to add stuff too! Best wishes from Rachel and Gabi