Here are some photos to show what we got up to last week- 

Our Learning for WC 17th January

Maths

This week in maths we are learning to represent numbers using fingers, objects and marks on a paper

Our key vocabulary we are going to be using to explain our learning is - number names, careful counting 

Here are some activities for you to do together at home –

Counting With Our Fingers: 

Use your fingers to help you count to 10. Don't forget to careful count- count slowly, saying a new number each time you put up a finger. 
Number rhymes are a great way to promote counting with our fingers. Here are some number rhymes you could use- 
Once I Caught A Fish Alive

Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed
Ten Green Bottles Standing On The Wall
Five Little Speckled Frogs

Five Little Ducks 
Finger Family 

Counting With Objects:

Use objects to help you count. Ask the children to count a certain amount of objects, for example, can you count 5 lego bricks or can you count 10 raisins. Remember to careful count, saying a new number name each time you touch a new objects. 

Counting With Marks On Paper:

Demonstrate counting with marks on paper. Draw something really simple like a line or a circle. Remember to careful count, saying a new number each time a new mark is drawn. Now encourage children to have a go at counting their marks on paper. 

Literacy

This week we will be reading the story "Baa Baa Black Sheep".

Here is a link to the story we are looking at in nursery for you to enjoy together at home –

When you are listening to the video above see if you can spot our key vocabulary for the week.

The words are - sheep, wool, jumper, master, dame

Here are some activities you can do together at home -  

To understand a key words from the story

To say what is happening in the story by looking at the different pictures and talking about what is happening
Watch the story together again. Why does the sheep have no wool left at the end of the story?

To contribute to a shared sentence based on the text by choosing a page and talking about what is happening that we do too
Model saying a sentence based on the story e.g. a scarf is made of wool, a blanket is made of wool 
Encourage the children to say the shared sentence with you and have a go at another sentence.

To listen to and enjoy the story

Re-read this week’s story and talk about what happened. Can you say which was your favourite part of the story? 

Use my sentence to help you - ‘I liked it when…’.

Topic

Look back at some of the objects you have at home that are made from wool- can you remember what materials this is made from? Talk about where wool comes from- can you remember where wool comes from?

Start a discussion like, I wonder how the wool got from the sheep and turned into this beautiful blanket / jumper?
Watch the video link below- showing how wool is taken from the sheep and turned into fabric. 

To experiment with dying wool 

Explain that we are going to experiment dying wool.. I wonder what this means? Talk about how we are to change the colour of the wool by using dye. 
What do you think will happen to the wool?
Why might people want to dye wool?
All you need is cotton wool and some dye (food colouring can be used). Demonstrate this activity first and remember to show the children the wool before you add the dye to it. 
Now let the children explore dying the wool- encourage them to talk about what is happening. 

Phonics

In Phonics, we are starting to go back over what we have learnt about Phase 1 Phonics. This week we are recapping Body Percussion- 

Activity 1
Body Parts- demonstrate using the body to make different sounds (clap hands, stamp feet, click fingers etc). Ask the children to copy the sounds that you are making. Next, encourage children to see what sounds they can make using their body. Could you make a pattern e.g. clap clap stamp or clap click pat. 

Activity 2
Keep the Beat- sing the rhyme, Five Little Ducks and encourage the children to join in until they become familiar with the rhyme. Now model making a sound by tapping your hands on your knees. Sign the rhyme again, tapping your hands on your knees to the beat of the music. Encourage the children to tap their knees to the beat of the music. 

Activity 3
Pet Movements- do you have a pet? do you know anybody that has a pet? Miss Reeves has a dog and that dog is full of energy, he likes to jump and the sound of him jumping makes a 'boing boing' sound- whilst saying this you could jump up and down. Get the children to copy the sound and movement.

Introduce the children to different pets and discuss what the animal might do and what sound it might make- 

Mummy has a fish- splash splash splash
Sister has a horse- clop clip clop
Cousin has a snake- sss sss sss
Brother has a bird- whoosh whoosh whoosh 
Once the children have practised the different pet sounds and movements sing a song to the tune of 'The Wheels On The Bus'-
'The dog jumping round goes boing, boing, boing,

Boing, boing, boing,

Boing, boing, boing.

The dog jumping round goes boing, boing, boing

All day long!

The fish swimming round goes splish, splash, splosh…

The horse galloping goes clip, clop, clip…

The snake slithering goes sss, sss, sss…

The bird swooping down goes whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…'

Activity 4
Words About Sounds- Make a selection of sounds, for example, slow sounds, fast sounds, quiet sounds and loud sounds. Can the children tell you which one you are doing? Can they make some slow, fast, quiet and loud sounds of their own?

More Books Linked To Our Topic 'Spots and Stripes' This Week: