Hello everyone,
Today is World Book Day! Celebrate with us and dress up as your favourite character. Don’t forget to ask your child why their favourite character is so special. Reading to, and with your child is fundamental. Without continued exposure to stories, studies have shown that child are 3 years behind their peers! This is a significant gap that disadvantages a child and their life chances. It can take years to catch up.
This week’s story is one of my favourites. Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. The main character is an imaginative little boy who, after being sent to his room, creates a magnificent magical world full of Wild Things where he rules supreme!
Literacy – Practice those Talk 4 Writing actions please. Talk about the book. Why did Max’s mum send him to his room? What does your child think about the Kingdom of the Wild Things? Would their imaginary land/kingdom look like Max’s? How would it differ? You could create a ‘kingdom’ out of empty boxes of cereal or crackers, etc. Who lives there? Do they speak English or another language, could you make up your own language? Dress up as a Wild Thing or the King or Queen of all the Wild Things. The best costumes are those that you piece together from the bits you have at home. Plan out and organise your costume. What do you need and why? Being able to think things through will help to focus your child, and improve their reasoning skills. These games will keep your little one engaged for ages, and all because of a short story that you’ve shared.
Maths – We’ve been busy doing a variety of measuring this week. When you are designing your Kingdom, take a tape measure or ruler and measure out your ‘area’. You could use masking tape to define the boundaries (also making it clear how much space your child can make ‘untidy’). This helps their spatial awareness and gives them a visual clue as to how big the space they’ve measured really is. You could ‘measure’ time too. What exactly is sailing in and out of weeks? It would be interesting to hear your child’s conception of time. At school we listen to The Singing Walrus to learn our Days of the Week. It’s got a great beat and children absolutely love listening to it. The added benefit of your child understanding which day is which is that Saturday and Sunday are not school days so you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn! Days of the Week Song | The Singing Walrus – YouTube.
Until next time, do good looking for adventures, clean your ears out for good listening and turn your noggins (brains) on for good learning.
Take care and stay safe,
Mrs Howe, Mrs Bain, Mrs Mitzman, Mrs Hill and Mrs Bence