Reading promotes mental wellbeing

New research from Puffin and The National Literacy Trust shows a rise in children’s reading during lockdown has supported their mental wellbeing and inspired them to dream big. 

Read the article here:

Monday 6th - Friday 17th July

For the next two weeks, up to the end of term, we are going to have a focus on reading. 

Each day choose one of the following activities to do. 

1. Read a book on Purple Mash. You can choose any book from the Serial Mash Emeralds tab and discuss what you enjoyed about the book.

2. Choose one of the 60 Second comprehension-reading activities related to our topics below.

3. Explore new vocabulary you find when reading. What are the origins of this word? Can it be modified? Can you find any synonyms or antonyms for your new word? You can use a dictionary to help you too.

4. Look in magazines, newspapers, and books for new vocabulary that you are unfamiliar with. Use a highlighter to highlight in magazines and newspapers and record in your English book with a definition.

5. Write a short book review detailing your likes and dislikes about the book you are reading. Remember to justify your opinion with examples from the text. (Example book review below)

6. In your English book record any words that have captured your interest from the chapter that you have read. You could write synonyms for these words.

7. Read to another member of the family. This does not have to be a book so you can be as imaginative as you wish.

Monday 29th June - Friday 3rd June

This week we are going to have a focus on spelling.

There are 5 days worth of spelling revision with 3 challenges per day.

Each day will focus on different spellings from the Year 3/4 spelling list. 

Challenge 1 - correct any misspelled words.

Challenge 2 - unscramble the words and spell them correctly.

Challenge 3 - spell the word from the clue. 

You can also use the following games to help practise your spellings. 

Monday 22nd - Friday 26th June

Monday 15th - Friday 20th June

This week we would like you to play this fantastic educational game to challenge and consolidate your understanding of pronouns, determiners, prefixes, and standard English.
 

A colour catastrophe has happened! One of the emojis woke up this morning to discover its colour had been stolen while it slept! Who would do such a thing? The culprit needs to be found and the colour must be returned to Shocked emoji.

As the Detective Chief Inspector, it is your job to find out who stole the colour. Your officers have taken down the names and descriptions of the 11 emojis who live nearby.

There are also five top-secret clues that have been left. To crack the case, you will need to solve each clue and check the information with the list of names. Can you find the colour in time?

Below are some resources to help you solve each days clue. 

Monday - Clue 1 

Monday 8th - Friday 12th June

This week we have planned some activities for you to use alongside the BBC Bitesize lessons.

Some of the activities are interactive so you can complete them on the computer, others you will need to do in your English book. As always when completing written work write the date and learning objective at the top of the page and underline them. You can print off the sheets that go with the activity or if you do not have access to a printer we have included an activity idea for you to do in your English book. You do not have to do all the activities listed on the website, choose the one that interests you the most.

Monday 1st - Friday 5th June 

This week we would like you to read the book History Hackers: Roman Rescue as it links to our History topic this term.

*EDITED - we've now managed to upload it in its pdf format!*

Please do not feel the need to read the whole book as the activities below mainly focus on chapters 1-3 which we have included. 

If you do wish to read the whole book please click the following link which will take you to Twinkl so that you can download it. It is available as an eBook or as a PDF.  

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t2-e-4300-history-hackers-roman-rescue-ebook

You will need to subscribe to Twinkl in order to download the document but this will give you access to a huge variety of resources. Use the code PARENTSTWINKLHELPS when registering, for a month's free access.

After reading the book please complete the activities below. Most of the activities come in more than one difficulty level, shown by a string of one, two, or three stars at the bottom of the sheet. As these resources can be used in both years 3 and 4 we suggest you choose either the 1 star or 2 star (for a challenge) worksheet.

Past and Present Tense Activity
Practise changing sentences from the past tense to the present tense and vice versa. Sentences are taken from the story.
Punctuating Sentences Activity
You will be prompted to find and use full stops, commas, capital letters, and other sentence punctuation.
Direct Speech Punctuation Activity
You will need to add the correct punctuation to some dialogue from the story. Ability levels range from just adding speech marks and full stops, to adding all punctuation and starting a new line for a new speaker.
Reading Comprehension
Read the extract and answer the questions. All the information should be in the extract for you to find.
Guided Reading Questions
Ask these questions alongside the story chapters, to spark discussion and get the most out of the story.

Roman Rescue Wordsearch

A fun way of introducing and reinforcing vocabulary from the Twinkl Originals story 'History Hackers: Roman Rescue'.

Thursday 14th - Friday 22nd May 

The Wyrmstooth Crown

Up until half term we would like you to read, or listen to the audiobook version of The Wyrmstooth Crown book and complete the activities below. Some of the activities come in more than one difficulty level, shown by a string of one, two or three stars at the bottom of the sheet. Choose the level you feel comfortable completing.

Unfortunately, we cannot post the eBook of The Wymstooth Crown on here as the file is too large.  Please click the following link, which will take you to Twinkl so that you can download it.  It is available as an eBook or as a PDF.  Please be advised that the PDF is twice as large (around 75mb) as the eBook (around 35mb).

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t2-e-4535-the-wyrmstooth-crown-ebook

You will need to subscribe to Twinkl in order to download the document but this will give you access to a huge variety of resources.  Use the code PARENTSTWINKLHELPS when registering, for a month's free access.

If you can’t print these resources many of them can be used from a screen with a pencil and paper.

Wednesday 13th May

LO: To use inverted commas in a short story.

Question time!

If you could go anywhere on holiday where would it be?

Who would you take with you?

Which of the superheroes would you most like to have on holiday with you?

What activities or sports do you think each of the characters would be good at?

Which of the characters would you most like to be? Why?

Sentence challenge!

Insert the inverted commas into the sentence below.

Did we have to bring him along? Spiderman muttered under his breath. He always breaks things.

Sick sentences!

These sentences are ‘sick’ and need help to get better. Can you help? Could you add an adverb?

Hulk had big arms and a big chest. He wore trousers.

Today's task 

Everyone needs a holiday every now and then. Superheroes are no different.

Can you write a story in the 1st person from the perspective of one of the characters?
You could describe where you go on vacation and what activities you do.

Does it all go to plan? Do you always get on with your fellow superheroes?

Can you use speech in your writing today? Remember to use inverted commas.

Tuesday 12th May 

LO: To identify where inverted commas need to be used in a sentence to show when someone is speaking.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z7s6t39

Watch the videos and work through the activities. 

Monday 11th May 

LO: To understand how and when to use apostrophes to show possession.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmq9kmn

Watch the videos and work your way through the activities. 

Friday 8th April

LO: To write a poem imagining you are an evacuee and VE Day has just been announced.

Read through the poem written about VE Day by Jack Woods.

Can you imagine how it felt hearing such positive news about the end of the war with Germany?

Following the announcement, huge crowds, with people dressed in red, white and blue gathered outside Buckingham Palace in London. They cheered as King George VI and his family, including Princess Elizabeth (the current queen) and Princess Margaret, came out onto the balcony to greet everybody. Princess Elizabeth and her sister were allowed to leave the palace and celebrate with crowds outside, although they had to do it secretly! The future Queen described it as "one of the most memorable nights of my life".
As 2020 marks the 75th Anniversary of VE Day with most of us inside our homes in lockdown, many are finding creative ways to celebrate online! With virtual street parties, decorating homes, dressing up and baking! Will you be celebrating? If so, how?

Reflection
VE Day was a very special day in our history, the end of the war with Germany bringing with it, huge joy and celebration but also a chance for reflection. This year marks the 75th Anniversary – a time for us to look back and think about an important time in our history.

Challenges!
Challenge 1 –Write a poem imagining you are an evacuee and VE Day has just been announced!

Can you perform it in front of your family?
Challenge 2 –Create an image or model of a soldier to place in your window for VE Day.

Thursday 7th April

LO: To describe the emotions of people who finally heard the announcement about the end of the war with Germany.

Monday 4th May - Wednesday 6th May

LO: To practise spellings from the year 3 spelling list.

For the next few days we would like you to work through this booklet, practising the spellings from the year 3 and 4 spelling list. 

Look, Cover, Write, Check is a strategy used to help children learn their spellings.

A child is given a word to spell and:

• looks at it
• covers it over with a piece of paper or their hand
• writes the spelling again next to the word
• uncovers the spelling to check if they have got it right.

This is a good method to teach children so that they practise learning the spellings of words, but also so that they are testing themselves.

Or you can use this website to help:

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/lcwc/index.html

You can also write sentences using the spellings. 

Spelling Games to try

Which One?
Write a word 3 ways and the children have to identify which is the correct spelling.

Find My Family
Children have a word on a piece of paper and they have to find another piece of paper with a word from the same word family on it.

Treasure Hunt
Children choose 2 cards that are face down, if they are a match they are treasure and get to go into the treasure box.

Guess My Word
Children can see the words and have to give a definition of one of them. Adults or other children have to decide which word the child is defining.

Snowball
Children think of a word and write it down on a scrap of paper. They then scrumple the paper up and throw it into the middle of the circle or table. Other children open up the paper and see if they can think of another word that they can add to the paper that follows the spelling pattern.

Which One Fits?
Verbal, or written sentences, with a missing word. Children choose a word from the list that will fit in the sentence.

Quickwrite
Children write all the different words they can remember with the chosen spelling convention in one minute, or repeat the same word/s as many times as possible in a minute.

Which Hoop?
Children sort the words into the correct hoops, 2,3 or 4 depending on convention. Can use small PE hoops with the words cut out on card, or drawn hoops for the children to write the words in.

Word Hunt
Children look through a selection of books to find examples of the words on their spelling list and keep a tally.

Human Words
1 letter on each card, children sort the cards into the right order to make a word and agree/get support from the other children.
 

Friday 1st May

LO: To write about an unexpected adventure.

Question time!

Where did her journey begin?

Why was it ‘unexpected’?

Where will she go on her adventure?

What different things will she encounter?

How will she get back home?

How might she be feeling about the adventure?

What will her parents be thinking?

Would you like to go on an adventure like this? Perhaps you can write about it!

In your literacy books have a go at writing at least one paragraph about going on a bath adventure.

Be creative, be interesting, and aim to grab the reader’s attention. 
•    Use the clues in the picture to guide your writing 
•    Remember, the image is just something to inspire you so don’t feel restricted by only writing about what you can see

Remember to include 
. , ! ?  “” 
Interesting adjectives and verbs 

Can you think of a verb that would match with the following nouns to describe what they are doing?

E.g. water – trickled

Bath

turtle

water

sun

the girl

fish

plug

shower curtain

You can even use the story starter below to get you started. 

Story starter!

She knew that it hadn’t been a good idea to leave the tap running, but now she was starting to enjoy herself…

Thursday 30th April

LO: To use apostrophes to combine words.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z4p2mfr

Sometimes we contract words to make them easier to say or write.

This means that we combine them together and make them smaller.

For example: She will = she'll

We use an apostrophe for contraction to show when we have done this.

Apostrophes for contraction show that you omitted (left out) some letters when you joined them together.

For example: You + are = you're

The apostrophe takes the place of the letters that have been removed. In the example above, that’s the letter a from 'are'.

Sometimes you need to rearrange the letters a bit when you combine them.

For example: Will + not = won't

Joining words together like this makes your writing easier to read and more friendly.

Complete this Contractions activity sheet.

You need to read the two words and then write the contracted form.

Don’t forget to use an apostrophe to show where you have taken out any letters.

Either print out the activity sheet or write the contracted words on a piece of paper instead.

Top Tip!

If you need to, use the word bank at the bottom of the sheet to help.

Finally, have a go at this Apostrophes and Combining Words game.

Wednesday 29th April

LO: To write a sentence with punctuation. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zm6wjhv

Complete the activity sheet. You need to decide which punctuation mark goes at the end of each sentence. Will it be a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark?

Then, write a question sentence about the final picture. 

Either print out the activity sheet or copy out the sentences into your literacy book, adding the correct punctuation at the end.

Top tip!

A full stop ends a simple sentence: I like cake.

A question mark ends a question: Would you like a piece of cake?

An exclamation mark ends a sentence that shows surprise or excitement: I can’t believe you bought me a cake!

Tuesday 28th April 

LO: To write a letter or thank you card.

Web Links
Captain Tom Moore fundraising news story
https://bbc.in/2Y0hMsC
Useful Video – Tom Moore receiving a Pride of Britain Award
https://bit.ly/3aAsW9X

Challenge 1 – Write a letter or thank you card and send it to someone who has made a difference in your local community, this could be for a teacher, family member or neighbour.
Challenge 2 – Draw a picture of Captain Tom Moore completing his challenge - this has been set as a 2do on Purple Mash. 

Monday 27th April 

LO: To know what adverbs are used for. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbn492p

Then have a go at writing five of your own sentences about what you have been up to this week.

Use at least one adverb in each sentence.

Then underline all the adverbs you have used.

Top tip!

Use this Adverbs word mat to help you choose some interesting adverbs for your sentences.

Friday 24th April 

LO: To identify verbs and use them in a sentence.

Thursday 23rd April

LO: To identify nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. 

Look at the words in the grid below.

Make a list for each in your literacy book according to their word class.

Wednesday 22nd April

LO: To write a letter for a purpose.

or

LO: To write an acrostic poem.

Tuesday 21st April

LO: To identify pronouns.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z64q7nb

Watch the videos and then work through the 2 interactive activities.

Then choose one of the 3 activity sheets to complete. 

Monday 20th April 2020

LO: To identify nouns. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zjrdwty

Watch the video and then work through the activities. 

You can print out and highlight the following worksheet, or copy out a paragraph and underline it in your literacy book. 

Remember to always include the date and LO underlined. 

We've been learning about shape poems in our English lessons. Now try creating theme poems based on your hobbies and likes. It asks you to enter your name on the first screen - this is to add the name of the poet to the bottom of your poem. Feel free to use a nickname instead.

*This needs flash to run so can only completed on laptops and desktop computers*