Happy Friday everyone!

We hope you stayed cool yesterday.

Parents, just a friendly reminder that there is no expectation your child completes all the learning we post each day. We just want to offer the opportunities that the children would have had, had we been in school. We appreciate these are extraordinary times and that many of you are juggling childcare and work commitments at home. You’re all amazing!  Your family’s wellbeing comes first and foremost, Jo and Margot.

First, we should like to wish Athian an awesome birthday for tomorrow.
Athian, we hope you enjoy your special day at home with your family.

HELLO FROM YOUR FRIENDS!
Remember, you can add a comment about any of the content by clicking on the comment box at the end of this blog page.

Sam was up and learning early on Thursday. By 8 a.m. Mrs Handforth had received his first picture of a meerkat and her pup. Shortly afterwards, Sam sent another labelled picture of an adult meerkat and a pup (the name for a baby meerkat). Check out that happy smile!

Sahana watched the video about meerkats and drew a wonderful diagram of them. Check out all those labels. And great to see another happy, smiling home learner, Sahana!

Joshua responded to yesterday’s art provocation, drawing Spiderman – with a face mask and without. What a creative idea, Joshua!

Joshua also responded to the empathy card idea. He wanted to thank police officers, firefighters and ambulance workers for protecting and saving us. What a thoughtful idea, Joshua, to thank these brave people. Great drawings too!

Scarlett has been busy learning at home. Check out her awesome Literacy learning, where she has used questions and answers just like Dominique in the report. Great job, Scarlett.

Scarlett has also been practising her numeracy! She’s been problem solving using the provocations Mrs Papillo posted on yesterday’s blog, plus practising writing numbers to 54!

Finally, the productive Scarlett also drew the Roblox Adopt Me Pet Puppy Dog. How cute is he?!

Lowell has been busy calculating and writing about meerkats. Your bunny looks interested in the meerkats, Lowell, but I see it sneaking off when you’re working on your numeracy!

Yasha has been busy too. Here she is learning some common sounds (we recognise that digraph /st/ don’t we Year 1’s?) and then she drew the little Roblox Puppy Dog – very cute, Yasha!

Today was Riaan’s mum’s birthday, so he made her a special cake to celebrate. What a beautiful family picture! 

Riaan’s dad told Mrs Handforth that the family spent 8 hours in a queue to get a COVID test today. Wow! Mrs Handforth waited just four hours on Tuesday, so she’s impressed with Riaan’s patience. I wonder if anyone else has had a long wait? Mrs Rogers told me she waited for 6.5 hours. 

And after all that, Riaan had some chill out time playing basketball. Well deserved, we think.

 

Another industrious learner is Isabella. Today, she tackled Mrs Papillo’s numeracy challenge with success!

We all know how much Isabella loves art, so it will come as no surprise to most of you that she did both of the art provocations. Just check out this talented young lady’s learning:

 

Isabella has also been been practising some literacy learning with her mum, focusing on spelling and writing phrases.

Isla loved the meerkat video and drew a very cute picture of one.  Great to see you reading Isla, what a great past time when you are in lock down!

Priya has been very busy today with Meerkats and Maths.  Well done Priya, it is also wonderful to see your poster with encouraging remarks.

  It is fantastic to see the community appreciating the work of our frontline workers.

Andrew sent through an email with these kind thoughts: Thank you all the Doctors and Nurses and Police Officers . You are still working to help all of us.

Here’s a suggested timetable for your home learning today.
As always, enjoy!

A PRAYER TO START THE DAY

LITERACY

Please see yesterday’s blog for continuation of the literacy task. If you have finished the literacy task, why not listen to this meerkat story recommended by Mrs Hawkes: Millicent and Meer.

RECESS 

NUMERACY
One half

Task: find a number of different of items in your house (ask an adult first) and show how you can demonstrate  one half of the objects.  You could even challenge yourself and find quarters and three quarters!  Here are some ideas that you could start with: paper of different shapes, ribbons, a basket of apples, a t-shirt, a collection of coins, a family, a sandwich, an apple, a clock.  The list is endless, so use your creativity to find as many things as possible.  You can take photos or draw what you find one half of.

 

 

 

PLAY INVESTIGATIONS

Remember, play investigations can involve anything you like to do: building, role-play, dress-ups, drawing, painting or creating a mud kitchen in your back yard.

We offer a couple of suggestions for fun things to investigate and play with each day.

PLAY DOUGH
Today’s first idea is to make some play dough. This recipe is simple and easy to make. All you will need is some water, plain flour, salt and vegetable oil (optional).

Play dough provides endless opportunities for making and creating. Seal in an airtight container and you can use it again and again.

Consider adding a drop of peppermint, rose water or vanilla flavouring for scented play dough. A lovely sensory experience.

Click here for the no cook recipe.

SCIENCE EXPERIMENT
For those you of who love science, this is a great investigation to carry out at home: The Travelling Waters Experiment. All you  need is some water, food colouring, plastic cups (or similar containers) and some paper towels.

Mrs Handforth and Mrs Papillo did this experiment in class when they taught Year 3 together in 2018, but they  are confident their amazing R/1 learners can do this too with a little bit of adult help. It’s one of Mrs Handforth’s favourite science experiments. 

Watch as this water walks. Walking water or travelling water as it’s known is a really cool science demonstration project. Watch as the colors from each cup travel up and down the paper towels to mix into new colors! Truly incredible!

LUNCH

POSITIVE EDUCATION: OPTIMISM

Hey everyone, it’s Mojo again! This is Part 1 of a three-part series where Mojo learns about the importance of positive thinking and optimism.

This time Mojo has an embarrassing slip up and is devastated by what his classmates must think of him. But is the story in his head fact or just his imagination?

Watch the video and then discuss the questions below with an adult. Perhaps the adult could record your responses and email them to your teacher – it would be great to see your responses to these questions. 

FITNESS

It’s important to stay active for part of a healthy lifestyle. One of our favourite ideas from last time’s lockdown is the Obstacle Course Challenge that Mrs Cooymans and Mr Pearce created. Why not have a go at creating your own obstacle course in your back yard or even in a safe space indoors. Before doing so, check out the Sport Teachers’ fantastic obstacle course here. It would be fantastic to see a video of you completing your course just like Mr Pearce. Or you may just like to try one of the activities from the obstacle course, for example: do a bear walk around your living room three times or kangaroo hop around your yard.

A PRAYER FOR THE END OF THE DAY