Dear Parents / Carers
Please find below this week’s Weekly Update. Rachel has pulled together a bumper issue for you to keep you busy during these unprecedented circumstances! There’s some great advice on keeping safe too!
Government Guidance – The Government have given some guidance for parents to help with home learning, this is aimed at children aged 2 to 4 and it’s about what you can do at home to help. This is a good read to manage expectations .. you might be putting more pressure on yourselves than you need. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/help-children-aged-2-to-4-to-learn-at-home-during-coronavirus-covid-19?utm_source=59550d3f-e5b5-424b-b66e-d353e6ac73a1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate&fbclid=IwAR2Sd9vry-fknHJC7dw3dCZ6TOCZq4I3hctnTjg2Pqh5CWy9lvVDtUfrABI
Free Resources – Here is a really useful link and has ideas and resources to enjoy dance and music, free library of nursery rhymes, kids yoga, hungry little minds, Disney 10-minute shake ups, role play ideas, gardening week ideas with tv presenters, lego ideas, EYFS activity ideas, children’s baking recipes, sensory play ideas, and information supporting children with SEN. https://www.supportincornwall.org.uk/kb5/cornwall/directory/advice.page?id=K3-ux5Ypylw
Change for Life – Would you like a change from Joe, how about trying the Disney shake up sessions or other activities! https://www.nhs.uk/10-minute-shake-up/shake-ups and https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/activities. There are also links to food facts and recipes.
Audible books – Do you prefer an audible book? Try this link for little listeners, there are stories and even nursery rhyme listening. You will also find stories for older children and adults. https://stories.audible.com/discovery/enterprise-discovery-21122358011?ref=adbl_ent_anon_ds_ds_dccs_sbtp-0-1
Pyjamarama – We hope you joined in with some of the great activities today on the Pyjamarama festival.
Activities to explore at home – Here are a just a few more ideas for you to try, if you have the time
* Make your own minibeast home.. https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-27093-make-your-own-minibeast-hotel-outdoor-activity
* Shapes activity- https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-m-570-cutting-skills-worksheets-size–shape-ordering-parents
* Create family salt dough together! You could create one salt dough together or make one each! We thought this would be a lovely idea to mark your 2020 experience and family time at home! See recipe below- https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-2544279-basic-salt-dough-playdough-recipe Decorate you’re salt dough together, or even paint hand prints into the dough, or use cutters to make shapes- perhaps a rainbow?!
Ballet – For those budding ballet dancers or anyone wanting to have a go .. try the Ballet coach on Youtube. There are children’s online ballet class from children ranging age 2-5 years to age 13+, and also adults … and grandmas and grandpas classes are available too for movement and stretch! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjoXKtJLuyb6gAG3sQlyq0Q
Yoga – The children really enjoy cosmic yoga on you tube, here is a link if you would like to have a go at home https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga
Vivacity – Vivacity are offering online resources such as helping you to make a bug hotel, family Disney workouts, national literacy trust family zone information and more! Don’t forget you can sign up to the library while you’re at home … it’s quick and easy and free!! The library has great resources and during the Summer usually run a theme based reading challenge which is great for children of all ages https://vivacity.org/campaign/vivacity-at-home/
National Literacy Trust – Here is a useful link with local information from the trust for families, including local reading initiatives. https://literacytrust.org.uk/communities/peterborough/
Twinkl – Twinkl is a fantastic site and has so many resources. At the moment you can access these for free, use the link below to sign up today! You will find a huge variety of activities to support your child’s development across every aspect of learning! For preschool children please explore the EYFS resources! Have a look with your child, see what grabs their interest, the more they are interested the more likely they are to engage and enjoy the activity! And explore resources you feel your child may benefit from to extend their learning! From fine motor skills, to printing off story books and much more! https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/how-to-utilise-twinkl-during-the-coronavirus-shutdown-a-guide-for-parents
Twinkl Nursery Rhyme Booklet – Please find attached a Nursery rhyme booklet, we’ve benn doing nursery rhymes recently and the children love them and did lots of role play. Please encourage reading at home, it would be great to see what books the children are enjoying on Tapestry?
Why reading and nursery rhymes are so important? By singing and re-telling familiar rhymes and rhyming stories we teach or children: – auditory discrimination – listening skills – a rich range of language – concentration skills – oral storytelling / poetry skills -phonemic awareness- school readiness. More specifically they learn:
* to be able to listen for and keep a steady beat
* to learn whole songs and chants off by heart from a very young age
* to be able to retell and sing these independently from a very young age
* to retell stories/ chants without using a book- good oral storytellers become great story writers
* to be able to complete a rhyming sentence or couplet by predicting the word that is missing
* to be able to discriminate rhyming words and identify those that don’t rhyme
*To make their own strings of rhymes during word play eg cat/ fat/ mat/ sat/ hat/ bat/ that * to invent and experiment with making their own “silly” words that rhyme eg clat/ smat/ thrat/ grat/ vlat
School Readiness – We’ve previously shared some school readiness information with you, we’ve attached a bit more to help you prepare. These are all suggestions and information about helping your child to be school ready, but most importantly build on their independence and own selfcare skills. Please do not worry if they cannot write their own name before going to school. Here is the School Ready information from Peterborough City Council: https://www.peterborough.gov.uk/residents/schools-and-education/school-readiness We’ve also attached The Road to School map, these are just a few ideas!
Keeping Safe – With everyone being busy at this time and trying to juggle childcare and jobs, we’ve attached a few guides on ‘Keeping safe in Lockdown’. We hope you find them useful .. just a reminder, it’s easy to forget the little things.
Book Party – If you would like to purchase any books at the moment, Tammy has some great offers for the Playhouse available until 1st June 2020. She will then give us 10% back on any books the Playhouse. She has a great selection of books on Phonics and home learning. https://book-parties.scholastic.co.uk/party/helpston-playhouse. We hope you have found this bumper addition helpful and if you do explore any resources or have carried out any activities, we have shared with you, then please let us know. We would love to see and hear how this is going on Tapestry .. it would mean a lot to us to see the benefits. Have a lovely weekend, stay safe and well!
Kind regards
The Playhouse Team