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St. Mary’s Catholic Academy
part of the Painsley Catholic Academy

Love and Serve

“Every individual will develop knowledge, skills and understanding with confidence and belief to take in life's journey. Together we will excel, love and serve through the Catholic Faith without limitations.”

Nursery

Story Time on Purple Mash

If you haven't had chance to watch yet, there is a series of stories on purple mash ready for Nursery to join in with.

The New Normal - Week 4

Welcome back to all those children joining Nursery at school during the third week.

School is now open for Nursery age children. It is important though that we support them in their return to nursery and through the transition into Reception class through the same collaboration we have had whilst the children have been off. Below I have shown our new nursery schedule for anyone re-joining this week and detailed what we will be learning. This will help you support your child at home by talking about the changes but also the similarities.

There are no set structured play activities as we want to make sure children feel comfortable on their return so will be guided by their interests in school.

Over the summer term we will explore minibeasts, linking much of our learning, Storytime and play activities to this.

Of course many of the websites we have been using for learning at home are still free and active as not all schools / children have returned and so I would encourage you to keep using these to support your child with additional learning at home.

In the seven areas of learning we will cover.

Personal, Social and Emotional learning	We will continue to explore our feelings and the changes to our routine, we will embed our new rules and the expectations for behaviour, talking about how our actions can make others feel. We will consider how one item / object / being (a spider) can have different effects on different people. we will learn ways to calm ourselves when we feel mad using go noodle melting exercise.
Communication and Language	We will continue to develop many speaking and listening skills over the course of the coming weeks. Staff will support children in developing their own language by modelling correct use of past tense to talk about what has happened, give children the opportunity to ask and answer questions about their experiences. we know they will all have a lot to tell us. Chance to listen to and reflect upon events from new stories.
Physical Development	As we are limited in what resources and equipment can be shared our Physical development will focus on the health of our bodies, we will consider what we need to be healthy, in light of the world we are living in and complete 20 minutes of physical exercise daily alongside our outdoor play. Children will do a daily name writing activity and some handwriting to support well developed fine motor skills. We will be introducing Andy's Wild Workouts to our regular physical development activities.
Literacy	Daily phonics - this weeks focus is on consolidation and refresh of the phase 2 sounds, we will follow the Read write Inc format covering the letters 'e', 'h', 'l', 'r', and 'j'. This week alongside the speed sound refresh lessons children will be doing the word time lessons. this gives children the opportunity to use the letters they know to read words. These lessons can still be viewed on the Ruth Miskin daily YouTube channel. Through the text 'What the Ladybird Heard' children will be exploring how bad guys are tricked in the story and will then label some animals to make sure they know which one is which.
Maths	After two weeks focusing on mastery of one number a day, children will use the digits they know this week to colour by number and complete dot to dot puzzles, embedding their recognition of number before moving onto matching quantity and digits. This will be explored with the aid of 'ladybird counting' on www.topmarks.co.uk. On Thursday we will move onto time and will be completing a range of one minute and five minute challenges to help us understand how time passes.
Understanding of the world	This week will continue our exploration of Minibeasts, children will be exploring ladybirds, they will be learning about what ladybirds eat and about their special markings (Spots).
Expressive Art and Design	Children will complete a pre determined craft activity needing to select the resources, to cut, stick and modify their materials, understanding how tools each have a different purpose. This week they will be making a ladybird. They will have other opportunities to express their own experiences and these in stories, through drawing, creative and small world based play.

Links to useful websites.

Oxford Owl - Access a range of texts to support your child's early reading.(Email to request password from teacher if needed)

Education City - Access a range of age appropriate maths, literacy and understanding of the world games to embedd and extend learning.

(Email to request password from teacher if needed)

Booktrust - A selection of read along stories for you to enjoy with your child.

Twinkl - a range of printable resources / on screen activities and stories

(free for limited time - register for an account - use code Uktwinklhelps)

Spreadthehappiness Tv on you tube - A range of resources including the dough disco videos we use in school to support fine motor control

Purple mash - an online package allowing children to complete work set by teachers or create their own. children can explore the minmash section at will using resources designed for early years.

Read, Write Inc - You Tube channel. - Daily lessons to support phonic development.

Nursery children should be using Speed Sounds Set 1, sound, spelling or reading lessons, They are available from 9.00am daily and stay on the channel for 24 hours.

BBC bitesize - a selection of lessons and resources for Reception upwards. Depending on the children's strengths some may be appropriate for nursery.

Numberblocks - bbc iplayer - maths based TV programme that supports children in developing their understanding of some key mathematical concepts.

Phonics Play - games to support phonics development. Nursery children should access phase 1 and phase 2

Topmarks - access to a range of educational games,

Cosmic Kids you Tube channel - yoga for children

Joe Wicks - Body Coach PE lessons daily.

School Readiness.

BBC bitesize have put together a selection of resources to support children and parents in their preparations for entry to school.

This is a strange time and whilst we will endeavour to hold transition visits and events over the summer term, none of us know quite yet how this will look and when it will be.

Starting school, would usually be considered starting into compulsary education which is Reception school year.

Children who have already started attending St Mary's, through our Nursery and Pre-school class therefore already have an advantage. You may find the following materials useful in helping your child get ready for the transition in to Reception class.

Nursery Weekly Timetable.

I have attached a weekly timetable for your use at home below. Each day the relevant section and any links you will need will be added to the chart on this page - there is no need to keep referring to the weekly timetable. This is to support you in accessing what you need easily. The weekly timetable looks like ' A LOT' however just like in school most of the activities only last 10 minutes. Many are videos for your child to watch and engage with online so they need few resources and little support from yourselves, I would just ask that you encourage your child to join in and help them finding the right link at the right time.

Joe Wicks (PE) , Ruth Miskin Training (Phonics) and Spread The Happiness TV (Story time) all have YouTube channels. You can subscribe to these and this will make it easier to find them each day. For anyone with a smart TV you could do this straight to your TV.

I will be available to answer questions and offer support Via email, my email address is sarahelse@st-marys-leek.staffs.sch.uk and I will check regularly throughout the day 9.00am - 3.00pm but please do not expect an immediate response.

Picture and Photo Evidence can only be sent via the secure Evidence Me portal that we have been using since September or Via Purple Mash. There are parent guides and video demo links in the Parent User Guide section of the home learning page.

Purple Mash Support

Support in the form of videos can be found by clicking on the links below.

A printable copy is at the bottom of the page should you need it. Children in school have already been taught how to access the activities set by their teacher and so should be familiar with this. Please note the home screen on your computer will look slightly different as we are using the most up-to-date version, but all menu items still work in the same way.

2dos and feedback can also be found by using the Alerts tab on the menu which looks like this:-

For further support please contact your class teacher in the first instance. Passwords can be found on the parent letter that was sent when we registered your child or inside their planners. (Inside home learning folders for Nursery and Reception)

A video to support parents to access the parent portal.	A user guide with video links to support children in accessing their learning tasks, including how to submit work to the teacher for marking.

Purple Mash - Parent and child user guide 2dos

Purple Mash parent and child user guide and video links. .docx

Handwriting / letter formation.

Videos on how we would support children in forming letters in Nursery have been uploaded to the Nursery work folder on Purple Mash. The full alphabet is there. These are not designed to be used all in one go but if you notice your child needs support with a particular letter in their name or other words they are writing use the video to help them practise. This doesn't have to be done on paper, it can be chalk on walls or pavements, in sand, in mud with a stick, in the bubbles in the bath etc.