RCW: Blog items
Date: 11th May 2020 @ 8:22am
Good Morning Reception!!
This week we have a new story all about the friendship of a Snail and a Whale. Listen to the story by using the link below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000cslw/the-snail-and-the-whale
Start by playing the game ‘one word.’ Take turns with your grown up to say one word or name of a object that you can remember from the story ‘The Snail and the Whale.’ How many things can you remember from the story…?
The story is by the author Julia Donaldson. In her stories she uses a lot of rhyming words which makes the story more interesting. Remember rhyming words are two words or more that sound the same.
For example, mat, cat, rat and hat.
Can you read the words from the story and find the two words that rhyme? Use the sheet attached on the blog to see the words.
Extra challenge – Pick two of the rhyming words and show them in a creative way. For example, you could fold a piece of paper in half and draw a picture on each side of the rhyming words.
Don’t forget to send in your photos/work to receptionhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk
Date: 11th May 2020 @ 8:13am
Good Morning Reception!!
Hope you had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend!
Let’s start today’s phonic activity by revising the sounds ai, ee, igh and oa. Open the PowerPoint on this blog and sort the pictures that have the focus sound on each page.
Today we are going to learn a new sound ‘oo.’ It is sometimes described as the long ‘oo’ sound. Think of the word ‘moon’ when thinking about the long ‘oo’ sound. It is as if we are stretching the ‘oo’ like in the word’s below:
Watch the video at the bottom of the blog all about the long ‘oo’ sound.
Today’s practise and apply activities are:
Can you read the words? Play quick write by asking your grown up to say a word and you write it on a piece of paper.
How many words can you think of with the long ‘oo’ sound in one minute…?
Can you label the words with the long ‘oo’ sound? Pick three words and write them in sentences.
Don’t forget to send in your photos/work to… receptionhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk
Date: 8th May 2020 @ 3:09pm
I can't believe it's that time of the week again to celebrate our amazing children (and parents/carers) who are doing some fantastic home learning.
We are amazed at all your hardwork and receiving your emails puts a huge smile on our faces!!!
Why not dance along to our celebration song from our Friday assembly...??
Date: 7th May 2020 @ 4:06pm
On Friday it is going to be a Bank Holiday celebrating VE Day.
VE Day is short for Victory in Europe Day when different countries around Europe celebrated winning the second world war in 1945. This was celebrated with street parties and lots of celebrations. However, this year VE celebrations around Europe and UK will look differently.
Here is a timetable of things that will be happening nationally around the country on Friday:
We have attached a PowerPoint of information about VE Day along with some activities that you may want to try over the Bank Holiday weekend.
Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend. Let’s hope the sun keeps shining!!!
Love Mrs Iqbal and Miss Williams
Don’t forget to send in your photos/work to… receptionhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk
Date: 7th May 2020 @ 10:28am
Good morning,
Yet another lovely sunny day! I'm looking forward to getting out in the sun later although I actually got a little bit sunburnt yesterday! Remeber that suncream!
Today's challenge is a creative one, I'd like you to try a bit of origami. Origami is the art of folding paper and while it can be a bit tricky, it's also quite a nice relaxing activity once you know what you're doing and you end up with something that looks amazing. You could even make a few things and use them to decorate your house!
What you need for all origami is a square of paper, either plain or patterned. If youre not sure how to turn a piece of paper into a square then have a look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPxi1dIWRws
Then you could take some time to decorate your paper if you like before you fold it.
Then this is a fairly simple one to get started, a butterfly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWjEYlMZnhE
Just follow each instruction carefully and the good thing about watching a video is that you can rewind it as much as you like! If you're not a fan of butterflies then feel free to have a look for something else on the Red Ted Art channel.
Here's my butterfly that I've just made. It's not perfect but it's the first time I've ever done it so I was quite impressed with myself!
As always I'd love to see pictures of what you've made or of any past challenges, e-mail EALhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk to send them or even just to let me know what kind of challenges you prefer so I can make sure I'm doing ones that people like :-)
Past challenges
Thanks to all the children who have sent me pictures, you've all been very busy which is great to see!
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Date: 7th May 2020 @ 8:28am
Good Morning Reception!!
Have you enjoyed the story ‘The Very Busy Spider’ this week…? Adam did not like it very much because he hates spiders!!!
Today I am wondering what if another animal landed on the fence and started to do something else....???
What would it be…?
What would it do…?
What other small creatures could have landed in the farmyard….?
Today I want you change the main character; the spider in the story and think about the questions above… Create a new front cover using a new animal. Here are some ideas…
Bee - busy collecting pollen from flowers
Caterpillar – busy munching leaves
Butterfly – busy flying around
Worm – busy wriggling in the soil
Use the minibeast wordmat to think of other small creatures that could land on the fence.
Your new front cover can go on the sheet that I have attached on the blog or you could design it on a piece of paper.
Mrs Iqbal and Mrs Cooper's Phonic groups I want you to write a sentence describing your new animal and what it is doing. Try to make your sentences longer by adding the connectives 'and' or 'because.'
Love Mrs Iqbal
Don’t forget to send in your photos/work to receptionhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk
Date: 7th May 2020 @ 8:19am
Good Morning Reception! Happy Thursday J
Here are your fluent-in-five questions for today!
Can you work them all out in 2 minutes? Can you beat your time from yesterday?
Today in maths, we are going to be following on from yesterday’s learning of measuring capacity! Please refer to yesterday’s blog if you did not see it! We are going to work out the capacity through using potions! Take a look at the slides below and see if you can select the correct measurement!
Will the Wizard needs your help to find the right potions!
Take a look at the potions before.. which potion is full?
Well done! The potion on the right is full J
Now, take a look below… Which potion is half full?
Which potion is empty?
Fantastic! The potion on the left is half full!
The potion in the middle is empty!
Oh no! Hocus the cat has mixed up the potions… can you help to put them in the correct order? Which potion has the least?
Well done! The potion in the middle has the least!
Now…Which one has the most?
Brilliant! The potion on the right has the most!
Can you draw a picture of the three potions below and put them in the right order, from the least to the most?
Can you help the wizard by making your own real-life potions? We would love to see them!
Have fun ordering and making potions! Don’t forget to send in your learning – your teachers love to see your work J
Date: 7th May 2020 @ 8:18am
Good Morning Reception!!
Let us start today’s phonic activity by getting active with a Jack Hartman song. Click the link at the bottom of the blog.
Today we are going to continue thinking about the sounds oa and igh that we have learnt this week.
How many words can you read in 20 or 30 seconds…? How many words can you read in 1 minute…? Ask a grown up to time you!!!
How many alien words can you read…? Ask a grown up to time you!!!
Today’s practise and apply activities are:
Play Word Treasure Hunt using the oa and igh words. Write or print the words and have two containers or buckets with the sounds oa and igh written on them. Hide the words around the space where you are working inside or outside. When you have found a word read it to your grown up and place it in the right box/container. Watch the video where Adam is showing you how to play the game.
Play the oa and igh woodland board game.
Play the oa and igh roll and read game.
If you do not have a dice, you can google a virtual dice or use the link below:
https://www.random.org/dice/?num=1
Which activity will you pick…? You can do 1, 2 or all 3 of them…
Love Mrs Iqbal
Don’t forget to send in your photos/work to… receptionhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk
Date: 6th May 2020 @ 10:44am
Good morning,
Another sunny day! 
First all of all I want to thank everyone who has sent in pictures of them doing my wellbeing challenges, it's fantastic to see and hear about how you're enjoying doing them! Have a look at the Past Challenges bit at the bottom to see some photos.
Today's challenge is another one to get you moving and do a mini workout. Sometimes it can seem a bit scary or time consuming to do a whole workout so these mini workouts are perfect if you want a quick break from doing school work or even from just watching TV if you fancy a stretch! All of these little energisers from Go Noodle are between 2 - 4 minutes long so perfect for something to wake you up in the morning or as a break from whatever you are doing.
Here are a few that I like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4DnPhR9_mo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KReaoKLA-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALrdpsWYoJs
Or just go to YouTube and type in Fresh Start Fitness to see a variety of mini workouts.
Remember to email EALhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk with any photos of you doing any of the challenges.
Have a lovely day!
Mrs Glover
Past Challenges
So many fantastic photos of what you've all been up to, well done!
Date: 6th May 2020 @ 8:46am
Good Morning Reception!
Have you enjoyed learning about ‘The Very Busy Spider’ this week? Today I have posted some exciting craft activities, where you can make your own spider’s web craft! Take a look at the pictures below, you can choose which web you would like to make!
This web was made using a paper plate and string!
This spider’s web was made using lollypop sticks and string!
Which one are you going to choose? You can even use your own ideas to make your own spider’s web!
Make sure to send in pictures of your spider web creations! I can’t wait to see them!
Date: 6th May 2020 @ 8:45am
Good Morning Reception!
First of all, I’d like to say a big WELL DONE to all of the children who participated in their maths learning earlier this week! Your teachers are so proud of you! J
Today let’s begin our maths learning with some familiar songs and some fluent-in-five questions! How quickly can you work them out? Can you get an adult to time you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TgLtF3PMOc&t=17s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGetqbqDVaA
Today in our maths learning, we are going to belearning about CAPACITY. We have learnt a little bit about capacity before in reception, it sounds a little bit tricky, but it’s not! Capacity is the amount something can contain (a container, box, etc!)
Take a look at a funny capacity video/song below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4UC_StFhAk
In reception we have taught this before by looking at different measurements of water and rice in cups. We use the vocabulary of ‘full’ ‘almost full’ ‘half full’ ‘empty’ ‘almost empty’ and ‘half empty.’
Below I have posted a list of activities linked to capacity that you can try at home:
Container activity: Provide children with different containers. Can they make their container full, nearly full, nearly empty and about half full. Can they find a container which holds more than their container? Can they find one which holds less?
Spoons activity: Provide your child with a bowl or cup and a selection of different sized spoons and ladles. Ask them to investigate how many small spoons it takes to fill their container. How many large spoons? How many ladles? Which sized spoon was the best? Why?
Outdoors activity: Provide a small box for children. Ask them to hunt for things to put inside. How many items can they fit inside? Can they find the prettiest leaf? A small pebble? What is the largest item you can fit inside your box?
Don’t forget to email in pictures of your maths learning! Enjoy! J
Date: 6th May 2020 @ 8:13am
Good Morning Reception!!
Let us start today’s phonic activity by revising Phase 3 tricky words. Use your Phase 2 and Phase 3 tricky words. Play quick read. How many words can you read in 20 seconds or 30 seconds? Ask your grown up to time you!!!
Today we are going to think about a new sound. This sound is a diagraph. Remember a diagraph is two letters that make one sound. Our new sound is oa…
Watch this show me video where I am going through the diagraph oa:
https://www.showme.com/sh?h=pEfEZUG
Today’s practise and apply activities are:
Can you label the pictures with the oa words? Check your answers on the second page.
Play the caterpillar spelling game with someone in your house. Cut out the strip of words on the sheet and keep them to one side. Take turns to tell each other a word on the list which must be spelt in the box under your caterpillar. Check if it is correct with the list of words, then colour a circle on your caterpillar. Who will be the first to colour all 6 circles on their caterpillar?
Play the game Buried Treasure on Phonics Play. Click Phase 3 and ‘+oa’ to start playing the game.
https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/3/buried-treasure
Love Mrs Iqbal
Don’t forget to send in your photos/work to… receptionhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk
Date: 6th May 2020 @ 8:07am
Good Morning Reception!!
Wow!! I can't believe it's the middle of the week already!!! This week is going really fast!!
This week we started a new story called ‘The Very Busy Spider.’ If you have not managed to listen to it yet go to Monday’s reading blog where you will find the video at the bottom of the blog.
Your grown up will ask you these questions about the story, try to remember the story and say your answers in full sentences…
Where did the spider land?
What did the spider begin to do?
What did the horse want the spider to do?
What did the cow want the spider to do?
Which animal wanted the spider to run in the meadow?
Who said ‘Maa, Maa?’
The pig said roll in the mud, but the spider ignored him. How do you think that made the pig feel?
What word would you use to describe the spider’s web?
Today I want you to make some stick puppets and retell the story ‘A Very Busy Spider’ to someone in your house. You could colour and cut out the characters from the story and put them on straws or lolly pop sticks. You could even put little strips of paper at the back of each puppet and make finger puppets.
It would be lovely if someone in your house can video your puppet show and send it in to us.
Love Mrs Iqbal
Date: 5th May 2020 @ 10:21am
Good morning everyone,
I don't know about you but I can't wait to get out in that sun so today's challenge is one that can be done outside if you like.
Today we are focusing on having a growth mindset and doing this through yoga. Having a growth mindset means you have a positive attitude to your learning and know that just because you may find something difficult and you can't do it yet, you will get there as long as you don't give up!
Here are 5 different growth mindset yoga poses to try. Please feel free to try as many or as few positions as you like and send any pictures to EALhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk
Mrs Glover
Past challenges
Thank you so much to the pupils who have sent in pictures of their shields of strength from yesterday, it really makes my day to see what you've ben doing!
Date: 5th May 2020 @ 8:33am
Good Morning Reception!
To begin our maths learning.. Can you work out today’s fluent-in-five questions?
This morning we are going to be following on from yesterday’s learning of measuring weight! Please refer to yesterday’s blog if you did not see it!
Take a look at the pictures below - Can you work them out? Can you label which item is heavier and which is lighter? How do you know? Can you test this with the real life item?
Fantastic! Below I have posted a link to an ‘ordering weight challenge.’ You have to look at the items on the screen and sort them from lightest to heaviest. You can either print out the sheets and cut them out into the sorting template, or make your own scale and draw which items are the lightest and which are the heaviest!
Have fun! Please email your learning into receptionhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk! J
Date: 5th May 2020 @ 8:25am
Good Morning Reception!!
This week we have started a new story ‘The Very Busy Spider.’ If you have not managed to listen to it, click on the video at the bottom of this blog where I am reading the story.
Pick some of the animals from the story and write some super sentences describing them.
For example,
The goat has two pointy horns on the top of his head.
It has a white beard at the bottom of his face.
Miss William’s and Miss Cogger’s Phonic group you may want to write some captions like this…
The cow is big.
Cow is black and white.
Love Mrs Iqbal
Don’t forget to send in your photos/work to receptionhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk
Date: 5th May 2020 @ 8:17am
Good Morning Reception!!
Let us start today’s phonic activity by singing one of our phonic songs. Choose one from the list below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BELlZKpi1Zs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi1dwHp1ppU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwOQvh_mJ4w&t=120s
Today we are going to carry on thinking about the sound igh. This sound is a trigraph. A trigraph is three letters that make one sound.
Can you read these words…?
Can you add sound buttons under these words…?
Play quick write. Your grown up will say one of the words above, can you write it on a piece of paper?
Today’s practise and apply activities are:
Can you add the correct word in each sentence?
Can you circle the word with the correct igh spelling?
Can you label the pictures using the igh sound correctly?
Can you read the alien words?
Love Mrs Iqbal
Don’t forget to send in your photos/work to… receptionhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk
Date: 4th May 2020 @ 11:28am
Good morning everyone,
I hope you all had a good weekend and are ready to work hard on your learning (and your wellbeing!) this week.
Today's challenge has actually come from a website that Mrs Hughes sent to me to look at so thank you Mrs Hughes!
Today I would like you to think about resilience which means keeping strong and bouncing back even in a difficult situation. I'd like you to design a Shield of Strength.
Think about what your strengths are, especially the ones that can help you at the moment while we're not in school, and write or draw (or both!) onto a shield. Here is my shield that you may want to use for help: 
I have attached a template of the shield in case you want to use it but otherwise you can just fraw a shield on a plain piece of paper.
As always I would love to see your challenges so please send them to EALhomelearning@ravensbury.sch.uk
Mrs Glover
Past challenges
Thank you to Shawnakaye who has sent me a couple of photos of things that make her smile!
Why doesn't a spider get stuck to its own web?
Date: 4th May 2020 @ 8:43am
Good Morning Reception!
Did you enjoy the Very Busy Spider story? If you haven’t watched it yet – the link to the video is here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfL0g-XRxnA&t=45s
In the story, the spider is VERY busy spinning her web! After reading this story, I thought it would be a great idea to participate in a science experiment linked to spider’s webs!! Spiders catch their prey in a web (like the fly in the story!) Spider’s webs are extremely sticky so that bugs stick to them and cannot move!
But… why doesn’t a spider get stuck to its own web?
This is what we are going to investigate!
In this experiment we are going to create our own webs and test whether our fingers stick like the fly or do not stick like the spider!
You will need:
Sticky Tape
Cooking Oil
Step one: Spread out the tape sticky side up.
Step two: Ask children to walk their fingers across the tape. What happens??
Did your fingers stick?? That is like the bugs on a spider’s web.
Step three: Now, put some cooking oil on the children’s fingers and do the same – walk their fingers across the sticky tape.
Do their fingers stick now? No! Spiders have natural oils on their bodies that keeps them from sticking to things.
I hope you enjoy this experiment!
Please email in your pictures and results to the reception home learning email (receptionhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk)
Have fun!!
Date: 4th May 2020 @ 8:40am
Good Morning Reception!
I hope you have had a lovely weekend and are ready to take part in some exciting maths learning today!
First, let’s warm up with our maths songs and today’s fluent-in-five questions!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MVzXKfr6e8&t=3s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TgLtF3PMOc&t=3s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0Ajq682yrA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGetqbqDVaA
Today we are going to be focusing our maths learning on measuring weight.
Take a listen to a catchy measurement song below. We have listened to this weight song before in reception; it’s about a big, heavy elephant!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cjPApFuGLM
When we practise measuring weight in reception, we often have turned into ‘human balance scales.’
This is where children stand with their arms placed to the side of us with hands spread. Place an item on each hand and ask children to tip to show which item is heavier and which is lighter. Use balance scales to check the children’s estimations.
Children could also hold buckets or bags in each hand and place items inside to feel which has the stronger downward pull.
When we teach weight, we encourage children to use the language of heavy, heavier, heaviest, light, lighter, lightest to compare items. To avoid misconceptions that bigger items are always heavier, we provide some small, heavier items and some large, lighter ones. Below, I have posted some fun ideas for measurement activities at home!
Busy Bag Challenge:
Use a basket or bag to collect lots of items around your house.
Once you have found lots of items, can you sort them by weight?
Balance scales activity:
Give children an item, for example, an apple. Challenge them to find things which feel heavier and lighter than the apple and sort them into sets.
Ask children to use the balance scales to check their estimation.
Are all the heavier things larger than the apple?
Can they find anything which is larger than the apple but lighter?
Ask children to use cubes or similar objects to balance an item on one side and adding cubes until the scales balance. How many cubes are the same weight as an apple?
Date: 4th May 2020 @ 8:20am
Good Morning Reception!!
Let us start today’s phonic activity by revising Phase 3 tricky words. Use your Phase 3 tricky word mat and play fastest finger first. Grown ups say a tricky word, who will point to it the fastest...?
Sing the tricky word song. Write the Phase 3 tricky words on scraps of paper and put them around your room where you can see them. Each time you sing a tricky word in the song point or stand near the word. Click the video link at the bottom of the blog for the song.
Today we are going to think about a new sound. This sound is a trigraph. A trigraph is three letters that make one sound. Our new sound is…
Watch this show me video where I am going through the trigraph igh:
https://www.showme.com/sh?h=17KwBOq
Today’s practise and apply activities are:
Can you make some igh words using the letters on the sheet? Time yourself, how many will you be able to write in 1 minute…?
For example, on the sheet I can see bright and might.
Can you label the pictures with the igh words…? Mrs Iqbal and Mrs Cooper’s Phonic groups choose three words and write some super sentences.
Can you find the igh words in the wordsearch?
Play the game Dragon’s Den on Phonics Play. Click Phase 3 and find the sound ‘igh.’
https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/2/dragons-den
Love Mrs Iqbal
Don’t forget to send in your photos/work to… receptionhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk
Date: 4th May 2020 @ 8:09am
Good Morning Reception!!
This week we have a new story all about a very busy spider. Listen to the video at the bottom of the blog where I am reading the story for you.
Can you remember all the animals in the story? Tell your grown up all the animals that were in the story. Use the story PowerPoint to see if you remembered all the animals.
Mrs Iqbal and Mrs Cooper’s Phonics groups – Use a piece of paper and make a story map of the story. Use the animal pictures attached to the blog or you could draw the animals. Look at my story map to give you an idea…
Miss Williams and Miss Cogger’s Phonic groups – Match the animal to the word. Cut out the animal pictures and read the words and match the picture to the correct words.
Love Mrs Iqbal
Don’t forget to send in your photos/work to receptionhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk
Date: 1st May 2020 @ 10:21am
Hi everyone and Happy Friday! I can't believe it's already the end of another week. I hope everyone is working hard and staying safe.
I got the idea for today's wellbeing challenge yesterday when I saw the most amazing rainbow in the sky. It was the brightest colours I've ever seen and I could see the whole arc. There was even a faint second rainbow next to it!
Photos don't really show how amazing it was but you can see how vivid the colours are:
The rainbow made me feel happy when I saw it and I thought it might make other people happy too! So today's challenge is to take a photo of something that makes you feel happy. You could find something in your house or do it on a walk. It could be a person, an animal, an object or even something that you've made. Anything that makes you feel happy or positive. If you don't have a camera, phone or tablet of your own then ask an adult if you can borrow theirs but please be careful with it!
If you'd like to share your happy photo then please e-mail it to EALhomelearning@ravensbury.manchester.sch.uk, I'd love to see it and then I can post some of them and spread the happiness around!
Have a good weekend,
Mrs Glover
Past challenges
Thanks to A who sent a photo of himself doing the breathing exercises I set yesterday, I hope they helped you feel nice and calm.
Date: 1st May 2020 @ 8:14am
Good Morning Reception!
Today is Friday yay! So you know what that means….. CHALLENGE FRIDAY!!!
I have posted four challenges below for you to take part in, see how many you can complete!
Challenge one: Numbots!!! Why don’t you log-in to Numbots and see how many levels you can complete?? Try and beat your high score!
Challenge two: Double Ladybirds! Draw a ladybird template, fold it in half and open it again. Paint spots on one side of the folded paper – make sure you count how many there are! Then, fold and press the page together! Open it back up… have you doubled your spots? How many are there all together now?
Challenge three: Doubles scavenger hunt: Can you hunt around your house or garden and DOUBLE your items? For example…. double one sock! Double two apples! Double three shoes! Can you write the number sentence underneath?
Challenge four: Tube and cars experiment: Using plain white paper, can you create a number line 1-20 just like on the picture above? All you need to do is find an old tube of kitchen roll, place it above the paper and send some toy cars down it! Simple! Test how far your car can travel! What number did your car reach? Can you use another car and reach a larger number??
I hope you enjoy your challenges!
I can’t wait to see how many you can complete… have fun!