Welcome to F1A's Learning Community Page!

Hello everyone!

On this page you will find lots of things to help you learn at home!
When you scroll down you will find the Speaking and Listening, Reading, Writing and Mathematics Guides. These contain information of how to do everyday speaking/listening, reading, writing and maths. 

​♥ Allison. 

​Tip: Use the blue buttons to navigate around this page.
Take a look of some of the amazing learning we did whilst we were at home!

Speaking and Listening Guide

 Play some Speaking and Listening games: 
  • Which Animal?
Take turns to give clues and to guess a mystery animal. For example, ‘I am thinking of an animal. This animal is bigger than a car. It is grey and doesn’t have fur. It has large floppy ears and a short tail. What animal am I thinking of?’ Answer: Elephant  
  • Zoo Who?
Take turns to guess which animal your partner has decided you are. For example, ‘Do I have four legs?’ ‘No’ ‘Am I a bird?’ ‘Yes!’ 
  •  I Spy With My Little Eye
Take turns to give clues and to guess a mystery object. For example, ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with sss (say the sound rather than the letter) and helps you eat.’ Answer: Spoon
  •  Catch A Story
Pass a ball or beanbag from person to person and make up a story together. It’s your turn when you have the ball or beanbag. You could start by saying Once upon a time… or Once there was… 
  • Fortunately, Unfortunately 
Make up a story together by adding one sentence at a time following the pattern Fortunately / Unfortunately. For example, 'Fortunately it was a beautiful day for an aeroplane flight.' 'Unfortunately the plane’s engines failed.' 'Fortunately the pilot had a parachute.' 'Unfortunately the parachute would not open.' 'Fortunately there was a haystack right where the pilot landed.' 
  • Articulate 
Take turns to describe or to guess a secret word with a partner. A third person must draw a picture of something which only one person can see. That person must describe what was drawn to their partner without using the exact word. For example, the third person might draw a cloud and then the describer might say ‘It’s in the sky and is grey".
  •  Copy Me
One person describes and draws a hidden picture while the other listens and tries to draw a matching picture. For example, ‘There is a square house which has a triangle shaped roof. There are three clouds in the sky. The grass is very long.’ When you have finished look at both pictures to see if they match. 
  •  Finding hidden treasure
Take turns to hide and give clues and to find hidden treasure. One person hides a treasure somewhere and give clues to the other person using location words such an under, in, behind, in front of, below, above, near, between, on. 
  •  Would You Rather 
Ask each other Would You Rather questions and discuss your reasons. Here are some questions but it’s even more fun if you come up with your own! 
>Would you rather be trapped in a room with 30 screaming babies or one crocodile? ​
​>Would you rather have a bucket stuck on your head or your foot forever? 

Reading Guide

​​Try to read every single day. Read to your child, read to your adult, read together, listen to audio books. Read stories and information books, magazines, signs, recipes, anything you find! When reading books, discuss the story or information and what it makes you think about. Here are some ways to discuss books:  

Before Reading
Read the title and look at the front cover. Talk about what you notice and use these clues to make a prediction about what the story might be about. You could even draw a picture of what you think the story will be about before you read the book. 
Go for a Picture Walk. This means looking closely at all the pictures in the book without reading the words to get an idea of what the story is about. Picture Walks help us to know what to expect from the story and help our brains get ready for some of the words we might see. 
While Reading
Talk about the story or information as you read – Where is the story happening? Who are the characters? How might the characters be feeling? What might happen next? What information are you learning? Why might the author have written the book in this way? 
Use strategies to help you read the text: 
  • Look at the first letter and get your lips ready to make that sound
  • Stretch out the sounds in the words and blend them together to hear the word 
  • Look at the pictures to see if there are any clues to help you
  • Notice chunks or parts of the word you already know  
  • Listen to what you are reading to make sure it makes sense and if it doesn’t, stop and have another go 
  • If a word doesn’t sound right, have another go – try flipping the sound (maybe the C or G is making the soft rather than hard sound or maybe a vowel is making a long sound rather than a short sound) 
 After Reading
Discuss what you have read using questions like:
  • What happened in the story? Can you retell the story for me? 
  • What did you like or not like about that book? 
  • What was your favourite part of the story? 
  • What new information did you learn from that book?  
  • Does that book remind you of anything? 
  • What connections can you make between that book and your own life? 
Show your understanding of the book by creating a Reader's Response:
  • Draw your favourite part of the story or the most interesting fact your learnt
  • Draw a story map by drawing pictures to show what happened in the beginning, middle and end
  • Draw and label the characters in the story
  • Act out the story with your family members or with toys to create your own play 
  • Retell the story or make up your own version of the story and tell it to someone else in the family  
  • Make up a dance inspired by the story or information in the book   
High Frequency Words

It is also important to practise reading high frequency words. High frequency words are words which are very common. Readers need to learn to read these words automatically without stretching them out. 
​Here are some good words to start with:
a, at, I, like, the, am, can, in, me, to, an, so, is, my, we, and, he, it, no, come, see, you, up
You can search for these words in the books you read and make flashcards to practise with. 

Writing Guide

Try to find meaningful opportunities to write together throughout the day. You could:  
  • Keep a diary by drawing and writing about what you do each day
  • Make a card or write a letter to a family member, friend or even Allison. You can take a photo of the card or letter and email it. If you email it to me on allison.pgps@gmail.com I promise to write back! 
  • Write a shopping list
  • Do something together such as planting a seed or cooking a meal and then draw and write the steps 
  • Draw a picture of anything you want (your favourite toy, a monster, an undersea world) and label the picture 
  • Make a book by folding pieces of paper and stapling the folded edge and write your own story or facts about something you are an expert in (dinosaurs, robots, whatever!) ​
When we write we always start by drawing because drawing helps us plan our ideas. Once you have finished drawing, label your picture. Remember to say the word you want to write aloud, listen to the sounds in the word, then write the corresponding letter or letters. If you have an Alphabet Chart use it to help you. After you label your picture, have a go at writing a sentence (or more) to match. If you have a high frequency word chart, use that to help you. 
Families: At this developmental stage, we don’t expect children to spell all words correctly. The focus is on listening to and representing with letters the sounds they can hear in the words and beginning to use spelling patterns as they learn them (for example, double oo as in book). The best way to support children in their witting is to say the words aloud slowly along with your child and encourage them to identify the individual sounds they can hear and the letters these sounds typically correspond to. ​
​Other ways to practise writing include:
  • Making a list of rhyming words (for example, sat…cat…bat…, light….bright…night…, cot…, rot…pot…, sun…run…fun…) and drawing a picture of match each one or putting the words into a silly sentence (i.e. The cat and the rat sat on the mat with the bat!) 
  • Choosing a different letter each day and focusing on its most common sound, then thinking of, drawing and labelling things which start with that letter. For example, P: pig, plum, pink and purple. You could also write a silly sentence using these words. For example, 'The pink pig ate a purple plum.'​
  • Practise the alphabet sounds together. 
    Here is the order in which I teach sounds: s, a, t, i, p, n, c/k, e, h, r, m, d, g, o, u, l, f, b, long a, j, long o, long i, long e, z, w, v, y, x, q
  • ​Choose a different digraph or blend each day and practise drawing and labelling things which start with that digraph or blend. For example, bl: block, blue, blow, blob, blast. You could also write a silly sentence using these words. For example, 'The blueberry blasted off into the blue sky and blocked the sunlight. I start with diagraphs, then blends. 
  • Choosing a different spelling pattern and searching through books to see how many words you can find with that spelling pattern and make a list. For example, ould: would, should, couldn't. You could also write a silly sentence using these words. For example, 'I would have to say couldn't possibly eat more cake, but you should!' ​​
  • Practising spelling high frequency words correctly using Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. This means we focus on one word at a time and learn to spell it correctly. We look at the word, say the word, cover the word, try to write the word correctly and then check. If you were right, give yourself a tick. If not, try again! ​
Here are some good words to start with:
a, at, I, like, the, am, can, in, me, to, an, so, is, my, we, and, he, it, no, come, see, you, up

Mathematics Guide

Play some maths games and practise your maths skills:
  • Practise counting different objects together, make sure you count each object only once. 
  • Play Simon Says with Simon saying how many times each action must be performed. For example, 'Simon says jump 15 times'. Make sure you count carefully! 
  • Practise writing/making (maybe with playdough or objects like sticks or stones) a number, and then what number comes before it, and after it. 
  • Do some cooking together at home and read the numbers in the recipes then help measure the ingredients. 
  • Make some different patterns and ask different members of your family to continue your pattern. Ask them to make some for you!
  • Go for a shape hunt around your house and draw the different shapes you can see 
  • ​Ask your family some questions and collect data about their answers. For example, how many people in your house like the colour blue? What is the most popular favourite colour in your house?
  • Do assigned tasks on Mathletics. ​
  • Play board games together, such as snakes and ladders, and practice adding the amounts on your dice and counting the number of steps you can take 
  • Practise counting forwards and backwards from different starting points - start below 20 and when you can do that, then try anywhere up to 100! ​
  • Play some online maths games together, such as:
  • Practise skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s
You can also use a hundreds chart to highlight the numbers and follow along (click on the chart) 
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Click on me!
  • To practise your place-value skills:
    Roll some dice to make a two digit or three digit number then have a go at making it using MAB. Can you arrange the numbers to make the biggest number possible? What about the smallest number possible?
    Play with a friend or family member and whoever gets the biggest number gets a point!     ​
    (Click on the images below to use these resources online!)
Picture
Click on me!
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Click on me!
  • Practice your addition and subtraction by rolling the dice and adding the amounts or taking one amount away from another. Use the MAB or objects from around the house to keep track. 
  • For those feeling confident with addition and subtraction, try making a two digit number and then rolling the dice again and adding or subtracting that amount. You can use the MAB to keep track.