Schools Library Service
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Good morning everyone! For my last post before the Easter holidays, I’d like to encourage one thing – reading!
As a school, we are part of the Coventry Schools Library Service. They have been working hard to support home learning by putting together a virtual Reading Club for all Coventry children to be able to access. The virtual reading club gives children an opportunity to submit book reviews and take part in mini challenges. They will have a rolling program of mini challenges over the next couple of months to keep it fresh. The first 2 are a mini Easter Reading challenge where the children are asked to read and review 3 books and also an illustration challenge where children can create their own book character and submit it to win a prize. It also has downloads to support parents in encouraging reading for pleasure at home, links to free reading resources and a Book doctor (where you can contact our specialist librarians for advice on what to read next).
You can find all of this linked from our home page www.coventry.gov.uk/sls
Or follow this link to the specific page www.coventry.gov.uk/slsreadingclub
Home Learning
Thank you so much to all of you who have sent in photos of your learning to the website email address. It is lovely to see how you are engaging with your learning. Here are a couple more photos:
Today is definitely a day to enjoy the sunshine if you can. Yesterday, I posted a sun dial activity – this would be perfect for today!
If you’d like to share some of your learning on the website, please send photos to [email protected]
Marble Run
For today’s activity, you might need to save up a few bits and pieces from the recycling box. Keep an eye out for any kitchen roll cardboard, toilet roll cardboard and cereal boxes and save them to make your very own MARBLE RUN! This is one of my favourite things to make and I’ve done it with different year groups over the years. It will definitely use all of your Design and Technology skills and it is a great activity to do in a team so work with your brothers and sisters.
First, you might want to research different ideas about how to make your own marble run to find out what equipment to use. Draw out your design in your exercise book including labels and a description. If you are feeling particularly creative, you may wish to give your marble run a theme! After you have built your marble run (and you might need to start again a few times to make it work) make sure you evaluate your design. Does it work? What makes it so good? Is there anything that could be improved? As always, any photos, please email through to [email protected]
Cartoon Time
Axel Scheffler and Julia Donaldson, who are the creators of the Gruffalo, have produced a series of cartoons to encourage people to stay safe. For today’s challenge, try to create your own cartoon to help people stay safe.
Astronaut Q&A
What a great opportunity! Today, three-time NASA astronaut and International Space Station Commander Steve Swanson will be answering questions live about life on the Space Station and having fun in space. You can follow on Twitter using the hashtag #spacetolearn and astronaut Steve will be answering the best questions LIVE!
Sundial
Throughout the ages, people, animals and even plants have been using the sun to tell time. The Earth revolves around the sun at a constant speed. On Earth, it looks like the sun rises in the east and then sets in the west, moving across the sky in a predictable way. With a sundial, you can use the sun to reliably tell time throughout the day. For today’s challenge, try to create your very own sundial – let’s hope the sun keeps shining!
You will need:
- stick
- stones or chalk
- play dough or blu-tack
- watch or clock (to check!)
Instructions:
- Find a sunny spot outside.
- Put the stick in the ground. If you are using a hard surface (e.g. window ledge or patio), use the play dough or blu-tack to prop the stick upright.
- Throughout the day, place a rock, or mark with chalk for each hour indicating where the shadow falls at that time. Depending on your time, you may have to place rocks over a couple of days before your sundial is complete.
Now your sundial is ready to use. When you want to tell the time, just look for the shadow. In the picture below, the stones are used to mark each hour from 7am to 7pm. The picture was taken at 9:15 in the morning.
In the beginning, you may find it hard to be very precise. With a bit of practice, you should be able to tell time to the nearest 15 minutes, and maybe even more closely.
Remember to send in your photos to [email protected]
Home Learning
Thank you so much to everyone who has sent in pictures of their home learning to our new website email address: [email protected]
It’s been lovely to see you all so happy in your learning: building towers out of Lego, creating your own Elmer and even writing a note to the future for your time capsule.
Stay positive and remember our school values:
Teamwork, Respect, Integrity, Enjoyment, Discipline
Time Capsule
We are all doing things differently to what we would usually be doing: not going to school; parents may be working from home; the shops are running out of toilet paper; we can’t play out in the park. One key skill in history is using first hand recounts to learn about the past. In the future, people will want to know what life was like for children during this outbreak.
For today’s challenge, create a time capsule. A time capsule is a box of items and information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help people in the future learn about what life was like today.
All you will need is a plastic box. You may wish to decorate it before putting some objects inside it, which remind you of this time. A good idea would be to write a letter to someone in the future explaining what is currently happening and how your life is different to how it usually is. If you can, bury it in the garden or hide it away at the back of a cupboard. You may wish to dig it up in a few years time to remember what happened in 2020.
