Parent/Carer Support

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:

1. Find a sunny spot outside.
2. 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.
3. 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]

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

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.

Another day, another useful website! Thank you to Mrs Nagra for finding this one:

If your child likes doing answer questions, then they will love this website. It has quizzes for Years 1 to 6 on a wide range of subjects and topics. Simple click on your relevant Key Stage – you don’t need to sign up! Enjoy!