Hello nursery children and families! I hope you enjoyed our stories and activities last week all about snails. We've had a lot of rain recently so you may have seen lots of snails out and about - they like the rain! The snail in the story went on what seemed like a long journey but it turned out to be a very short trail around the garden shed! 

Did you make your maps of your short journey? We are going to be thinking about different journeys to different places. You have to think very carefully when you go on a journey about how you are going to get there.  You and the snail went on foot as it was just a short journey but if you want to go on a longer journey then you may need to choose another way of travelling.

This week we are going to be looking at trains and reading a story all about going on a train ride.

Story of the Week - The Train Ride

Find a cosy place to snuggle up and listen to this story all about a train journey. It's called The Train Ride and it's written by June Crebbin and illustrated by Stephen Lambert.

Language and Literacy 

• Talking together

What an exciting journey! It's fun looking out of the window as you're travelling along - there's so much to see! I noticed something about the rhythm of the story - it actually sounded like a train moving along! Did you notice that? In this story the little girl is travelling through the countryside and sees lots of different things through her window. She begins her journey at the station in the town...

• Can you remember any of the different things she sees on the way? 
• Where does her journey end?
• Who does she go to visit? 
• Have you ever been on a train ride? Where did you go? What did it feel like?
• Where would you like to go on a train?
• Who would you visit?
• What did you like best about the story?

I liked the part where they go through the tunnel because that was exciting but my favourite part is when she sees her grandma and they have a big hug!

•  Imagine you are going on a train journey. You can go anywhere! Draw a picture of what you can see out of the window. Are you going to the seaside, to the mountains, to a big city? Use your imagination - your journey might take you through another country in another part of the world/. I wonder what animals or buildings you might see out of your window? 

• All aboard! Please have your tickets ready for inspection, ladies and gentlemen. Create a pretend train using chairs or cushions and role play going on a train journey. What can you see out of the windows? Are you a passenger, the train driver or maybe the ticket collector? You could make some pretend tickets and sell them to members of you family.

Letter Sound of the Week

Let's look again at all of the letters and sounds we have been learning about so far this term. Can you remember the letter sounds we looked at last week? Look at the slideshow below and practise saying the  sounds as you see each letter.

From now on we are going to look at two letter sounds each week. We are going to learn their alphabet names as well as their sounds. This week we will learn about the letters 'a' and 't'. Remember to use pure sounds when you are saying the sounds that the letters make. There's a short video here to remind you of each sound should you need it.

Here are two short videos that will help you to write the letters as well as learning their place in the alphabet.

Robot Talking (Blending and Segmenting)

Have you been practising your robot talking and playing the games I gave you last week? If you get really good at understanding robot talk (blending) and can begin to do your own robot talking (segmenting) that will really help you when you start in your new F2 class in September!

Here is another game you can play this week.

At the Shops

Set up a pretend shop selling lots of things that are also simple cvc words. For example, jam, pot, hat, cup, pen, jug, bed, boat, goat, bus, soup, tin, box, fox - anything with 3 sounds in it! Use your imagination - it could be a silly shop! You may want to use a soft toy or puppet to be the customer and do the robot talking and your child can be the shop assistant. The customer will ask for an item using their robot talking - Please can I have a c-u-p? The shop assistant has to find the item and give it to them. When your child becomes confident with this, let them have a turn at being the customer and practise their segmenting. Go at your child's pace and remember the more they hear you modelling segmenting and blending, the sooner they will be able to do it for themselves! Try to keep it fun and stop when your child has had enough. Continue to weave robot talking into daily routines and everyday conversations - that way it won't feel like work!

Writing your Name

Remember to keep practising writing your name and saying the letters and sounds in it as you do. Think carefully about where your letters begin and end! There are lots of different fun ways you can do this - with a paintbrush and water outdoors, with a stick in sand or mud, with chalk on the path, making play dough letters, tracing letters with cotton buds and paint, with a finger in a tray of salt or shaving foam. The list is endless!

Mathematics

Can you make a train using lots of different 2D shapes? What shapes would make good wheels? What shape would make a good carriage?

If you have any coloured bricks or different coloured toys at home, can you find different ways to sort them?

• Can you sort them by colour?
• Can you sort them by size?
• Can you create something using only 10 bricks/toys?
• Can you write your name using your bricks/toys?

Last week we were learning about number 6 so this week it must be number... Yes 7! Can you count to 7 and then stop? Can you count to 7 on your fingers? There are 7 days in the week. If you sing the days of the week song you can see for yourself!

Let's watch the numberblocks video where we are introduced to 7. Numberblocks 7 is made of all the colours of the rainbow!

Activities around 7

Make a collection of 7 objects - pasta, lego, teddies and so on - and look at the different ways you can split the group. Here are some examples:

• 3 teddies on the floor and 4 on the sofa
• 2 Lego towers - are they the same height? 
• 2 teddies on the bed and 5 under the bed
• Can you draw 7 things - 7 fruit, 7 animals or put 7 spots on a ladybird or a leopard

Make, paint or draw a rainbow with all 7 colours. What colours do you use? Label them with the correct numeral if you'd like. 

Our World

Did you notice in the story that the train was a special kind of train? Look carefully at the pictures and you will see that there is a big funnel on the front of the engine with what looks like smoke coming out of it. This is in fact steam! The steam is made by burning coal and heating water. Trains have changed over the years. We don't use steam to power our trains anymore but there are still some old trains around that you can visit and even go for rides on. Shall we find out a bit more about steam trains? Here's a short video for you to watch.

Make your own model train

You could make your train out of materials from your recycling at home. Here are some pictures to give you some ideas.