While the main purpose of the summer holiday is for your child to relax and enjoy a break (hopefully in the sunshine!) we understand that you may wish to keep your child ‘ticking over’. If so, here are a whole wealth of optional ideas that aim to cover a range of interests, children can just pick their favourites – they do not all have to be done! Our advice is - little and often usually works best.

Should you wish for something more formal, WH Smith, Waterstones and The Works all sell good quality comprehension, spelling, writing and Maths workbooks.

ENGLISH

Writing

Keep a diary of the exciting things you do and places you visit, you could take some photographs, collect postcards and write up a report of places you have visited.

Write postcards to relatives and friends from places you have visited. Do some of the National Trust’s ‘50 things to do before you’re 11¾’: https://www.50things.org.uk and write about them.

Choose a theme to research and make a non-fiction book about it (simply fold together a few sheets of A4 paper and staple in the middle) – make sure it has an attractive front cover, contents page and index.

Write a fact sheet, leaflet, poster or radio/TV advert for a place you have visited. Remember to think about who the writing is aimed at and include all the important key information that people need to know.

Write poetry about the things you see, experience and feel, encouraging poetic language and correct setting out of verses – you can write poems about going to the zoo, walking along the shore, the shapes that clouds make in the sky, the day out you’ve just had etc.

Write stories that are imaginative, scary, funny, traditional in style. Again your story could be about anything - under the sea, lost in space, the day the colour disappeared, animals to name just a few.

Practise your joined handwriting by copying out poems or making sure you write neatly on a letter/postcard.

Reading

Parents, choose an extended book (or two, or three…) to read or share with your child over the holiday, ask lots of questions to develop comprehension skills. You could choose one of a series of books that they might be interested in – please see recommended reading suggestions at these websites:

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/booklists/1/100-best-books-6-8/https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/genre/7/7-plus-readers.html

Visit your local library to choose some books that interest you. Many libraries run a ‘Summer Reading Challenge’ that you could take part in. You could bring your certificate in to show us next year! More information can be found here: https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

Try to make sure you read some non-fiction and poetry reading too, not just stories. Perhaps even consider subscribing to something like the National Geographic for Kids magazines.

If you wish books more like ‘school readers’, you can register for a free Parent Account with: https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/books/free-ebooks/

Keep watching the phonics videos on our school website. https://westgateprimary.primarysite.media/

Spelling

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUMMER ACTVITIES/WORK – YEAR 1

Go back over and reinforce the words and patterns we have looked at this year, particularly focus too on the key spelling list (copy attached at the end).

Play games such as Hangman, Boggle, Scrabble, Junior Scrabble - where word building skills are used.

Play some of the spelling games on: http://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/lcwc/index.html

MATHS

Enjoy baking/cooking with an adult– use weights and capacities accurately, cut food into halves, quarters etc.

Keep a diary of the temperature during the holiday – which days and places are hottest/coldest?

Measure the sizes of different objects (use centimetres). If you’re going on journeys, try to talk about distances with your parents so you can begin to get a greater sense of this.

Keep practising your times tables and division facts. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Keep practising your number bonds. (see sheets at the back of the back) https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Use playing cards or play dominoes, Yahtzee, Snakes and Ladders, Ludo, Monopoly, Pop to the Shops and other games where dice and/or money are added.

Practise using money when on holiday/on a trip out to the shops – add up totals of what you are spending and try to check if you are being given the correct change.

Practise telling the time using analogue and digital clocks and working out time intervals during your days out or between mealtimes etc. Count how many things you can do in a given time period (or time how long it takes to do something) to create an idea of length of times – i.e. How many times can you stand up and sit down in 30 seconds? How long does it take you to make a sandwich?

Play Maths games on trusted websites:o https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?Subject=16 o https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/index.html

FOUNDATION SUBJECT IDEAS

You could research animals and plants – perhaps even look at the life-cycle of different trees and learn how to identify some using their leaves and fruit/seeds – oak, horse chestnut, sycamore etc.

Using recycled materials (i.e. kitchen/toilet roll tubes) create a model or a game. You could make a skeleton and label the bones that are found!

When you visit places, look at a map of where you are going together and discuss location, using map symbols and finding clues on signposts. If visiting a zoo or attraction with a map of the grounds, practise using it to find your way. You might even go geocaching!

Use BBC Bitesize - choose a subject and be curious! https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/z3g4d2p

Be creative and use nature in art again – can you make a stone/stick sculpture, ‘paint’ a picture using only flowers, plants and things you find in your garden. If you go to the seaside, sit for a while and sketch and paint a scene that is beautiful or interesting. If you visit a castle or NT property, sketch it and colour using pencil crayons.

Use your recycled objects to create a fabulous model of something – for example, a castle, a dragon, a model of fairyland, a toy, maybe even make another game but for your age this time!

Use Lego, Mobilo, K’Nex, Magnetix or another construction toy to build a model or make patterns.

Make a fruit salad and write out the recipe, with an adults help you could even invent your own cake recipe or a summer drink for hot days. Make sandwiches and tasty salads – see what flavours work well together.

Don’t forget your health and fitness – go walking, cycling, jogging, swimming. Practise skipping, throwing and catching, yoga, dancing, gymnastics (carefully!), football, rugby and cricket skills, make yourself an obstacle course and have fun beating your best time. Try to find times in your day to be mindful too.