Last week it was announced that all schools would close on Friday 20th March to try and help tackle the spread of Corona Virus. It is very scary times in the world right now but to help keep some sort of routine and normality I will be Home Schooling. Home Schooling is something I have never considered before but I know this is something I need to do to help little J through these crazy times. I have created Home Schooling week plans and this week our theme is The Gruffalo.
I have browsed online for ideas for activities based on The Gruffalo and there is a wide range of ideas on sites such as Twinkl and The Gruffalo.
Depending on the age of the child you can adapt these activities to suit. Little J is KS1 so these activities would be most suitable for ages 5-7.
Read The Gruffalo
This can either be read to your child or your child can read it to you.
Book Review
Once you have read The Gruffalo let your child think about the story and then review the book.
What is the setting?
Who was the main character?
What happened at the beginning?
What happened in the middle?
What happened at the end?
Book reviews help a child's reading comprehension and it's a nice way for your child to express any thoughts they had.
Describing Characters
Describing characters in your own words helps a child think about the character in detail and write down their thoughts. If you need to use prompts you could ask your child to write down...
The name of the character.
Is the character big or small?
What does the character do in the story?
Is the character good or naughty?
Does the character have friends?
Where does the character live?
Design Your Own Terrible Creature
Your child can use their imagination to create their own terrible creature and then describe the terrible creature so we can learn more about them.
Talking About Thoughts
This activity is for your child to describe the thoughts of the character. Your child will have to really think about the character and what they are thinking about in the story.
Counting Worksheet
A basic counting sheet that you can then adapt to create a maths activity. We will use this as a base sheet to do maths activities creating addition, subtraction and multiply problems.
Pencil Control Sheets
Some children only use pens and pencils during school hours so it is important to keep up their pencil control otherwise their fingers and hands can become weak. Pencil control activities can help a child to maintain focus as they follow lines or dots on a sheet to form letters, words or even sentences.
Learning Through Play
Learning through playing makes it more fun and the kids don't think of it as work. We have lots of Gruffalo themed activities such as Animal Yoga, Word searches, Colouring Sheets, Pairs, Activity Sheets, Jigsaws and a Gruffalo Match and Memory Game.
We also have a Gruffalo themed treasure hunt planned. I have cut up all the squares from the 'pairs' game and I will hide one half of all the pairs and little J can try and find them around the house so we can then play the game.
We will also be doing baking activities making Gruffalo Cakes and Gruffalo Crumble.
Hopefully these activities will keep little ones busy. I will be mixing these in throughout the day with normal fun activities, chill time and outside time in between.
This is a huge transition for our children so I will be just taking it one day at a time.
Michelle
