Continuity of Learning
General Documentation
E-Safety
Click here to see our Safeguarding page, which includes some e-Safety links.
Free Online Education Resources
A non-exhaustive list that might help those affected by school closures due to coronavirus, compiled by home educators.
Feel free to share.
Essex Wildlife Trust – whats on this week? (regular activities posted)
BeVenturesome – Adventure at Home – adventure themed activities designed specifically to do from home
| MATHS: | ||
| Khan Academy Especially good for maths and computing for all ages but other subjects at Secondary level. Note this uses the U.S. grade system but it’s mostly common material. |
Prodigy Maths Is in U.S. grades, but good for UK Primary age. |
Hamilton |
| BBC Bitesize | Top Marks | Primary Games Arena |
| Numbots | Maths Frame | Sheppard Software |
| METHODS: (examples from YouTube) | ||
| Year 2 addition using partitioning | Double digit addition using 100s chart | Subtracting using a 100 square |
| Using partitioning for addition with ages 8-9 | Subtraction – Part 2 – Counting on using a number line | Column addition of whole numbers |
| How to subtract or takeaway using column method | Short Multiplication | Short Division |
| ENGLISH: | ||
| Funbrain It has excerpts from books so children can read online and try books to see if they like it. |
Fun English Games Lots of grammar games. |
Learn English Kids Adverb games that also help with word order. |
| BBC Bitesize Reading and Grammar games. |
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| LANGUAGES: | ||
| Duolingo – Learn languages for free. Web or app. | ||
| SCIENCE: | ||
| Mystery Science – Free science lessons | Crest Awards – Science awards you can complete from home. | BBC Science |
| Science Kids | Kids National Geographic | Education.com |
| Kids Discover | Biology4Kids | Science News for Students |
| NeoK12 | Science Bob | |
| IT & COMPUTING: | ||
| Blockly – Learn computer programming skills – fun and free. | Scratch – Creative computer programming | |
| ARTS & CRAFTS: |
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| The Imagination Tree – Creative art and craft activities for the very youngest. | The Artful Parent – Good, free art activities | Red Ted Art – Easy arts and crafts for little ones |
| HobbyCraft – Get creative with pages of colouring fun! Choose from our range of kids’ colouring pages, print out your favourites and get the pens or pencils ready. Little ones will love bringing each picture to life. | Tinkercad – All kinds of making | |
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| OTHER: | ||
| Audible – For as long as schools are closed, we’re open. Starting today, kids everywhere can instantly stream an incredible collection of stories, including titles across six different languages, that will help them continue dreaming, learning, and just being kids. All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet. | ||
| Futurelearn Free to access 100s of courses, only pay to upgrade if you need a certificate in your name (own account from age 14+ but younger learners can use a parent account). |
BBC Learning This site is old and no longer updated and yet there’s so much still available, from language learning to BBC Bitesize for revision. No TV licence required except for content on BBC iPlayer. |
Seneca For those revising at GCSE or A level. Tons of free revision content. Paid access to higher level material. |
| Openlearn Free taster courses aimed at those considering Open University but everyone can access it. Adult level, but some e.g. nature and environment courses could well be of interest to young people. |
National Geographic Kids Activities and quizzes for younger kids |
Crash Course You Tube videos on many subjects |
| The Kids Should See This Wide range of cool educational videos |
Crash Course Kids As above but for a younger audience |
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| iDEA Awards Digital enterprise award scheme you can complete online. |
Nature Detectives A lot of these can be done in a garden, or if you can get to a remote forest location! |
Cbeebies Radio Listening activities for the younger ones. |
| Paw Print Badges Free challenge packs and other downloads. Many activities can be completed indoors. Badges cost but are optional. |
Ted Ed
Ted @ Home |
Oxford Owl for Home Lots of free resources for Primary age |
| British Council Resources for English language learning |
Geography Games Geography gaming! |
Big History Project Aimed at Secondary age. Multi disciplinary activities. |
| DK Find Out Activities and quizzes |
Blue Peter Badges If you have a stamp and a nearby post box. |
Twinkl This is more for printouts, and usually at a fee, but they are offering a month of free access to parents in the event of school closures.Twinkl Offer The code you need for this: PARENTSTWINKLHELPS (all uppercase and no spaces) |
| Nessy Our YouTube channel contains a selection of strategies taken from Nessy’s online programs; our Youtube channel contains help for reading, writing, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, phonics, math and keyboarding. |
Toy Theater Educational online games |
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| Hamiltons Learning At Home Reception Reception Year |
IAPS Online Educational Resource List | |
Online Reading Resources
READING BOOKS/SITES
Reading Eggs
Fun activities for reading. Includes a library of books to read online. Also available as an app. Free 30 days trial, then subscription required.
Oxford Owl
Highly recommended site with a good selection of online books. You will be able to access some books for your current reading level. But read whatever you choose! There are some interesting online and printable activities that go alongside some of the e-books provided.
ABC Phonics
ABC Fast Phonics with cartoons and sound. Fun for kids or adults.
Storyline Online
Storyline Online features accomplished actors and actresses reading some of their favourite children’s books. Each story comes with a free Activity Guide and can be viewed on YouTube or SchoolTube. You can follow the text with the video too!
Book Trust
Lots of interactive books to read online or watch with signing.
BBC Nursery Songs
A collection of nursery songs from the Early Learning series Listen and Play and Playtime, both of which are currently available on iPlayer and as podcasts.
Book Trust
Suggested books for children, advice on how to read with your child, book lists, fun games, competitions to win free books, Children’s Book Club etc.
Love Reading
Expert recommendations and opening extracts of books.
Phonics Play
A useful website feature free resources for KS1 (and the option of subscribing).
Magic Keys
Lots of books like ‘The Gingerbread Man’ for younger readers, to the ‘Halloween House’ for older readers. Just the text here, so you can enjoy some silent reading. There is audio on some books.
Open Library
For older children, an excellent selection of books to read online. Includes some classics like Peter Rabbit, Andersen’s Fairytales and The Jungle Book. Parents might want to help you select one to read.
Classic Books
For pure classic texts as PDF, Word, or audiobook, look no further! ‘The Railway Children’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ are examples. The older children can get lost in the world of these wonderful stories.
Gateway to the Classics
A vast array of well-known literature for all levels. It is all text, so enjoy reading for pleasure. The Velveteen Rabbit is a classic!
Early Shakespeare
A fantastic introduction for Primary children to the works of the master – Shakespeare. There are four levels to choose from, so the language used can be close to original or simplified for younger children. As they are plays, you can click on the characters to hear their speech.
Amazon’s Top 100 Free Children’s eBooks
This list is frequently updated with new titles. From young children to teens, there’s something for every young reader. Of course, you’ll need a Kindle to download and read these titles – free app in the app store of your choice, or for your pc!
Twinkl e books
Some free Resources with account sign up, others require a subscription.
Wilbooks
Some free ebooks at American Grade level.
Storynory
Storynory features a collection of original, fairytale, and classic children’s audio stories.
Audible
Free children’s audio books with many talented and well-known actors bringing stories to life for you.
READING BOOKS
Oxford Reading Tree (download zip files)
Reading Books ORT Level 1+
Reading Books OTR Level 2 Books 1 3
Reading Books OTR Level 2 Books 4 6
Reading Books ORT Level 2+
Reading Books ORT Level 3
Reading Books ORT Level 3+
Reading Books ORT Level 4
Reading Books ORT Level 4+
Reading Books ORT Level 5
Reading Books ORT Level 5+
Nursery
Here are some ideas of things to do at home with your children.
| Singing Songs and nursery rhymes – with or without actions |
Stories Sit and read with your child, this doesn’t just have to be done at bedtime |
Go on a nature hunt around your garden How many different bugs can you find? |
| Board Games Play those games that you have been meaning too since they were new for Christmas |
Craft Create a beautiful rainbow using any media – let’s lift each others spirits |
Make a den Inside or out – use whatever cushions and bedding you can find. Let their imaginations run wild |
| Outside yoga |
| Phonics Parents Guide Don’t forget to add your videos and photos onto Tapestry so we can see what you have all been up to. | Twinkl – Free Guide to Phonics | BBC Tiny Happy People |
| Twinkl | Babycentre – – 10 simple fun activities | |
| Top Marks | Talk Listen Cuddle | |
| VeryWellFamily – fun learning activities to do at home | Inspired to Action – 101 fun activities to do | TTS Early Years – learning collection |
| HAND-EYE CO-ORDINATION / FINE MOTOR DEVELOPMENT supporting PRE-WRITING SKILLS: | |
| Playdough Great for strengthening fingers and hands (lots of easy recipes online, including no cooking ones). |
Threading Create your own template using cardboard packaging, a hole punch and string or shoe laces. |
| Mark Marking Painting with water outside, add chalk if you have itPaint/print with household materials held in a clothes peg (foil, clingfilm, scourers, etc).Finger mark making in shaving foam/cornflourPainting with cotton buds |
Pretend Writing Letters, cards, etc to friends, relativesListsSigns for imaginative play |
| Dot-to-Dot Create your own simple dot-to-dot templates for your child (shapes, the initial sound of their name, etc) |
Colouring Good old fashioned colouring. Lots of resources available online. |
| PHYSICAL: | |
| Dressing Up & Role Play Good for large and small motor skills involved in getting dressed and undressed. Add music and/or a kitchen timer and it can become a game. |
Outside yoga |
| LETTERS & SOUNDS: | |
| Story Telling Create ‘story boxes’ using toys/household items to prompt ideas. Write down the childrens’ stories and make ‘books’. |
Sound Hunt Indoor or outdoors, set the children a challenge to find things beginning with a particular sound. Make sound pairs if more than one item. |
| I-Spy |
PhonicsPlay |
| Phonics Parents Guide |
Twinkl – Free Guide to Phonics |
| LISTENING/CONCENTRATION SKILLS: |
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| Listening Games Go on a Sound Walk – indoors or outdoors to identify sounds in the environmentUse everyday items to make music/count beats/clap/encourage recognition of rhythm/turn taking with soundsRead stories, share nursery rhymes, sing |
Singing Songs and nursery rhymes – with or without actions |
| Stories Sit and read with your child, this doesn’t just have to be done at bedtime |
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| NUMERACY: | |
| Measuring/Shape/Size Look for shapes in the environmentExplore patterns/crayon rubbingsCollect boxes, pebbles, shells, tubes, balls, stones, etc, that can be used for countingSand and water are perfect for exploring weight and volume |
Count Objects, actions (jumping, clapping, etc)Match numbers to quantityUse every opportunity to count – mealtimes, etc |
All these activities and more will lay the foundations for the children’s future learning.
Year R
Year 1
Year 2
Remote Outdoor Learning And Play 2020 Spring Term Yr 2
**Minibeast Recording Sheets
| Year 2: Nature and Outdoor Ideas |
| Nature Diary
We have had lots of discussion about nature in our recent lessons. Therefore, during the holidays, the children may wish to keep a garden or nature diary/ journal, to record the wildlife that they see in their gardens or from their homes: birds, flowers, animals, insects, trees. In addition, they could also make notes and/or take photographs to show features of the changing season, including the weather. |
| Shapes in Nature
Whilst the children are outside, can they look for 2D and 3D shapes in nature and take a photograph of them? Then, if possible, they could paste them onto a document and name them using the shape identification sheet in their folders. It will be a lovely way of bringing maths into our new Global Studies topic next term. |
Year 3
**Minibeasts Recording Sheets
Year 4
Art
School Holidays
Ideas for learning experiences in the holidays can be found in the children’s Google classroom named: Year 4 Independent Learning Ideas.
Year 5
Optional Learning
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Writing
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Choose some writing practice from the following title ideas:
Write a story about:
Write a speech:
Write a diary:
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Reading
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Science
Pupils have stimulating lessons with many practical opportunities on their Google Classrooms, which they can access during their time tabled lessons or refer back to at a later time. For our budding Newtons, Curies or Darwins, who love to do experiments, here are some links for ideas they may want to try in their free time. The science team would enjoy seeing their results.
Global Studies (Years 6 to 8)
Year 6
Theme: Pompeii/Ring of Fire
Famous Seismic Events
Carry out some research into these major historical volcanic and earthquake events and present the information in any way that you choose:
San Francisco 1906 Tokyo 1923
Mt St Helens 1980 Eyjafjallajökull 2010
Where are these places? Can you explain which plates, and which types of plate boundaries, these places are affected by? What were the effects of these events?
Be careful to check your sources of information. Think about the websites you are using.
Can you find any newspaper articles from the time about the events?
Year 7
THEME: France
The Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres long and 50 centimetres tall, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. The cloth consists of some seventy scenes, many with Latin tituli, embroidered on linen with coloured woollen yarns. It is likely that it was commissioned by Bishop Odo, William’s half-brother, and made in England—not Bayeux—in the 1070s. In 1729 the hanging was rediscovered by scholars at a time when it was being displayed annually in Bayeux Cathedral. The tapestry is now exhibited at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, Normandy, France.
Using the link below, scroll through the images of the Bayeux Tapestry. Can you identify some key events from the Battle of Hastings that you recognise? Draw some of these sections and explain what is happening in them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry
Domesday Book
The Domesday Book is a manuscript record of the “Great Survey” of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William the Conqueror. Written in Medieval Latin, it was highly abbreviated and included some vernacular native terms without Latin equivalents.The survey’s main purpose was to determine what taxes had been owed during the reign of King Edward the Confessor, thereby allowing William to reassert the rights of the Crown and assess where power lay after a wholesale redistribution of land following the Norman conquest.
On the link below, you will find an online copy of the Domesday Book. Have a go at investigating and interpreting information found in this famous historical document. Can you find any interesting information about places that you know?
https://opendomesday.org/place/TL8741/sudbury/
Year 8
Year 8 have been revising some of the key facts and information about six major world religions. Here are some reading activities that can reinforce some of that information. Choose the appropriate level for you for each one. You can review the answers yourself.
Hinduism Puja Islam Hajj Judaism Yom Kippur
PE & Games
Art & DT
Music
Pre-Prep:
- Music practice (if you have instrument/voice lessons)
- Listening and singing to different styles of music
Prep:
- Music practice (if you have instrument/voice lessons)
- Listening and singing to different styles of music
- Composition work using Flat or Chrome Music Lab
Library
Essex Library Online Service
Please click here.
Scholastic Learning Experience
Scholastic Classroom Magazine are posting four separate learning experiences, each built around a thrilling, meaningful story or video.
Stories
| The Rainbow Fish | Eat Your Peas | The Gruffalo Child |
Wellbeing
Information For Parents And Carers
Kooth – Free, safe and anonymous online support for young people
Essex Child and Family Wellbeing Service
Our Healthy Year – Rs and KS1 Calendar – This colourful and engaging interactive calendar features exciting activities to help you inspire you to eat well and move more.
Our Healthy Year – KS2 Calendar – This colourful and engaging interactive calendar features exciting activities to help and inspire you to eat well and move more. Don’t forget to keep track of your progress by saving your changes after you click to reveal the joke/riddle/fun fact of the week!
Holmwood House Nursery
151 Coach Road, Great Horkesley,
Colchester,
Essex CO6 4DX
T: (01206) 273 827
E: nurserymanager@holmwood.house
Holmwood House School
Chitts Hill, Lexden,
Colchester,
Essex CO3 9ST
T: (01206) 574305
E: office@holmwood.house