Top 10 Daily Essentials !

1. Hear your child read if they are reading. Sometimes they like to ‘pretend’ to read a story  to you and this is ok, go with it! They may know it by heart. The acquisition of language and in particular story language is very important for future writing and reading!

2. Read to them!  Fairy Tales is a wonderful topic to explore story wise.  Here are a few; Cinderella, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, The little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Frog Prince

Even Goldilocks and The Gingerbread man, which we read last term, are considered to be Folklore/Fairy Tales.

3. Have one meal where they are using a fork and a knife. Encourage them to cut up food themselves. This so important for co-ordination, fine motor skills and of course independence.

4. Getting dressed and undressed by themselves. This is important  for self esteem, independence and the development of both physical and health and self care skills.

5. Exercise and Dancing to music! Examples of things this age should be getting used to doing are  jumping, hoping and skipping. Riding a bike or scooter. Hand eye co- ordination should be developing well enough to facilitate throwing and catching a ball. All of this needs practise though! Can you do any of the jumps on the poster below?

6. Singing – Listening to  and practising  rhythms, rhymes and patterns. It improves memory and reading! It helps pronunciation and it is also good fun and elevates your mood. Nursery Rhymes are great for this.

7. Using small equipment like scissors or pens.  Fine motor skills again. Practise using scissors, make sure pencil grip is correct too. Small construction like Lego, sewing, threading  are also  good for fine motor skills.

8. Phonics or Handwriting Practise. Please practise writing your name and make sure formation is correct. Please see uploaded document which has  all the names of the class on and the correct letter formation. If you know yours why not learn a friends' or siblings'!

9. Daily counting or maths task!

10. Play!! Never under estimate the value of play. Remember to look out for The Characteristics of Effective learning whilst they play and learn. These are curiosity, representing experiences, taking risks, concentration, sense of achievement, having their own ideas, making links and reviewing. They are the building blocks that will affect the way they  learn for the rest of their lives!