School at Home

King or Queen for the Day

2011-03-09T08:12:00.000+13:00

Life is full of surprises- as we all have recent proof of!

Imagine your surprise to discover that tomorrow you will be the leader of the land for the day.

You need to get busy now preparing for this important day.

You will need to plan your day so you can make the most of this magnificent opportunity.

· Write a list of what you want to achieve

· Work out how long each task should take

· Write a timetable

· Plan what other people will need to do FOR you today and write a timetable for them too.

You will need to have several different outfits each suitable for the different tasks ahead of you.

· Decide what sort of outfits you’ll need.

· Make labelled drawings of the outfits stating what the fabrics required are – you may cut pictures from magazines to help you with this.

You will need to write rousing and persuasive speeches to enthuse the country about your ideas and get your subjects’ support.

· Write a catchy statement to introduce your good idea. Be aware of who your audience will be.

· Decide on 3 main supporting arguments.

· Summarise your main points and relate them to your introductory statement.

You will need to have food for the day that is fit for a king or queen.

· Write meal planners for the day outlining menus and recipes for your staff to follow.

· Decide how you want the food presented and draw table settings or hamper contents.

Last of all get a good nights’ sleep – it looks as if you’re going to be busy tomorrow!

Party Time

2011-03-07T20:11:00.008+13:00

Is it time to have some fun? Let's have a party.

What about inviting a few friends (or toys, if you are a little person) around for morning or afternoon tea? You might like to organise something for the rest of your family.

You can plan your party today for tomorrow or the weekend.

First you need to brainstorm all the things you need to consider. This is a thinking strategy called Consider All Factors (CAF).
Your list might include things like;

Invitations
Details like time, place, people involved.
What to eat or drink.
How to set the table.
Decorations.

You will need to discuss these details with adults in your family.

Theme

Sometimes parties have a theme. This can effect everything from invitations through to how you set the table or even what people wear. Themes can be anything from a sport, colour, game, toy or something from your imagination. Will you have a theme? What will your theme be?

Making Invitations

You need to think about writing invitations for the people that will come to your party/ gathering.

Why are you having a party?

When will it be?

Where and what time?

Here are some party invitations that will help you design yours.

Make sure you include who the invitation is to, where and when the party will be, the title will be why you are are having a party.

You might make one invitation and then photocopy it or, if you can, get an adult to make it on the computer (or make it on the computer yourself). Print off as many copies as you need.

If you need to make multiple copies yourself, keep your design simple.

Preparing Food

Think about what your might make to eat at your party. Keep it simple.

Some ideas might be:

Fairy bread

Sandwiches

Biscuits

Crackers and cheese

Pikelets

Here is a recipe for pikelets. They are fun and easy to make and you probably have all the ingredients you need right there at home.

If you make something else for your party you might be able to send us the recipe so we can share it with others.

Remember recipes and instructions are set out like this:

Pikelets (title)

A quick, yummy snack to share with your friends. (description)

Ingredients: (listed with each item on a new line)

1 cup plain baking flour

1 egg

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup milk

Method: (these are numbered, on separate lines, each one usually starts with an action word - verb)

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

2. In another bowl beat egg and sugar until thick.

3. Add this with milk to the sifted ingredients and mix until smooth.

4. Cook tablespoonsful in a non stick frying pan.

5. Turn pikelets over when bubbles start to burst on top surface.

6. Cook until golden.

Makes 8 - 10.

They can be served with cream and jam.

Games/Entertainment

What will you do for fun at your party?

Some games might be:

Musical chairs

Musical Statues

Charades

Have lots of fun. Take some photos of your afternoon tea, we would love to share them on our blog and hear of your fabulous ideas.

You can email claire.howison@stalbans.school.nz or anna.ashby@stalbans.school.nz

Greetings Cards

2011-03-07T08:39:00.049+13:00

Everybody loves to get a greeting card that has been made specially for them.
There are so many things to celebrate: birthdays, anniversaries, special days like Mothers and Fathers Days, Valentines Day, Easter, Christmas are but a few.
Thanking people using a card that is specially designed lets the person know that you really appreciated their contribution.

What do you need to consider when making a card?

When you need to have the card ready for. Use a calendar to see how many days or weeks away the event is.
What type of card you're going to make. You'll need to decide how you're going to deliver the card. If you're posting it you need to know that bigger cards cost more to post.
The theme of your card.

Things you may need to make your cards.

Scissors, card, old magazines, felt pens, colouring in pencils, crayons, a dictionary, glue, double -sided tape, a ruler, old cards you could copy or cut up.

Planning

Think about the message you want to have on your card. The best rule of thumb is "short, sharp and punchy!" Usually cards have a two or three word message on the front and a sightly longer one inside.
Make sure you have spelled your message correctly using a dictionary or someone to help you.
Think of some pictures that would match your message. It is especially good if the pictures are of things that are important to the person you are making it for.
Collect the materials you need to make the card, have you got an envelope? If your card is an unusual size you may have to make an envelope from plain paper.

Paper engineering - this is when you make things pop up or out from your card

You might want to practise these skills using scrap paper as they can be a bit trickier than you thought at first.

This shows how to use a paper fan to make your card more beautiful. You could use this technique to make butterfly wings too.

This shows how to create a place to stick a pop out thing onto.

This card shows how you can decorate the bent out parts.

Collage is a very effective way to make a card. You can cut letters and words from magazines as well as pictures and photographs.

Have lots of fun making cards for the special people in your lives. If you can take a photo of any you make we'd love to post the photos on this blog to inspire others. You can email them to anna.ashby@stalbans.school.nz or claire.howison@stalbans.school.nz

Time to Shop

2011-03-04T13:57:00.010+13:00

Again this is an open ended activity that will require different levels of support, depending on the age of the learner.

We love to shop and this activity could take two forms depending on the age and stage of the learner.

For younger children
1. Choose a variety of objects that you could sell. These might be things from the pantry if you are going to play shops or old toys and books. They could be wee home-made items that become another project, e.g. painted rocks, baking,
2. Price your items. Think about the numbers you will use as you will have to give change to your customers.
3. Make money for your customers. How many notes and coins will each customer need? Will you copy NZ currency or will you make your special kind of money? Is there something you could use instead of money?
4. Does your shop require a sign? Design a sign to hang over your shop.
5. Does your shop require advertising? Can you design and make a flyer that might be like those that you get in the letterbox. Have a look at some junk mail to get ides.
6. Play shops with your friends and family. Take turns at being the shop keeper and shopper.

For older children
You might extend and elaborate the above plan and provide an opportunity for younger children around you to play.

Alternatively your parents might allow you to make this more authentic.
Our city is in need of repair and this might be the opportunity to do something for others. Your 'shop' could be real and you could donate any money raised to the Earthquake Appeal.

1. Plan what you intend to sell. This might be old toys, books, sherbet, muffins, baking, the possibilities are endless.
2. Discuss your plan with an adult.
3. List what you need to make your sale items.
4. Gather items or buy ingredients and make items.
5. Make a sign advertising what you are doing and where proceeds will go.
6. Price your items, think or a price that is fair and will make giving change easy.
7. Will you need money to give change to people who buy your goods.
8. Ask an adult to go with you to sell your items. You might try the end of the drive way, the local shops or the end of the street.

After you have finished think about your shop/ stall.
Positives - What went well?
Minuses - What didn't work very well?
Solutions - How could you change these things to make it better next time?

Please email photos and we would love to include them on this blog for others to see.

Email to claire.howison@stalbans.school.nz or anna.ashby@stalbans.school.nz

A Treasure Hunt

2011-03-03T15:32:00.000+13:00

This is a wonderful activity that encompasses many learning areas. Obviously children at different levels and ages will require differing amounts of help and guidance.

Create a map of the area you are having the treasure hunt within. This in itself can be an exercise in measurement and scale or using simple symbols to represent things.
Hide objects in the treasure area - mark these on the map.

Write some clues like "Go to the front door." On the front door you have the next clue written - perhaps, "Look in the place where cow juice is found." In the fridge they will find your next clue Eventually your clues will lead them to the treasure.

Ask some friends to "do" your treasure hunt - you might like to write them an invitation.
Take some photos of your friends doing the treasure hunt.

FINALLY

Write about your treasure hunt. You could write a recount or a PMI. Add some photos to the writing. You could add some funny speech or thought bubbles.
Share your writing with someone - you could email it to anna.ashby@stalbans.school and we could share it on this blog.

To add a maths component you could add measurement ideas to your clues like take 3 paces to the left or walk for about 5 metres etc.

Good luck and have some fun!

Welcome to School at Home

2011-03-03T11:44:00.003+13:00

This site has been put together to provide some activities to work on with your children at home.

We have organised it into to the core areas of reading, writing and maths.

Down the left are links to other resources that will be useful in providing alternative ideas.