Well, we all survived our first week of no school! Along with others around the UK, I took my first steps into homeschooling my child on Monday. Although my daughter is only 3, I know that she needs the structure and stimulation that nursery provides her. So as soon as I found out the schools were closing due to coronavirus (COVID-19), I set about finding resources and lesson planning. Thankfully, my mum is an experienced early years TA and one of my best friends is a primary teacher. As such, I was well equipped, although lots of people have been helpfully posting many of these sites on social media! We have also been taking advantage of the various companies doing Facebook lives during lockdown. Autumn actually really enjoyed homeschool (which she named Apple Class) – and so did I!
Here’s what we’ve been up to (timings are approximate):
Monday 23rd March
9.00 – Discussed the weather outside, the day and the date. We put the magnets on our date and weather board and sang a days of the week song
9.15 – We discussed shapes and Autumn had a go at tracing some on a worksheet from Twinkl.
9.30 – We sang some of Autumn’s favourite nursery rhymes
9.45 – We discussed the letter ‘a’ and things that begin with it. We did the action of ants on our arm. We then tried to make a letter ‘a’ using play doh
10.15 – Free play
10.45 – Snack time (piece of fruit and a beaker of milk)
11.00 – We tuned into the live video on Fairy Princess Parties’ Facebook page for some singing, dancing and story time with Cinderella.
11.30 – We did a scavenger hunt from Twinkl, focusing on our senses
Tuesday 24th March
9.00 – Discussed the weather outside, the day and the date. We put the magnets on our date and weather board and sang a days of the week song
9.15 – We went for a walk in the woods. We heard a bee and copied its buzzing noises and looked out for insects as we went along
10.00 – Have you seen the water and pepper trick that’s gone viral? I got Autumn to put her finger in the peppery water with unwashed hands first. This was to demonstrate how germs, like the pepper, would stick to her with unclean hands. Then I got her to put some soap on her finger and put her finger again. This showed her how washing your hands makes the germs go away!
10.15 – Autumn did some rabbit themed pencil control with the bunny hop pencil control worksheet from Twinkl.
10.30 – Snack time (piece of fruit and a beaker of milk)
10.45 – Free play and book reading
11.15 – We followed Autumn’s favourite yoga video – a farm themed one by Cosmic Kids
Wednesday 25th March
9.00 – Discussed the weather outside, the day and the date. We put the magnets on our date and weather board and sang a days of the week song
9.15 – We followed the general sound discrimination, body percussion worksheet from Twinkl’s EYFS Nursery School Closure Home Learning Resources Pack. This consisted of:
- Making a family percussion band using our bodies only
- Listening to some music and clapping along to the beat
- Using our voice to make various familiar sounds
- Singing Pat-a-cake and clapping along
10.00 – Free play
10.15 – We tuned into Tumble Tots live on Facebook to take part in their activities.
10.30 – Snack time (piece of fruit and a beaker of milk)
10.45 – We matched up numbers to their quantities, using cards I printed out from Twinkl.
11.00 – We looked at our caterpillars from Insect Lore, which arrived in the post on Monday. Autumn insisted that we read them The Very Hungry Caterpillar
11.15 – We went into the garden. We played hide and seek and blew bubbles. We also spotted a huge earthworm!
Thursday 26th March
9.00 – Discussed the weather outside, the day and the date. We put the magnets on our date and weather board and sang a days of the week song
9.15 – We went for a walk in the woods, listening for sounds along the way. We heard various birds, including a heron. We also heard a bee, rustling leaves and some horses.
10.00 – We discussed the sounds we heard in the woods and talked about whether we liked the sounds or not, as well as what sounds we like and dislike in general. We also talked about whether they were loud or quiet, long or short noises. Autumn loved stepping on twigs and hearing them crack. She also told me she really likes the sound of horses and cats. However, she doesn’t like the sound of cows mooing because apparently they’re too loud and that hurts her ears!
I got Autumn to draw a picture of her favourite sounds. She drew a horse and a cat.
10.15 – Free play
10.45 – Snack time (piece of fruit and a beaker of milk)
11.00 – We played a game where we each took turns to make a sound and the other had to guess it.
11.05 – We got the crayons and finger paints out and made a picture of a rainbow to put in our window
Friday 27th March
9.15 – Oops, we had a bit of a lay in, hence the later start. We discussed the weather outside, the day and the date. We put the magnets on our date and weather board and sang a days of the week song
9.30 – We tuned into The Ballet Coach’s Facebook live for half an hour of ballet dancing! Autumn loved it and she looked so cute copying the moves.
10.00 – We talked about the seasons, what the weather is like in each one and what you might need to wear. Autumn had fun dressing Seren from Twinkl’s EYFS Nursery School Closure Home Learning Resources Pack in clothing to suit each season
10.20 – We looked at our caterpillars, then Autumn did some caterpillar themed colour by numbers (another Twinkl worksheet)
10.30 – Snack time (piece of fruit and a beaker of milk)
10.45 – Free play
11.00 – We did an ‘eye spy’ worksheet from Twinkl’s EYFS Nursery School Closure Home Learning Resources Pack, looking for different items on the page and ticking them on on the checklist
11.15 – We had a cuddle and watched a couple of episodes of the first series of Numberblocks on iPlayer
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing what we’ve been up to. As you can see, Autumn has even been wearing uniform to differentiate the difference between ‘school time’ and ‘home time’! We’ve both really enjoyed it and the structure it gives our day is very helpful.
If you want to use any of the Twinkl resources, they are offering parents a free month’s subscription during lockdown. Just use the code UKTWINKLHELPS