Lime Academy Watergall

Our local community has some amazing places to visit.

The more familiar your child is with them, the more they will be able to talk about them and make links in their learning when they start school.

Have you ever been to the library? You can explore books, borrow books and movies and sometimes even toys!

“Look at the art gallery, what do you think happens in there? Shall we go and see?”

Did you know that by reading just one story a day with your child exposes them to 290,000 more words before the age of 5?

Just looking at pictures and talking about what you both see is a great start!

Get your child talking about books, show how much you love them and it will really help them to be ready for the learning in school!

“What do you see?”

“What do you notice?”

“Why did that happen?”

Help your child to put on and take off their own shoes.

This will really help them at school when they need to get changed independently and be ready for sports.

Start by teaching them to push their toes in, followed by their heel.

Fastening and looking to check they are on the right feet!

Being able to put on their own coat means they feel empowered and ready to play.

Try just starting with zipping it up themselves, then move to finding the arms and pulling it on as well.

Some children like to lay their coat down in front of them with the hood close to their feet, inserting their hands into the arms and flipping it over their head and onto their body!

Getting dressed involves lots of skills, so take it one step at a time and support your child by praising each step they achieve on their own.

Consider Velcro fastenings and elasticated waistbands that can make being independent a little easier.

Did you know that by playing simple listening games with your child from a young age, you are
supporting them to be ready for school?

Try making different animal sounds to see if they can guess which creature it is.

Try speaking like a robot and see if they can work out the word you are saying “h-a-t… hat!”

Showing your child their written name is extremely powerful.

They will learn the shape of it, maybe even know some of the letters, but most of all, they will learn it is special!

Help them to be ready to find their name by showing them what it looks like in print, writing, on labels and remind them how unique they are!

From fruit slices to road signs, spotting and naming everyday shapes will help your child to form some basic knowledge for maths.

“What shape is your sandwich?”

“I can see a circle… can you spot it?”

School’s out! But don’t let the learning end.

Play one quick number game a day with your child to keep their learning fresh all Summer. Play them in the car, over breakfast or whilst you are getting dressed.

“1,2,3,4_6… which number did I miss?”

“I am thinking of a number. It is one more than 8 but one less than 10. What is it?”

Year 3 have been making 3D relief sculptures. They used plaster and glue to create a base called a gesso then placed natural and man made objects into it and let it dry. It was then painted black with metallic paint on top to give an antique look to the sculpture. They had so much fun and they look great!