My Learning Challenges

Term 5 - The Deep Dark Wood Monday 4th – Friday 8th May

Daily Literacy Tasks

Mud writing

Find a small patch of soil in your garden to practise your

writing, use a stick to form

each letter.

Have a go writing your name.

then write the following

tricky words, saying the word as you write it.

Tricky words to practise: he, she, me, be, we, was, my

Too tricky? Try: I, the, no, go, to, into

Further challenge The tricky words above + all, are, her, they, you

Make your own deep

dark wood trial map

Re-read or listen to

‘The Gruffalo’.

Make your own map of the

‘deep dark woods’ and add

the mouse’s trail through the

woods.

Add the homes of each of

the animals that mouse meets

on his journey and draw a

trail to show the order that

he meets the other animals.

Where did mouse tell the

other animals he was meeting

the Gruffalo? Can you draw

these places onto your map?

Woodland Labelling

Look at the woodland picture

on page 2. Can you write

labels for each of the

animals within this picture?

Too Tricky?

Can you write the initial

(first) sound for each of the

animals you can see?

Further challenge

Write some sentences about

what you can see in the

woodland picture or use your

imagination and think of some

other animals (or fairies?)

that could live in the woods.

Could you write some

sentences describing them?

Suggested sentence starter:

In the woods I can see…

Design a Terrible Creature

Draw your own terrible creature. You could play ‘Gruffalo roll’ (below) to help

you create it. You could play with your

family taking turns to roll and design a

creature each.

Copy to print is here:

https://bit.ly/2yS7DUu

Once you have your design talk to your

family about the features of your creature.

Use your phonics to help you name and label the creature you have designed.

Too Tricky? Write the initial (first) sound for each label.

Further challenge Write some sentences about your creature.

Can you make up your own rhyme about your

creature’s features?

Leaf word making

Collect 10 leaves on a local

walk or make your own leaves

from paper. Write the

following sounds onto your leaves with a felt tip pen:

a, i, c, s, p, d, r, sh, ch, ng

Make a word with three of

your leaves and then write it

down on paper.

How many words can you make

with the sounds on your

leaves?

Too tricky? Try the letters and sounds:

s, a, t, p, i, n, d, g, o, c

Further challenge Try: b, l, p, t, m, n, oa, ee, igh,

oo

My Learning Challenges

Term 5 - The Deep Dark Wood Monday 4th – Friday 8th May

Woodland Scene

My Learning Challenges

Term 5 - The Deep Dark Wood Monday 4th – Friday 8th May

Daily Maths Tasks

Rain Prediction

How much rain do you

think we will get in a

week? On Monday, using a

marker pen (or similar),

draw a line across a 2litre

bottle (or milk bottle)

where you think the

rainwater will fill up to.

You can check it every

day if you want to but

don’t pour it away! On

Friday, see if you were

right!

Further challenge:

Can you measure how

much rain has fallen using

a ruler/ tape measure?

How long?

See if you can use the

internet/books to find out

the following:

How long is the longest snake

in the UK?

How small is the smallest owl

in the UK?

How long is a UK fox’s tail?

What size are most mice in

the UK?

Further Challenge:

How big do you think a

Gruffalo would be if it were

real? Write down your guess,

(If you have a tape measure

you could then see how tall

your guess would be!)

Owl Subtraction!

Draw an owl with 10

feathers! (5 on each wing)

Roll a die (or use a dice app)

and take that number away

by colouring them in. How

many do you have left?

Further challenge:

Can you write the number

sentence you have made?

Remember to start the with

biggest number e.g. 10

Then write a take away

symbol – and then the

number the die gave you

followed by = and your

answer!

- =

Snake patterns

Make a snake out of dried pasta and

string or ribbon if you have it. Create a

pattern by colouring them in using felt

tip pens or crayons/paints etc.

Further challenge:

Can you make some more patterns?

What have you got at home that you

could use?

Lego Snake Subtraction

Make some Lego snakes.

(Lego towers on their side-

or you might be feeling

more creative!)

Start with 10 Lego bricks,

take some away, how many

do you have left? How

much smaller is your

snake?

Further challenge:

Can you do the same with

20 Lego brick snakes?

My Learning Challenges

Term 5 - The Deep Dark Wood Monday 4th – Friday 8th May

Creative Time Activities

Makaton Gruffalo Song Watch this clip of Julia Donaldson

singing a song about The Gruffalo: https ://bit.ly/2yZV7C4 Could you learn the song and join in with

the Makaton signs?

Once you have had some practise maybe you could perform it in front of your

family?

The Gruffalo Song He has terrible tusks and terrible claws

and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws.

He’s the Gruffalo, Gruffalo, Gruffalo. He’s the Gruffalo.

He has knobbly knees and turned-out toes

and a poisonous wart at the end of his

nose.

He’s the Gruffalo, Gruffalo, Gruffalo. He’s the Gruffalo.

His eyes are orange. His tongue is black.

He has purple prickles all over his back. He’s the Gruffalo, Gruffalo, Gruffalo.

He’s the Gruffalo, Gruffalo, Gruffalo.

He’s the Grr...rr...rr...rr...ruffalo.

HE’S THE GRUFFALO!

Send a Hug Resources: Large strip of paper, a

pencil, paint or pens to decorate, piece of paper (if you want to write a

message to your loved one), large

envelope, stamp.

Post a hug to somebody that you love.

Lay a large strip of paper down on the

floor and lay on it stretching your

arms out as seen in the example below. Ask an adult to draw around

your arms and head then you can

paint or colour your outline so that it looks just like you!

Ask an adult to write your loved ones

address on a large envelope and to carefully fold your ‘hug’ to send. Add

a stamp and then post your ‘hug’.

Funny Shadow People

Resources: A sunny day, pebbles,

paper, pens, scissors, glue,

anything that you can find to make ‘props’ for your picture –

leaves, shells, sticks, etc.

In the sun lay out your pebbles and other ‘props’ to create a

funny face, or draw eyes, nose,

mouth, etc. onto paper and cut

these out to use. Block out the sun to create a shadow, lining

the shadow of your face up with

the funny face you have made, then take a picture.

How are shadows made?

Woodland Homes

Can you remember where the

animals in ‘The Gruffalo’ live?

Use natural materials to create an ideal home for a

woodland creature or design

your own bug hotel. The

example bug hotel below has been made with cardboard

tubes and natural materials.

Cardboard Bug Design your own bug

using recycled

materials. The examples

below have been made

using cardboard, bottle

tops and bubble wrap.

My Learning Challenges

Term 5 - The Deep Dark Wood Monday 4th – Friday 8th May

Outdoor and Active Activities

Gruffalo Yoga

See if you can do this Gruffalo

inspired yoga! It is quite long so you

don’t have to do all if it- just see

how much you can do!

https://bit.ly/35meZf8

Gruffalo Actions

https://bit.ly/2KO7B2B

Listen to the first song (up to 1:00min aprox) and make up some

actions for it!

Record your video! We look forward to seeing your awesome

dance moves!

Gruffalo trail!

In your garden (or on your daily exercise) see if you

can make a trail for the Gruffalo story. E.g. the mouse

goes into the forest first- how could you make a forest

in your garden? Then he sees fox at his underground

house- how could you make that? (you could use leaves

and twigs or you might have some other ideas!). See if

you make each of the places in the story!

Story Time Activities

Julia Donaldson Story Time And Review

Julia Donaldson is the author who wrote ‘The Gruffalo’ and the illustrator is

Axel Scheffler. They have also written and illustrated many other wonderful

stories.

Step one: Go to this website:

https://bit.ly/2z0P9Rt

Make A Story Sack

A story sack is a bag (or box) with lots of things to help tell a story. They

usually have the book in too.

Choose a Julia Donaldson book that you like (or have at home) and make a story

sack for it! Put objects in it to help you tell the story.

Here are some examples of what you could put into your bag:

· The book

My Learning Challenges

Term 5 - The Deep Dark Wood Monday 4th – Friday 8th May

Pick one of the lovely stories to listen to (you might even like to watch more

than one!) and then answer the questions below:

Look at the front cover, what do you think the book will be about?

What do you think will happen at the end?

What happened in the story?

Who are the characters?

Where is the book set?

· Toys to represent the characters

· Play food if there’s food in the story

· Items of clothing

· Song words if there are any songs in the book

· Puppets

If you don’t have anything that could be put into it, you can

make them instead!