Happy May half term. We hope that you are all safe and well. We are missing you at school but please remember, home is the safest place to be right now.

Please see below a list of ideas, activities or challenges that you might want to try over the half term.

Please take care of yourselves,

Miss Stewart and Miss Huggins

Outdoor learning:

The Essex wildlife trust have loads of different actitivies to "get wild at home". They also have a range of live webcams, such as nestbox cam, to see British wildlife in its natural environment. 

https://www.essexwt.org.uk/get-wild-at-home 

The National Trust also have a range of ideas for things to do including listening to the dawn chorus without the early morning wake-up.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/things-to-do

Day Trips:

Although visiting different places is still tricky, below are a list of places you can visit virtually. Some, like the Essex Wildlife trust, have webcams to see a whole range of wildlife. The Monterey Bay aquarium is particularly good, just don't forget the difference in time zones!

Arts and Culture:

https://artsandculture.google.com/category/place

Zoos, farms and natural wonders:

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams

https://www.houstonzoo.org/explore/webcams/

https://kids.sandiegozoo.org/videos

http://origin.americandairy.com/news-and-events/dairy-diary/virtual-farm-tours-while-your-stuck-at-home.stml

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfAOhZwlees

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUmHClrRPxc (longleat)

Historical Landmarks:

https://www.cyark.org/projects/mount-rushmore-national-memorial/overview

https://www.thechinaguide.com/destination/great-wall-of-china

https://www.royal.uk/virtual-tours-buckingham-palace

Go into space!

https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/

https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/168/tour-of-the-moon-4k/

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/suni_iss_tour.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3XS_5L--Qg

If you do decide to visit any of these places, think about how you could record your adventure.

You could:

• Write about what you have learned. For instance, you could write: a letter, a diary entry, a postcard etc.
• Draw a picture of your favourite part.
• Create a version of what you saw using materials such as lego, building blocks or playdough.
• Craft something based our your journey.
• Re-create it with chalk on the pavement.
• Cook a dish from the region you visited.
• Learn a few words of a different language.
• Look up where you went on a map and draw their national flag.

For those among you looking forward to the return of football, please look at the link below for a range of activities related to the Premier League.

https://plprimarystars.com/home-learning

For those looking to refine particular writing based skills, please see the link below which has quiz based actitivies.

https://uk.ixl.com/ela/year-4

This link is an online book explaining the current situation regarding the Corona Virus for those still struggling to understand what is happening.

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/medicalschool/documents/Piperpotamus_learns_about_Coronavirus.pdf

Being in lockdown, away from our friends, away from schools, can be an unnerving and anxious time. Below is a list of activities designed to manage our mental health.

• Creative packs which include craft, play or other calming activities such as mindfulness colouring which can be found on the Twinkl website.
• Feelings diary for children to write down how they are feeling.  A nice addition might be positive messages, written on post it notes or slips of paper, hidden inside the book for the child or children to discover.
• Team up with a school friend online and take the same lesson. You might want to consider completing a project together over the air waves or share your thoughts on the same subject.
• Complete challenges as a family. Can you all invent a brand new sandwich and then test them out? When you've decided on the best one, can you make a poster advertising it? 
• Make up your own dance to a family favourite song.
• Send a letter, email or postcard to a relative or friend to keep in touch. 
• Ask your child to teach you mindfulness. We have covered this regularly in school. 

Please also see below for ideas from the British Red Cross.

https://www.redcross.org.uk/get-involved/teaching-resources/kindness-calendar## 

https://www.redcross.org.uk/get-involved/teaching-resources/first-aid-champions

https://www.redcross.org.uk/get-involved/teaching-resources/coronavirus-newsthink