NI Libraries Summer Reading Challenge - The Silly Squad

Reading is the greatest skill and gift we can encourage our children to do.  Please consider signing up for the NI Libraries Summer Reading Challenge.  This year we can all join the 'Silly Squad' and read together.  Find out more by clicking the links below. 

NI Libraries Summer Reading Challenge 

Silly Squad Book Selection 

Picture Books – illustrated books, perfect for reading aloud

Early Reader Books – shorter stories, perfect for emerging readers

Middle Grade Books – longer chapter books, perfect for confident readers

Home Zone on Summer Reading Challenge

Sentinus - Create a surprise rainbow - details attached below

Good News Club - 5 Day Summer Club

At 3pm each day from Monday 15th June you can log in to this year's CEF 5 Day Summer Club for all the usual stories, songs, memory verse and quiz.  

Link to 5 day club on Youtube

Sentinus - Make your own puzzle using a few simple materials

We would love to see what you make. Please email: imckane521@c2kni.net with a picture of your puzzle.  Instructions are below. 

Sentinus - Structural Engineers

Keeping the train on the tracks. 

Sentinus - Watercycle in a Bag

This week's activities are going to focus on the topic of the weather. 

Follow the instructions for our first challenge to see what happens to the sea level (water) in the bag.

This challenge may be something that you look at everyday this week, depending on how much sunlight there is. 

Song of the Week

https://www.singup.org/singupathome/song-of-the-week

One moment, one people is about working together and making positive connections with each other.

We have some super singers in Windsor Hill - if you have some free time you can learn a song each week.  Singing can lift our spirits and make us all feel better. Mrs Loney thought some of you might be missing choir and would encourage you to click the link under the title learn with the professionals. 

Week beginning Monday 15th  June  - Going places | A super catchy song about being on a journey. Perfect for leavers’ assemblies! 

BBC Northern Ireland have launched The Wonder Gallery

Wonder Gallery is a new digital art exhibition space to inspire creativity in young people aged between 4 and 18. 

Every week, they will be inviting budding artists to submit an electronic copy of a new piece of art they have created - it can be on paper with crayon, on canvas with paint, or digitally on a tablet or computer – whatever is on hand at home.

To keep everyone on their toes, an original theme will be set each weekend by an artist on Radio Ulster’s The Culture Cafe. 

This week - 15.6.2020

PJ Lynch's Theme -  - "Magical Beasts' Challenge

More details on how parents can send completed artwork can be found on thewebsite and, once received, we’ll upload them to the appropriate age category (4 - 7, 8 - 11, 12 - 15 or 16 - 18) where they will remain.

Windsor Hill would love to see our pupil's versions of 'Magical Beasts' 

email your creations to: imckane521@c2kni.net 

Healthy Kids - Virtual Sports Day

Monday 1st June - e-ziine Update

Well done to Julia - P7, Noah - P6 and Harry P4 continue to make super progress.   others including Rebekah and Chloe have made a good start.  

This week's focused races are Obstacle Course and there is advice on the Marathon too!

​​​​​​​On the app you can watch Sammy SPAR's advice and tips.    

Healthy Kids - Virtual Sports Day

In term 3 is when we all look forward to our Sports Days in school.  Unfortunately it looks like we won't have that opportunity this year, but Healthy Kids have arranged a super alternative - the Virtual Sports Day on 13th June.  

Please register your children by 11th May - it may not be too late yet!!!

Below the article is attached information including a break down of the activities which everyone can get practising at home.  

Activities include: 

Sprint                                 Long Jump (standing Broad Jump)                   High Jump

Egg and Spoon Race        Wellyboot Toss                               Superstrong Challenge

Marathon Challenge         Extra:  Create your own Obstacle Race  

  https://healthy-kidz.com

Information, advice and outline of 'races'

CCEA Growing Futures

Lots of us have been trying to get into our gardens with all the extra time we have at home.  Growing futures have lots of ideas of what you can be doing at home and learn how to look after crops you might be trying to grow.  Sometimes all you need are a packet of seeds and a sunny windowsill. 

Get out and get growing.  

I am attempting to grow strawberries, tomotoes and cucumbers - I will share my progress in a few weeks.  I would love to see your projects too! I. McKane

Growing for the Future Direct link to the website.

Miss McKane's growing update - 1.06.20

Strawberry Plant - white flowers, when they are pollinated the flower dies the small fruit forms and grows. Can you see the small green strawberries and the larger one?  We will need sunshine and heat to ripen the fruit. 

1.6.20 I have managed to get three ripe strawberries -

Unfortunately a slug had beaten me to the first one.  It has been so hot - they need lots of water.  

Tomato plants

Can you see what height these plants have grown to?

The tomatoes will form after little yellow flowers are pollinated.  

Look carefully at this picture - You can see one little yellow tomato flower behind the top branch - you can also see I need to do some weeding!

The tomato plants are growing well and are getting more small yellow flowers.  My book says I need to start feeding the plant with tomato food once the first flowers are pollinated and the beginning of tomato plants begin to form.

This plant is now over 80cm tall!

It is from these flowers I should start to see small tomatoes forming - if I can keep giving them lots of water. 

I planted a few lettuces too - the slugs also love these!

I have some egg shells I am going to try scattering around the plants to persuade them to look for food somewhere else!

I hope it works. 

Cucumber plants.

This needs to grow very tall - we can see what progress we make in the next few weeks. 

Three weeks ago when it got really hot I thought I had killed my cucumber plant - but it has revived and is growing better over the weekend. It now has an extra leaf at the top of the plant - It is going to be a long time before I have any cucumbers here!

Healthy Places, Healthy Children

Healthy Places Healthy Children 

You can register to access videos and these activities 

Welcome to Belfast Healthy Cities Key Stage 2 resource – Healthy Places, Healthy Children. The resource has been designed by Belfast Healthy Cities in collaboration with the Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland Housing Executive and the Education Authority and has been successfully piloted by more than 20 Primary Schools.

The resource, which compliments the Northern Ireland National Curriculum, will introduce children to the links between the built environment and health and well-being. It provides an opportunity for: children to research their local area; develop proposals for how to make their local environment more child friendly; and, provides a mechanism to share their proposals with local decision makers.

While the resource is most closely aligned with The World Around Us Area of Learning, this Links with NI Curriculum document outlines the other curriculum connections including cross-curricular skills and Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities, which can benefit from its use.

When you have watched the videos below you can download all Unit booklets and supporting resources FOR FREE by clicking the REGISTER HERE button on the right or below. We hope you enjoy exploring your local built environment through the Healthy Places, Healthy Children resource and we'd love to hear about your projects or successes when you complete your journey.

Education Authority HIGH Five Newsletter

More great ideas & bite size tips are included in Issue 3 'High Five Newsletter' which includes lots of suggestions linked to the 5 steps of well-being – Give, Be Active, Connect, Keep Learning, Take Notice. To access more information click here 👉 https://bit.ly/35Q4aSR . 

Today the highlight is 'The Power of PLACE'. 

The resource pack provides information for families in relation to staying safe physically but also emotionally and mentally at this time using the Health and Social Care Take 5 Framework.

Sentinus - Aeronatical and Aerospace Engineering - Blast off

Your Latest Challenge

Blast off! - PHF Instructions with diagrams attached below.

Ideally 2 different thicknesses, but don’t worry if you only have one!

The thicker wider straw will be attached to our rocket.
Cut your thicker straw as shown in the picture and seal it with tape at one end.

If you just have 1 straw you can make the launcher by rolling a piece of paper into a tube and sealing it at one end.

Your rocket can be any shape you like, just make sure it is roughly the same size as our launcher.

Once you have designed your rocket, colour it in, cut it out and stick it to your launcher

Blow into the end of the straw and watch your rocket take off!

How far can you get it to fly?

What makes a good Engineer?

Good engineers have excellent mathematical skills, think logically and solve problems.

Why not practice some engineering skills at home?

Have fun building projects and learning about how things are made.

If you think you might like to be an engineer, start learning about science and math now!

Northern Ireland Libraries

NI Libraries latest topic of activities in Transport.  Have a look, there are some topic related activities to keep you busy using the link below.  

Transport Activities 

Let's Bake

Today's Sentinus Challenge has provide a recipe for some baking in time of the weekend!  

We would love to see some pictures of your finished products

8 Active Maths Activities to Keep Children Moving during Lockdown

The following ideas were shared on a numeracy blog.  Short, fun activities work best at home, especially after so long at home keeping lessons going. 

The coronavirus lockdown has us all feeling a little restless, especially children. Children are used to PE lessons, playing in school fields, and burning energy in play parks. But now that families need to stay home to stay safe, children are likely to have a lot of cooped up energy. 

And what better way to burn energy than with an active maths game? Interactive mathsactivities can help children get excited about learning while unleashing some of their energy — with many games you can play at home or in the garden. We’ve created this list of eight active maths activities to help you get children up and moving. 

1. Go on a Shape Hunt around the House

This shape treasure hunt will get children thinking about shapes and identify them in your home surroundings. And as they run around trying to find shapes, they’ll inevitably burn some energy.

Print or draw a variety of shapes on a piece of paper and get your children to find items around the house that match these shapes. You could set a time limit for five or ten minutes, then see how many shapes they can find. 

For each shape children find, you can award a single point, or award more points for irregular shapes like parallelograms and hexagons.  

This is a fun game for the individual child, or for siblings to play together. Siblings can compete against each other to find the most shapes to score the most points. 

2. Paint and Hide Numbered Rocks 

This activity gives children the chance to be both creative and active. Write out a series of equations suitable for your children’s ages —these could be addition, subtraction, division or multiplication calculations. Then get your children to decorate rocks, painting one number or symbol on each rock. 

So for example, for the following calculation, you use five rocks: 

13 + 27 = 40

One rock for the number 13, one for the plus symbol, one for the number 27 and so on. 

Once rocks have been painted and numbered, hide them around your home or garden. Then children can have fun finding the rocks to complete the calculations. 

If you don’t have any rocks to use, you could always use pieces of paper or card instead. 

3. Mathematical Bowling 

Everyone loves ten pin bowling, and you can create your very own bowling alley at home. Save ten plastic bottles and write a number between one and ten on each. If you want your homemade skittles to look extra glitzy, you can get your children to decorate them. 

Once you have the skittles, find a ball that you can use as a bowling ball. The whole family can take turns bowling, and when you knock skittles down, add up the numbers on each of the bowling pins to work out your score. 

For older children, you could number the skittles with larger, more random numbers rather than with single-digit numbers.

4. Flashcard Race

This activity is perfect for children who love to get competitive. Create flashcards with mathematical calculations written on them, or use ready-made ones and place them in a line along the floor. 

Children can step up to the first flashcard, and once they’ve shouted out the right answer to the calculation, they can jump forwards to the next flashcard. Then they answer the calculation on this flashcard and jump forward to the next. 

You can make the line of flashcards as long or short as you like, but to introduce a competitive element, time how long it takes for your child to reach the end. They can then keep practising calculations and trying to beat their own time. Siblings can also race against each other. 

5. Mathematical Twister

If you have the game Twister, it’s super easy to put a mathematical spin on it. On top of the coloured spaces, stick post-it notes with numbers written on them. You can then instruct children where to place their hands or feet using calculations. For example, “left foot to 12 x 2!” The children will then have to answer this calculation. You could also call out the answer to a calculation to make the gam a little more interesting!

6. Turn UNO into an Active Maths Game 

You’re probably used to playing UNO while sat calmly around a table, but you can turn this classic card game into an energetic (and quite tiring) active maths game.

Before you start playing, assign a movement for every colour. For example:

• Blue — touch your toes
• Yellow — star jump
• Red — hop on one leg
• Green — high knees
• Wild card — turn around and touch the ground

Whenever anyone lays a card, all players need to carry out the action assigned to that colour the correct number of times. So if someone lays a blue nine, you all have to touch your toes nine times. 

7. Simon Says Shapes and Angles 

Simon Says is a classic game to get children up and moving, but this version of the game also helps children learn geometry. 

Whoever is chosen to be “Simon” can tell the other players to move their arms and legs so that they look like a shape. For example, if Simon says “Show me a square!”, children need to move their bodies to illustrate the shape of a square. 

For older youth, you can play Simon Says with angles. If Simon says “Show me 45 degrees” or “Be a right angle” children need to use their arms or legs to show what that angle looks like. This game can help children master Year 5 geometry. 

8. Bouncing Sums 

Children can spend hours playing catch, so why not make it a bit more challenging with this maths activity? Bouncing sums is a game that you can play with your children, or your children can play together without an adult. 

Use a permanent marker to write random numbers all over a ball. Then when children throw the ball to each other, get them to call out the number closest to their right thumb. The next person who catches the ball does the same but also adds their number to the previous number. So the longer children spend playing the game, the higher the number they’ll finish on. The game ends when someone drops the ball. 

Each time children play this game, they should record the highest number that they reach in a game. Then they can try and beat this number when they play again. 

​​​​​​​

Irish FA Foundation - Online resources

I am sure all our boys and girls are missing Fiona's football club after school on Thursday afternoons.  For those who would like to keep their skills sharp please have a look at the drills and exercises the IFA have put online.  

Best wishes!

Have a look at this link and have a go: 

https://www.irishfa.com/irish-fa-foundation/ifa-foundation-online-resources

Northern Ireland Libraries 

Use the link below to access Wide-life themed activity sheets and ideas.  

Look at this amazing Lego giraffe. We would love to see any of your creations.

https://www.librariesni.org.uk/Children/Pages/Wildlife-Activities.aspx?fbclid=IwAR2_n9-p5ySzssNzmeztOEXfcnhMWD7jhE4OOZU_HNBm5P5mcfdDcu-_owM

PE and physical activity: primary

Boogie Beebies

Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mvsc

Key stages: early years foundation stage

Description: videos that get younger children up and dancing with CBeebies presenters.

Registration: not required

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mvsc

Disney 10 Minute Shakeups

Website: https://www.nhs.uk/10-minute-shake-up/shake-ups

Key stages: early years foundation stage to key stage 2

Description: 10-minute activities based on Disney films that count towards a child’s 60 active minutes per day.

Registration: not required

Super Movers

Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers

Key stages: key stage 1 and key stage 2

Description: videos which help children move while they learn. They support curriculum subjects, including maths and English.

Registration: not required

#ThisIsPE

Website: https://www.afpe.org.uk/physical-education/thisispe-supporting-parents-to-teach-pe-at-home/

Key stages: key stage 1 and key stage 2

Description: videos delivered by teachers focussing on the PE curriculum which are accessible on YouTube.

Registration: not required