This is a fun activity to do daily. You can choose any number you would like. It can be up to 10, up 50 or even in the hundreds. This will build up your children’s number sense and understanding of where numbers are places in the number system. 5 – 10 minutes a day doing this activity a day is great or what you can manage.
Either print this sheet or write down answers on a piece of paper that you have at home. Choose the version you like…
Earth Day, Wednesday 22nd April 2020 Earth Day is celebrating its 50th anniversary on Wednesday 22nd April. It is a global event that happens every year. More than 1 billion people in 192 countries take part in what is the largest civic-focused day of action in the world. Usually, people march, sign petitions, meet with their elected officials, plant trees, clean up their towns and roads. Environment Organisations and governments use it to make pledges and announce sustainability measures. The theme this year is Climate Action. Earth Day is running a Climate Action Challenge which you might like to get involved with at home. https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-challenge/ We would like you and your child to take part in this day if you can. You may want to link it with Mrs Smith’s assembly task this week to make it even more relevant. You could:
Plant a vegetable from seed
Reuse an item like newspaper, carton or toilet roll tube to make a plant pot or maybe upcycle something in your house giving it a new life as a plant container
Reduce your food waste
Create a healthy snack
Make a meal from locally sourced food
Try a plant based meal for lunch or dinner if you’ve never tried one
Make your own wormery
Make a bug hotel or a bird box using recycled items that could be found around the home
Sow wildflower seeds to create a habitat for bees and insects
Make a pledge linked with protecting our environment
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair, Refuse, Rethink!
You might have your own ideas about what you could do on this day. Please send photos with a short explanation of what you did along with any environmental pledges to earthday@damers.dorset.sch.uk by Friday.
Finally, you could watch Jane Goodall: “The Hope” documentary on Wednesday 22nd April at 8pm on National Geographic and Nat Geo WILD. Have a great Earth Day, we look forward to seeing what you got up to.
Don’t forget to look back over any activities posted on here. Click on the links down the side to remind you of older posts or if you would like to try something again.
Goodness me I have missed you during the Easter break but I am delighted that we have a chance to get all the blogs up and running today and to start our week together again – Good Morning everybody!
As always, your grown-ups have an email to help with the assembly this week and I’ve included a few extra clips in the notes if you would like to learn more.
It has been great to hear about all the growing that has been happening in homes and gardens over the last few weeks and I have loved hearing about the awe and wonder that many of you have experienced when seeing green shoots appear for the very first time.
This leads us beautifully on to this week’s assembly theme which is all about the outcome of this focus on health and growing – food.
Think about all the special times that you have shared with family and friends and how often food has played an important role in this.
These images may help but I know that you will have thoughts of your own too. Maybe it will be the times that you’ve had tea at a friend’s house, grandma’s spaghetti bolognese, the smell of baking bread at Cranborne, the awe and wonder of seeing lots of varieties of carrots in our school garden … all show us the importance of food in our lives but also the way that it often makes us feel great. Some of these things are still happening, but some may be on pause for a while or may be happening in a different way now as we discover new ways to keep in touch.
You will know that the adults that work with you in school are usually smiling, but I’m not sure if you know that one of the main things that helps them to do this (apart from all of you obviously) is food!
Did you know that whenever Mrs Smith has a really tricky job to do, Mrs Baillie often knows and bakes the most delicious Northern Irish fridge cake called ‘15s’ to keep her smiling? Did you also know that Mr Misun sometimes orders in pizza to keep meetings running smoothly, Mrs Bracey keeps everyone planning creatively with her tasty cheese scones, Miss Barnes livens up many a staff lunch with her homemade falafel and houmous, Mrs Watts and Mr Stone often make Mrs Smith pancakes for breakfast, Mr Oram invests in expensive crackers to accompany cheese and to keep the grown-ups going long after you’ve all gone home, Miss Hudson has a great recipe for vegan cheese, Mr Tims loves baking and Mrs Smith has sometimes arrived home to a most beautiful parcel waiting on her doorstep, filled with her favourite foods and edible love from our carrot cake making expert Miss Nesbitt?!
Food plays such a special role in our lives and while many of us are now in lockdown, we are being given the chance to think about its importance, to grow our own, to celebrate our favourite foods, to cook meals together with our families and to think about love and how it sometimes appears in edible form when sharing food.
There is a lovely campaign at the moment, led by one of our supermarkets (other supermarkets are available and are doing an equally amazing job of supporting us all!) which is designed to celebrate how we pass on much loved recipes through generations of families and within our community.
I know that many of you are doing similar things, cooking a favourite family meal and eating with much missed friends and family virtually where you can.
Hopefully this will provide the inspiration for our community activity this week – a chance to share images of your best loved dishes / favourite meals / treats. Your grown up will help you to share images of your cooking and favourite dishes with me but I would also love it if you could share some of your favourite recipes, maybe decorating them and giving them a catchy title such as ‘Uncle Pete’s Pumpkin Pie’.
Alongside this activity this week, I thought it might be good to revisit a project that I shared with some of you in assembly a while ago …
Newquay’s Community Orchard. You may remember me telling you about Luke Berkeley and how he had turned his life around with a positive focus on nature, community and the joy in growing and sharing food. The clip below shows the community’s Harvest celebration and the amazing way that food can bring everyone together.
And finally, I know that Mr Moore will be sending you information this week linked with the Earth Day celebrations that are planned for Wednesday 22 April. You may want to link some of the activities that are suggested by Mr Moore with our assembly this week in your quest to support ‘Climate Action’ too.
I can’t wait to hear from you (your grown-up will help you to share pictures and recipes with me). I will reply to any messages that come in and I will share all the highlights in our Celebration Assembly on Friday.
Let’s get cooking together this week Team Damers, I can’t wait to dine with you and look forward to the day when we are all back in school sharing a meal together again.
If you need any visuals for your child to help them with their daily routine you can log onto widget online and subscribe to their 21 day free trail. We use widget at school so the symbols will be the same and they will be use to them.
Please do email Miss Nesbitt or the office if you need some support with ideas for visuals to help you.
Just a quick check in to let you know that I had a go at some of these baking recipes this weekend. They were easy to follow and great fun for children . You could have a go if you get a chance?
