Welcome to Foundation 1 (Nursery)

At St Joseph’s, we are so grateful for the invaluable support that our parents and carers provide for our pupils. We know how well our families have been able to adapt to home learning so now that we can welcome all of our pupils back to school, we wanted to provide opportunities for our pupils to continue their learning at home, if they choose to. The homework given will prepare and support your child’s learning across the curriculum each half term. The homework tasks below are optional. If you would also like to read our homework policy, please follow the link below.

 

Homework Policy 2022-24

 

Autumn Term 1

 

To help you with your learning this term, here are some optional homework tasks and resources/activities for your child to complete. We cannot wait to see your child’s learning!

 

 

FS1 Autumn 1 Homework Grid

 

Activity 1

To play a board game together. 

 

 

This is a great activity for taking turns, touch counting and recognising the numerals and patterns on a dice.

If you do not have any board games at home, you could work together to draw your own.

 

 

Activity 2

To play a game of catch or pass. 

 

 

There are lots of different ways to complete this activity, such as by throwing and catching a ball or kicking a football. It can also be played with the whole family.

To extend this further, you could encourage your child to count how many times you can both catch the ball without dropping it.

 

 

Activity 3

To build a house together.

 

 

You can build your home together from a variety of different media and materials, such as Lego, wooden blocks or cardboard boxes.

Your child could then make their own puppets based on their family.

 

 

Activity 4

To share a story and come up with a different ending. 

 

 

After reading your child’s favourite story with them, can you work together to come up with an alternative ending? Can your child tell you about their favourite character in the story or their favourite part?

Where is the most unusual place that you can share a book together? Perhaps in some woodland or in a den in the garden. We would love to see some photographs of your unusual places!

 

 

Activity 5

To draw a self-portrait.

 

Please encourage your child to look in a mirror and discuss the facial features, shapes and colours that they can see before then creating their own self-portrait. Your child could then attempt to write their name on their work.

 

Activity 6

To sing your favourite nursery rhymes.

 

We would like you to sing some nursery rhymes together with all of the different actions. Please find some traditional rhymes above for you to start with.

Autumn Term 2

 

Please find below some optional homework tasks and resources for your child to complete this half term.

 

Autumn 2 Homework

 

Activity 1

To find objects from around the house that start with a ‘s’ sound.

To start this activity you could share some objects that begin with a ‘s’ sound with your child, such as sand, scissors or salt and emphasise the ‘s’ sound by saying ‘sssand’ for example. You could then encourage your child to look at a group of objects, some of which should begin with a ‘s’ sound and ask them to find all of the objects that start with a ‘s’. They could do this by saying the word and listening for the initial sound. Once your child is confident in identifying the initial sound in a word, you can change the sound or ask your child to look for objects in a larger area, such as in a room or in the garden.

 

Activity 2

To go on an autumn scavenger hunt.

How many objects off the list below can your child find in the local area? Can they draw some of the things that they find too?

Autumn Scavenger Hunt

 

Activity 3

To explore water and ice.

 

 

We would like your child to explore how water can be turned into ice and how ice can turn into water. This can be done in a number ways, such as by leaving a bucket of water outside on a cold winters night or by pouring water into a balloon, plastic glove or ice tray and placing it in the freezer. You could even ask your child to add some small toys to the water. Can your child predict what might happen? Can they describe how the ice feels? Can they work out how to turn it back into water? Your child could explore different ways of doing this, such as placing the ice near a radiator or breaking it up into smaller pieces.

 

Activity 4

To order three objects by size.

 

 

To start this activity, your child should find three objects independently. They should then be encouraged to order them by size, using vocabulary such as tallest, medium and shortest to describe the height of the toys.

 

Activity 5

To draw an animal.

 

 

Can your child draw their favourite animal? Can they select the correct colours to represent the animal? Can they tell you what sound their favourite animal makes?

 

Activity 6

To dance to music.

 

 

We love to dance in Foundation Stage 1 and it has some great benefits for learning too. We have attached some dance videos for your child below, however they may just want to create their own dance to their favourite song. Dancing with ribbons or material is great fun too!

 

 

 

Spring Term 1

 

Please find below some optional homework tasks and resources/activities for your child to complete. We cannot wait to see your child’s learning!

 

 

FS1 Spring 1 Homework Grid

 

Activity 1

To find and order numerals 1-5, then place the correct amount of objects on top of each numeral. Your child could then do this with numerals 6-10.

 

Numerals 1-10

 

Please print out the numerals above or create them yourself. Your child may want to cut them out. They can then be hidden around the room for your child to collect and place in the correct order. You could ask them to point to a number that is one more or one less than a particular number.

Using resources from around the home, such as buttons, pebbles or coins, could your child then place the correct amount of objects next to each numeral?

 

 

Here is a video that can support your child at home.

 

 

Activity 2

To read and write their name in pre-cursive text.

 

Please write the letters from your child’s name across different pieces of paper and hide them around the room. Your child can then be encouraged to find them, order them and then copy their name. For support with pre-cursive letters, please see the links below.

 

Oxford Owl Phonics- How to pronounce pure sounds Letter Formation

 

Before completing the following activities with your child at home, please share The Three Little Pigs story if you have access to it or encourage your child to watch the video below.

 

 

Activity 3

To make some dough and then create three little pigs.

 

The images are from ahappyhippymom.com and rosieposieadventures.wordpress.com

 

Dough can be created with 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt and 1 cup of water. A bit of food colouring or paint could be added to colour the dough.

Can your child then roll spheres to create their pigs, using buttons, sticks or other items from around the home to decorate them? How do they think they can make them even better?

 

Activity 4

To make the three little pigs a new home.

 

The images are from dltk-teach.com, science-sparks.com and mamasmiles.com.

 

Your child could use blocks, Duplo or junk box modelling to create their house, they may even want to use play dough, sticks or straw.

To challenge your child further, can they make something that is waterproof? Can they design it on paper first? Can they make multiple houses and then carry out some experiments to find out which one is the strongest?

 

Activity 5

To create puppets of the characters and then act out the story of the three little pigs.

 

The image is from 99worksheets.com.

 

Please feel free to use the template below or encourage your child to create their own puppets. Can your child remember the well know phrases from the story? Can they talk about the characters and the setting? Can they come up with a different ending?

 

Three Little Pigs Puppets

 

Activity 6

To make a den to hide from the wolf.

 

The image is from justfamilyfun.com.

 

The den could be created inside or outside, using things from around the home. Can your child work out how to attach items together? Can they create a structure for the roof? This could also become a reading den where you could share your child’s favourite books with them.

 

Spring Term 2

 

To help you with your learning this term, here are some optional homework tasks and resources/activities for your child to complete. We cannot wait to see your child’s learning!

 

 

 

FS1 Spring Term 2 Homework

 

 

Activity 1

To find 2D shapes in the local environment.

Please print one of the templates from the website below and encourage your child to go on a shape hunt. This could be inside or outside in the local environment. Once your child has found one of the shapes, they can colour it in on their sheet. Please discuss the properties of the shape with your child, such as how many vertices or sides the shape has. An example would be a brick that could be a rectangle with four vertices and four sides. As an extension activity, your child could create a tally chart of the shapes that they find.

 

2D Shape Hunt

 

Activity 2

To play ‘I spy…’ in the house or whilst out and about.

We suggest starting with a small selection of objects such as a pen, cup, book, spoon and glue. Can your child identify each object by the initial sound that you tell them? This could then be extended to a larger group of objects in front of them and then to simply looking around the environment that they are in. Can your child give you an initial sound too?

 

Activity 3

To make a boat that will float on water.

We would like your child to explore the properties of materials by floating them on water to see what happens. This could be done with any recycled cardboard boxes, plastic or foil trays for example. Can your child discuss what happens, for example does the plastic float or sink? What happens to the cardboard? Does its colour and texture change? Once they have discovered a waterproof material that also floats, they can use it as a base for a boat. They may also want to add some Duplo people or puppets that they have made.

 

 

Activity 4

To bake, weighing out the ingredients and discussing how the mixture changes.

We would like you to bake anything that your family enjoys, such as biscuits, cake or scones. Please discuss each ingredient with your child such as what it looks like or feels like. You can weigh out the ingredients, asking your child to read out the numbers and discuss what the mixture looks like before and after going into the oven. We would love to see photographs of your creations.

 

 

Activity 5

To draw a picture of their family.

Can your child draw a picture of their family? Have they added legs, arms and details to the faces? Can your child talk about some of their favourite memories with different members of their family? Can they write their own name and attempt to write the names of their family?

 

Activity 6

To make musical instruments to then play when singing.

There are some great ideas on instruments that can be made using resources from around the home in the link below.

Musical Instruments

Once you child had made an instrument, can they explore making loud and quiet sounds, then slow and fast sounds? Can they sing their favourite song and play the instrument to the beat of it? Can they make up their own song?

 

Summer Term 1

To help you with your learning this term, here are some optional homework tasks and resources/activities for your child to complete. We cannot wait to see your child’s learning!

 

 

FS1 Summer 1 Homework Grid

 

Activity 1

To cut out three shapes and to order them from the shortest to the tallest.

 

 

Can your child cut out another shape and add that to the correct place? Can they use language to describe the size of each shape once they are in order, such as short, shortest, medium, tall, taller? Can they name the 2D shapes and talk about their properties, such as the amount of vertices and sides each shape has? Can they create a different shape and add that to their work, ensuring that the shapes stay in order of size?

Please find below some shapes that can be printed for this task.

2D shapes to cut out and order

 

Activity 2

To identify the initial sound in a word and match it to the correct letter.

 

 

Please find objects from around the home that start with a ‘p’ or ‘s’. For example- pen, pencil, peg, pom-pom, pin, pig toy, scissors, sponge, string, spoon, spade. Place them all together and show your child a ‘p’ and ‘s’, these can be printed below. Encourage your child to say the first sound in each word and to then place the object next to the correct letter. Can your child think of any other words that start with those sounds? Can they identify every sound in the word? For example pig is p-i-g. Can they write any of the words? Can your child repeat this with objects that start with different sounds?

Letters to print

 

Activity 3

To plant some seeds and ensure that they have everything they need to grow.

You could choose from a wide variety of seeds at the moment, including herbs and flowers or you may want to try growing some fruit and vegetables. Please encourage your child to discuss what the seeds need to grow. They may want to regularly measure the plants to see how quickly they are growing. They could also take photographs or draw the plants to record the changes over time.

 

Activity 4

To make an obstacle course that they can go under, over and through.

 

 

Your child could use objects and furniture from within the home or garden to create their obstacle course, such as tables or sheets to go under and boxes to go over. How quickly can they complete the course? Can they beat that time? How could they make it more challenging?

 

Activity 5

To create a self-portrait and write their name in pre-cursive text.

 

 

Your child could use paint, felt-tips, colouring pencils, chalk or any other media or material to create their self-portrait. Please encourage them to look at their facial features in a mirror so that they can choose the correct colours for each feature. Have they remembered to include fingers and feet on their portrait? Can your child then write their name in pre-cursive text?

 

Activity 6

To make a puppet theatre and puppets, then use them to tell their favourite story.

 

 

A puppet theatre can be made by cutting out rectangles from a cardboard box that your child could then paint or decorate. They may want to create their own puppets of the characters in their favourite story or you could find them online to print. After reading their favourite story with them, please encourage your child to act out the story, saying well known phrases from the book. We would love to see a video of your child telling the story.

 

 

Summer Term 2

 

To help you with your learning this term, here are some optional homework tasks and resources/activities for your child to complete. We cannot wait to see your child’s learning!

 

 

FS1 Summer 2 Homework Grid

 

Activity 1

To order numerals 1-10 and add the correct amount of objects to each numeral.

 

 

Can your child cut out the numerals and then place them in order from 1-10?

Can they point to the number that is one more or one less than a particular number?

Can your child add one object to the card with the 1 on, two on the 2 etc?

Can they form the numbers to make their own number line?

 

Please click on the button to find some printable numerals. Numerals 1-10

 

Activity 2

To read the word and match it to the correct picture.

 

 

Please print some of the words and pictures or create your own together with your child.

Can your child read the word and find the correct picture from a small selection of images?

Can they think of a word that rhymes with that one?

Can they read the word and then draw their own picture to match it?

Can they choose a picture and then write the word independently?

Words and Pictures

 

Activity 3

We would like to challenge your child to create their own sandwich.

Can they select the food items and utensils that they will need independently?

Can they carefully spread the butter and add their chosen filling, discussing its smell, taste, feel, sound and how it looks?

Can they cut it into triangles? You could introduce the language of halves and quarters.

 

Activity 4

To make 10 characters and sing ’10 in a bed’.

 

We would like your child to draw or create 10 different characters. They could be their family, favourite animals or something different and unique.

Once they have created them, please encourage your child to take one character away at a time whilst singing. They should tell you how many characters are left after taking one away.

 

Activity 5

To draw or paint their favourite animal and then tell you a story about it.

 

 

Please ask you child what their favourite animal is and what colours they will need to draw or paint it.

Once they have created their piece, can they make up a story about it? For example ‘Once upon a time there was a tiger who…’

 

Activity 6

To freeze water and then work out the fastest way to melt it.

 

You could start by filling balloons or latex gloves with water. Your child may want to add colours, toys or natural materials to the water.

Encourage your child to talk about what the water looks like and feels like, you could introduce the word ‘liquid’.

Then place it in the freezer over night.

Pop a balloon and encourage your child to describe it again, has anything changed? Is it a liquid or a solid? Cold or warm? Smooth or rough?

You could then explore the fastest way to melt the remaining balloons. What does your child suggest? Perhaps try outside, on the windowsill, in the fridge, in cold or warm water for example.