English
Tiddler
This week’s learning is based on the story Tiddler by Julia Donaldson. Click the link below for a video of the story:
Day One
Before watching the video, ask your child what they think a ‘tiddler’ is but don’t tell them the definition. Explain that they will be able to use the story to work it out. When you get to the page where the fishermen throw Tiddler back because he’s ‘just a tiddler’ you could again discuss the meaning of the word.
After watching the video or reading the book, again discuss what the word ‘tiddler’ means and why they think Tiddler is called this. In the story Tiddler tells ‘tall tales’. Ask your child what they think tall tales are. You could prompt them by asking if all of the stories Tiddler tells are true.
Day Two
Watch the video or read the story again and focus on Tiddler's tall tales. What stories did he tell to explain why he was late? After your discussion, ask your child to make up a tall tale for Tiddler and draw a picture of their idea. Once they have drawn their picture ask them to imagine they are Tiddler in order to tell you a 'tall tale' about what happened. For example:
Sorry I'm late, I was swimming with a seahorse. I got tangled in his tail and he took me out to sea! I was lost and I was scared but a dolphin brought me home again.
If they find this tricky, they could use one of the ideas from the story to draw their own picture of and then explain to you what happened to make Tiddler late in the story. You could challenge your child to add describing words (they have been taught that these are adjectives) for the objects in their story or for how Tiddler feels at different points. For example: shiny, blue seahorse. You could also encourage them to use a question and an exclamation.
In Year One, we do not teach the children how to use commas so no need to worry about those!
Day Three
Watch the video again and ask your child to recall all the different creatures or characters from the story that they can remember. Make a list of these creatures. Ask your child how they could find out more information about these types of sea creatures. Remind your child about their learning from last week on fiction and non-fiction books. Explain that you will be using the internet and non-fiction books to find information and facts about the sea creatures featured in the story.
Choose a creature (e.g. lanternfish) and show your child how to look it up in the index of a book, or how to use the contents page to navigate to the right place.
You can also show your child how to use a site such as: https://a-z-animals.com/animals/pictures/A/ to gather information. Read a section of text from the book or website together and ask your child to tell you their favourite interesting fact from the information you have read. YouTube often has good information videos too. Ask them to draw or write down some words to remind them of the facts they found out. You could also write a list of facts for them. They will need this tomorrow.
Day Four and Five
Ask your child to make a fact file for their chosen sea creature. They could use the format below to help them to set their ideas out logically or they could create their own. They often enjoy drawing pictures and writing facts on separate sheets of paper and then cutting them out and arranging them in different ways before gluing them down. Here is an example:
We usually give the children a list of key words to help them with their writing. For example, if they chose an octopus, we would give them the words 'eight' and 'tentacles' to use in their writing. We would usually split this writing activity up into two shorter sessions rather than asking them to complete it in one long one.
See the 'Key Skills and Resources' section of the Year One pages for help with the writing process.