Core Subject Targets for Year 3

Literacy - Year 3

Numeracy - Year 3

Science - Year 3

Targets based on the current National Curriculum.

Counting on & Square numbers

Z has known how to count up to 100 for a while... I'm not sure where she learnt it - from her sisters probably! And has recently randomly started doing addition on her fingers, e.g. she'll come to me while I'm cooking and say "4 plus 3 is 7!" while holding up her fingers to show me... So I thought I should probably put some effort in too and help her addition skills improve. 😅

Firstly, she hadn't got the hang of counting on when doing addition - i.e. she would count the fingers on one hand from 1 before counting on the fingers from the other hand, rather than just start at 4 and count on from there. So I asked her "What's 7 plus 7?" Of course, she couldn't do it on her fingers because she didn't have 7 fingers on each hand!

So we took out the multilink cubes and she chose two colours - red and black - to represent each number in my questions. She counted out 7 red cubes and 7 black cubes, then (starting from 1 again!) counted them all to 14. I covered the red pile with my hand and told her we know this pile is 7, so we don't need to count it again! And modelled counting on with the black blocks to get to 14.

We did another couple of questions like this with the blocks (e.g. 8 + 4, 6 + 9, so answers between 11-20) and I would cover the larger number with my hand after she'd counted out the blocks so she could count on with the smaller number. Then I would uncover the pile and she could count them all to check her answer was correct.

Then I asked her if she needed to count out the blocks for the bigger number at all, because I was covering the pile anyway! And she said no, but where should she put the number then? I lightly squeezed the top of her head with my hand and said to put the number in there (I found when teaching the twins when they were younger that this physical action helped them!).

I asked her what 8 + 5 was. Which was the bigger number? 8. So where does it go? In your head (*squeeze for emphasis)... Without prompting she then counted out 5 blocks. I touched her head to remind her 8 was in there then she used the blocks to help count on to 13. 😄

Final stage: I asked her if she could do bigger numbers like 15 + 4 then? And could she use her fingers to help in case she didn't have any blocks? She touched her own head (15 in here...) and counted on to 19 using 4 fingers. Last question, 22 + 8? Same method, she worked out it was 30! MashaAllah. 💪 When Papa came home later she was happy to show him she could now do maths with bigger numbers! And I was happy to see she'd retained what I'd taught her earlier. 😂💕

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While I had the blocks out, I decided to use them afterwards for the twins as an introduction to square numbers.

They have a multiplication grid poster in their bedroom and F had asked that morning why the numbers in a diagonal line were coloured differently to the rest. M straightaway answered because they were in a pattern of 1 x 1, 2 x 2, 3 x 3... So we went downstairs and I wrote these out to 5 x 5 on the whiteboard, with the answers, and an array of dots for each one to explain why they were called square numbers.

Fast forward to these blocks again - so several hours later - I asked the twins to use them to make as many square numbers as they could while I put A down for her nap.

MashaAllah they made these (and were also able to tell me they had used 91 blocks because there were 9 left over!) so I thought I'd quickly recap area while here...

E.g. how many cubes are in the square for 6 x 6? 36. So if I had a field and one side of the field was 6m, what would the area of the field be? They quickly answered 36 (and I filled in the m² units for them - I'm not interested in units at the moment so didn't want to dwell on them at this point). I asked similar questions for other square numbers in the context of word problems such as areas of walls, books, rooms, boxes, etc. Then to be sneaky I threw in a question on perimeter. They both fell for it. 😂 But when I repeated the question emphasising the word perimeter they laughed at themselves and were able to give the correct answer. MashaAllah. 😁😁

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While we're on the subject of maths, I'm going to put this here as a nice reminder of how the twins have different personalities and ways of thinking... Some of their answers to a worksheet they did the next day...

F, trying her hardest, but sometimes not seeing the wood for the trees:

M, being calm, laid-back and not making life difficult for herself:

😂👍

Maps and Scales

Following on from our seerah work on the Isra' and Mi'raaj, I thought now would be a nice time to look at the big atlas (they've only used their junior atlas so far) and introduce them to the concept of scales.

First, we revised which units are used for measuring length/distance and compared them to each other i.e. how many mm in a cm, cm in a m, m in a km. So which unit would be the most sensible for measuring the distance between Makkah and Jerusalem? They chose km. 😁

Then I showed them the atlas and told them we could use it to calculate the actual distance between those two places. Nowadays, we can easily use the internet to find out the answer - but before that technology existed, this is what we would have done instead!

They used the contents page to help them find the right page in the atlas (they knew they needed to look in either Asia or Africa) and then found Makkah and Jerusalem on the map. I asked them to measure the distance - what would they need? A ruler. At first they tried to do it in cm and said "around 6cm", so I told them to use mm - which is another new skill for them today! M said 62mm and F 64mm, so I said we'd go in between and say it's 63mm.

So is the distance between Makkah and Jerusalem 63mm?? M laughed and said her hand was bigger than that! So I pointed out the scale at the bottom of the page and explained this to them: the map was drawn to scale so that every 1cm actually meant 200km in real life!

The next bit of maths I did on the whiteboard and had them help with the arithmetic, but I didn't expect them to follow along with the method... So we calculated that if 1cm = 200km then 1mm = 20km. 1mm x 20 = 20km, so 63mm x 20 = 1260km. So the distance between Makkah and Jerusalem must be around 1260km.

Was it? We typed it into Google to check and found the answer given to be 1486km! Which is pretty close! We'd recently done work on rounding, so I had them round the two answers to the nearest 100km, i.e. 1300km and 1500km, and they agreed these were pretty similar.

Next, I asked them to find the page of the UK so we could calculate some distances between e.g. Birmingham and Ipswich.

M found the page quickly and they enjoyed looking at the map for a few minutes, pointing out familiar places: Birmingham, Ipswich, Felixstowe, Woodbridge, Leicester, Nottingham (where Papa's at work today!), London...

Then they repeated what they did before, in turn, and measured the distance between Birmingham and Ipswich to be 106mm. They both agreed at the same distance this time.

I asked them if Birmingham and Ipswich were further away from each other than Makkah and Jerusalem then, because 106mm was more than 63mm? They both laughed and said no, of course not. 😂 I prompted them by asking if the scale of the maps on both pages was the same or different then and they correctly answered it must be different. 👍

We did some more calculations on the whiteboard (again, not expecting them to follow the method!) and worked out that Ipswich is 265km away from Birmingham. Google came up with 264.2km, which they were very pleased with! 😁😁

Finally, we compared the two distances with each other by rounding... So Makkah to Jerusalem was around 1500km and Birmingham to Ipswich was around 300km... So how many times more is the distance between Makkah and Jerusalem, i.e. how far Prophet Muhammad (SAW) travelled in one night compared to when we go to visit Nani's house? With a bit of prompting (mainly me scaling the numbers down by dividing by 100!) they were happy it was 5 times more.

So if it takes us around 3 hours to get to Nani's house by car, how long would it take us by car to get to Jerusalem from Makkah? F quite quickly understood we needed to multiply 3 hours by 5, so 15 hours. This gave them some kind of tangible idea of how far the Prophet (SAW) travelled and why the disbelievers found it so hard to believe him!

How long did they say it should take? 1 month, i.e. around 30 days by camel. So if we were to travel the distance to Ipswich by camel, as they would have done in those days, how long would it take us? This was a little more difficult but they worked out they would need to divide 30 by 5, since the difference in the journey length was 5 times, i.e. 6 days. Can you imagine taking 6 days to get to Nani's house! But nowadays we can just get in the car and drive in only 2.5-3hrs! 😱

We finished there, but I noticed the two of them poring over the atlas together while I was getting lunch ready, MashaAllah. 😆💕

Summer of Year 1 - Autumn of Year 2

A list of some of the things we've done over the last few months... No time for proper updates! SubhanAllah, my youngest brother was diagnosed with stage 4b lymphoma and things were a bit busy and a lot of going back and forth between Bristol, Birmingham and Ipswich. Alhamdulillah, he's finished his chemo course and seems to be doing well (and MashaAllah, the work we've done in Science recently on infection and the human body was really useful in the girls being able to understand pretty quickly why I was upset to hear the news and why we need to make lots of dua that Mamu gets better soon). Next time we visit will be next month, inshaAllah. 😄

So aside from the usual Literacy and Numeracy, guided by the Year 2 NC (going through the list and filling in all the gaps), we did the following:

1) Definition of habitats: research in non-fiction books, identify from fiction books, create a poster of a habitat of choice (including marking locations on a world map) which contained examples of plants and animals found in that habitat. Rehearse and give a presentation of their poster to each other, giving feedback on how to improve, then give an improved presentation to Papa. Convert their posters to PowerPoints (skills: typing, text boxes, inserting images, animations) and show this as a presentation to Papa.

2) Art trail around Ipswich, looking for Elmer statues. Map reading, walking, exploring, checking off a list, art appreciation & discussion... The girls then designed and named their own Elmers on pieces of scrap paper and compiled these into a booklet each. They tried to copy the art trail Elmers and came up with puns where they could!

3) Visit to a working water mill, where they grind their own flour and make their own bread - Tide Mill in Woodbridge. We took the train there with Nani, which was an experience in itself! The mill itself was really educational and child friendly. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area! The girls got to help start the water wheel by turning a handle and follow all the ropes and pulleys to the top of the mill. They were able to identify where the old pulleys should have been connected in the roof for the bags of flour to be lifted through the hatch, and also understood the mechanism behind the cogs turning and affecting each other. While there we also did some bird spotting from the lookout area and talked about how the mill was connected to the river. This led onto discussions to do with water sources and the sea, which inspired some more visits whilst in Ipswich...

4) We went to Felixstowe beach twice - once on the train with Nani during the daytime and another at sunset by car with Papa. Both experiences felt completely different despite being to the same place, which led to some good discussions. On our first trip they had fish & chips and ice-cream on the pier, played in the sand and F was brave enough to paddle in the sea. On the second trip we went for a short stroll on the beach and they played in the sand by the light of some coloured string lanterns hung across the promenade. It was interesting to watch the sunset on the horizon and see how the sky changed colour and then how the sea faded to black so it was impossible to tell where the sea ended and the sky began - the only clues the sea was there at all were a few lights from ships far in the distance. This led to talks about lighthouses and on how vast the sea is.

5) We walked down to Ipswich docks (only 5-10min from my parents' house!) and compared how the water was flowing to the river we saw at Woodbridge. Why? M had the idea that maybe both the water in the docks and the water from Tide Mill would end up in Felixstowe to meet the sea, so we checked on Google maps by zooming out and saw she was right! We didn't have time this visit to see, but I'd like to take them to Orwell Bridge so they can compare how the river looks there to how it was after the docks (and also to the little streams we saw in Holywells Park).

6) Which is the most popular car colour in Ipswich? The twins came up with a method of answering this question (watch the cars on the main road outside Nani's house) and keep a tally chart. We repeated this on two different days and compared the results (the same top three colours but not the same most popular colour on each day!) then turned these results into a bar chart (column addition practise to collate their results from both days). I helped them with this through prompts and questions and then wrote some simple questions about their data for them to answer.

7) We went to a free pizza making workshop at Pizza Express, organised by another home ed mum. The 3 eldest girls learnt a little about Italy and why a margarita has that name (the colours of the Italian flag represented by the toppings), tasted some pizza toppings then made their own margaritas on a pre-made base. The next week they wanted to make pizza at home from scratch, so I found a simple dough using Greek yoghurt and flour they could do independently. They made the dough themselves while I helped with the oven parts and making the sauce (tomato puree, oil & herbs). They put all the toppings on themselves and decided to make tuna, sweetcorn, mozzarella and cheddar.

8) Bake Off inspired baking: taking it in turns to bake cupcakes with me, one person each week. They designed their cupcake on paper first (sponge flavour & decorations) then baked with my guidance (they did measuring themselves for once!). After we all had a turn, we discussed which bake was our favourite and why. Mine was mint chocolate and my favourite lol - will need to post recipe soon inshaAllah!

9) First piece of extended writing in a while... We're currently reading the Famous Five series together and they're really enjoying them, so I used this as a basis for their writing. After a particularly eventful chapter, we did some hotseating on the characters' thoughts/feelings then I modelled writing a simple diary entry on A3 paper. Together, we discussed what the features of a diary entry might be and annotated them on the paper. Then the twins wrote their own diary entries as different characters from the book. When they thought they were finished, they referred to the poster and added to their work.

10) Bouncing ball investigation (as M asked why did the ball bounce higher in the kitchen compared to the sitting room?). Discussed in terms of energy (potential, kinetic) and energy being absorbed. Twins came up with ideas on how to test these factors (i.e. strength of throw, height dropped, floor surface) and how to measure - describe in words or use tape measure? Both ways difficult but tape measure was preferred option! One of the results didn't match our predictions, so we did some further investigations explore why. M came up with hypothesis 1 and F with hypothesis 2, with them both working together to think of how we could test each one. We put both ideas together to come up with a reason to explain why that one result didn't match.

Maths Update: Adding/Subtracting 2-digit numbers

After revising partitioning, we recapped how to add 2-digit numbers mentally, i.e. partition into Tens and Units, add the Tens, add the Units, add both parts together. They also had the option of adding the Tens from one number to the other, then counting up the remaining Units, e.g.

28 + 43 =

20 + 40 = 60
8 + 3 = 11

60 + 11 =

60 + 10 = 70
0 + 1 = 1

70 + 1 = 71 so 28 + 43 = 71

OR

28 + 40 = 68
68 + 3 = 71 so 28 + 43 = 71

We concentrated on the first method first, to get them used to partitioning the numbers. Then we moved onto the second method as something more efficient.

After the mental practise, I introduced the column method to them as an efficient way of writing their working out down. It's the same principle, partitioning and adding each place value one at a time, but written in a compact way, e.g.

16 + 43 = 

   16
+ 43
   59

We started with numbers which didn't carry over into the next column, then once they were comfortable with the method I explained how to write the extra Tens underneath the Tens column - and to make sure they included them in their answer! e.g.

45 + 36 =

    45
 + 36
    81
    1

We also spoke about using a quick mental method to check their answers.

We did all the above through explanation and examples on the whiteboard first, then answering questions from a photocopied worksheet using the method we were focusing on at the time.

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Next, we recapped subtraction of 2-digit numbers via partitioning and counting down, e.g.

38 - 14 =

38 - 10 = 28
28 - 4 = 24 so 38 - 14 = 24

Where the numbers stayed within the Tens, then using numbers in the Unit column which meant counting down across Tens, e.g.

52 - 26 = 

52 - 20 = 32
32 - 6 = 26 so 52 - 26 = 26

After some practise doing this mentally, I then introduced the column method to them - but for numbers which wouldn't require carrying, e.g.

88 - 43 =

    88
  - 43
    45

I decided that was enough for now, so they could get used to the method, and we would look at carrying from the Tens column at a later point inshaAllah!

The above was all done, one method at a time on separate days, first on the whiteboard and then in the context of numbers by working through practise pages from one of the workbooks we have.

Finally, I gave them some word problems to work through so they could use these skills in the context of money. They had the choice to use either a mental or a written method, whichever they found easier.

A Healthy Diet & Pie Charts

This week, we're looking at food and diet in more detail. I was surprised to find out the girls didn't know what the word diet meant! I assumed they already did from our work on herbivores, omnivores and carnivores - but looking back, I guess I didn't use it?? At least it was simple enough to explain in that context now. 😂

We talked about foods being made up of different things and how our bodies use those things for different things, e.g. carbohydrates are mainly for energy so we can move about, proteins are for growing and healing, calcium for strong bones and teeth, vitamins and minerals for keeping us healthy/not get ill, fats for storing energy and keeping warm (they remembered about calcium and fats from previous weeks 👍).

We pointed out which kinds of food we were eating at mealtimes over a couple of days and talked about whether we were being healthy or not.

We also talked about the importance of water and the things our bodies need it for, e.g. blood, urine, sweat, healthy skin - and why we should replace all the water lost by drinking more (why do you think you feel thirstier during exercise? M said because it makes the heart pump faster so your blood needs to be able to move around easier, which I thought was interesting! I linked it to maybe because your blood is moving around more it's picking up more waste so you're making more urine... Maybe, I don't know! Then I asked them what happens when they exercise, wiping my brow as a clue, and F shouted "sweat!", so I then explained how sweat cools your body down by taking heat with it when it evaporates, i.e. dries up).

We then read the relevant pages in the book "Keeping Me Healthy" and stopped on the double page spread of the food groups:

I gave the girls an A3 piece of coloured paper each and explained they were going to make their own diagram by drawing around a plate and using a ruler for the straight lines (I marked the centre of their circle with a dot to help them). This was a good task for estimation, since they were copying the segment sizes from the diagram in the book, and also fine motor skills in lining up the ruler correctly! They then labelled each segment and coloured it in (with wax crayons) before drawing examples of foods on a separate piece of white paper, cutting and sticking in the right place. I chose for them to do it this way to further practise their estimation and spatial awareness skills, making sure the drawing they did would fit into the segment!

We labelled the smallest segment as "fats" instead of "butters and spreads" and talked a bit more about how too many fatty foods aren't good for you (the sugar in sweet foods like biscuits and cakes is turned into energy like carbohydrates, but some of it is also stored in the body as fat which is why these foods also belong in this section). It's ok to eat them now and again, but compared to the other foods we eat they should be a lot less! Then I wrote the purposes of each food group on the whiteboard and they needed to copy the correct caption under the correct label - they colour coded their labels to match the segment to make their diagrams clearer. 👌

Finally, I explained to them that this kind of diagram can also be called a "pie chart" and is used for showing proportions of something. We linked this to their work on fractions and drew some simple fractions as pie charts on the whiteboard. Then I asked them to estimate what each segment of their healthy diet diagrams was as a fraction. Finally, I gave them a maths worksheet on pie charts to complete.

Maths update: Number sense

We're spending this half term working on their basic number skills, so understanding numbers, place value into 3 digits (and beyond!) and practising more efficient ways of addition and subtraction.

First, I checked they were comfortable switching between numbers as numerals and words, and were able to write a spoken number correctly as digits.

Next, we recapped partitioning. The Year 2 NC has the target to partition the same number in different ways, so I made up a simple worksheet to test that.

You can download our worksheet here.

Alhamdulillah, they managed to do it with no issues. Next, we're going to revise efficient mental methods for adding 2-digit numbers and I want to introduce them to the column method inshaAllah.

Maths Update: Times Tables (2x, 5x, 10x)

We've been focusing on multiplication and the times tables facts for the past couple of weeks. The NC for Year 1 introduces the 10x, 5x and 2x tables, which the girls are familiar with now, and the NC for Year 2 mentions them again - so I wanted to concentrate on quicker recall to help with their mental maths.

We began by recapping multiplication theory i.e. What does 2 x 5 mean? It means counting the number 2 five times. This is the same as 5 x 2, counting the number 5 two times - all demonstrated physically with cubes first then as dots on the whiteboard.

Over the week they then did a mixture of worksheets, oral questions, online games (we've signed up to education.com as someone organised a cheap HE lifetime deal!) and simply chanting both as facts (2 x 1 is 2, 2 x 2 is 4, etc) and as sequences (2, 4, 6, 8, etc) forwards and backwards as and when fit with our schedule - to give them plenty of practise and repetition in a variety of ways.

These were mainly to do with the 2x and 5x tables since, after a quick verbal quiz, they showed they understood the pattern for multiplying by 10, i.e. the number becomes 1 place value bigger - an easy trick being to put a 0 at the end (language is important here! I made sure not to say "add a zero", since mathematically adding 0 to a number means it stays the same! And I emphasised it's the place value which changes, which is an important building block for when they move onto decimal numbers in the future inshaAllah). They're able to recall/work out the 10x table up to 10 x 12, as well as calculate random whole numbers x 10, e.g. 24 x 10 = 240, 523 x 10 = 5230, etc. at a good speed, mashaAllah.

I printed out a multiplication square each for them each, up to 12 x 12, which I'm planning for them to keep until they memorise all their times tables... So a few years inshaAllah! I glued the square into a piece of coloured card, to help it last longer, and so there's also space to keep a log of which times tables are tested when. When they're able to quickly recall a multiplication fact, they can colour the corresponding square in - so the goal is to have the whole sheet coloured in. By quickly, the aim is for them to have memorised the fact rather than count it out each time, so I guess under 3 seconds? Instantly, ideally! But they're still young so inshaAllah with more repetition over the years, the speed of recall will only increase. (The girls asked me if I knew my times tables to which I said yes... When did I start learning them? Probably at around their age and I remember having a sheet like them at school to colour in too! So how long did it take for me to finish colouring them all in? I suppose around Year 3 or 4? So around 7 or 8? To which they both laughed because why did it take me 3 years just to learn this tiny square of numbers? F then said she'd definitely finish it all before she was 7. Lol. 😂)

You can download the multiplication square we used here, though a quick Google search will probably turn up many others!

As a craft activity to visually represent the multiplication families, we used pony beads to make "bracelets" for the 2x, 3x, 4x and 5x tables. So for the 2x table, they needed to use 2 beads of the same colour together, then 2 beads of a different colour, then 2 beads of a different colour, etc. etc. until they had a chain of 12 sets of 2 beads together. Then I helped them tie the elastic off into a bracelet. For the 3x table they used 3 beads of the same colour together, for the 4x table 4 beads and for the 5x table 5. So they could see visually the difference in size between 12 x 2, 3, 4 and 5 and I showed them how they could use the relevant beads as a kind of number line to help them count the answer to e.g. 3 x 6 or 7 x 5 etc. The activity itself was good fine motor practise as well as a lesson in concentration! M made the 2x, 3x and 4x bracelets in the same amount of time as F took to do the 5x as she kept getting distracted. 😅

We also played some card games to help practise faster recall, similar to the card games we made up for learning the number bonds to 10: Snap, where instead of saying "Snap!" for a matching suit they needed to say the answer to the multiplication fact for the card on top (e.g. if we were practicing the 2x table and the 10 of clubs was played followed by the 4 of clubs, the first person to shout the answer to 2 x 4 and touch the cards would win them), and also just a speed competition whereby I would shuffle the cards then hold up the one on top - the first person to say the answer (for whichever times table we were practising, e.g. if we were doing the 5x table and I held up the 6 of diamonds, the first one to shout "30!") would win the card, the winner being the person with the most cards at the end.

I made a quick worksheet of word problems, based on the 2x, 5x and 10x tables, set in Chuggington - as this is the current favourite TV show for the girls! Using their interests is an easy way to get them excited and keep their focus for a task. 😂

You can download the worksheet here.

Finally, I linked it all to division as the inverse of multiplication, ie 2 x 3 = 6 so 6 ÷2 = 3... demonstrated with physical objects first before using drawings and lastly just number sentences. With this knowledge they were then able to quickly answer missing number problems for multiplication (eg 5 x ? = 35) as well as division problems (18 ÷ 2 = ? 60 ÷ ? = 6) while practising their 2x, 5x and 10x tables at the same time.

Teaching Resources for KS1

I thought I'd compile a list of books I've found useful over the past couple of years as either reference material or worksheets for KS1.

[Last updated: 22.02.19]

LITERACY/NUMERACY

Letts Make It Easy… Maths & English (Age 3-5)

Letts Make It Easy… Maths & English (Age 5-6)

Letts Make It Easy… Maths & English (Age 6-7)

Letts Make It Easy… Maths & English (Age 7-8) [link]

LITERACY

Letts Monster English – Reading (Age 5-6)

Letts Monster English – Grammar & Punctuation (Age 5-6)

Letts Monster English – Spelling & Phonics (Age 5-6)

Letts Monster English – Handwriting (Age 5-6) [link]

Collins Easy Learning – Comprehension (Ages 5-7) [link]

Schofield&Sims - First Comprehension 1 [link]

Schofield&Sims - First Comprehension 2 [link]

NUMERACY

Letts Monster Maths – Maths (Age 5-6)

Letts Monster Maths – Addition & Subtraction (Age 5-6)

Letts Monster Maths – Multiplication & Division (Age 5-6)

Letts Monster Maths – Fractions (Age 5-6)

Letts Monster Maths – Measurement (Age 5-6)

Letts Monster Maths – Telling the Time (Age 5-6) [link]

Collins Easy Learning – Mental Maths (Ages 5-7) [link]

CGP Key Stage One Maths – The Question Book [link]

Schofield&Sims – KS1 Problem Solving 1 [link]

Schofield&Sims – KS1 Problem Solving 2 [link]

Schofield&Sims – KS1 Problem Solving 3 [link]

SCIENCE

Science in Action Collection - KS1 [link] (see this post for a note re: the Fossils book)

Fundamental Science Collection - KS1 [link]

ISLAM

Migo & Ali: Love for the Prophets [link]

My First Quran Storybook [link]

Safar Islamic Studies Textbook 1-6 [link]

ARABIC

Madinah Arabic Reader Book 1 [link]

OTHER

Heavy & Light Letters / Venn diagrams

As part of their hifz practise and improving their pronunciation, it was suggested to us by a friend to look properly at which Arabic letters are "heavy", which are "light" and which can be either depending on where they are in the Quran.

We started by simply sorting the letters in the alphabet into the three groups: heavy, light, either.

Then I helped them make an A3 poster to help them visualise and so remember the information better (similar to how we made a poster of the "sun" and "moon" letters - which I've not written up a blog post for yet!).

You can download the letters to cut out here.

Next, we practised their sorting skills in terms of a Venn diagram on the whiteboard. I explained how the diagram worked with a couple of examples, then asked them where a letter would go before asking them to tell me a letter which fit into each section.

To check their understanding of Venn diagrams, I drew another one for them to sort the sun/moon letters with. This time, I just asked them where letters went before asking them for examples. Then I coloured in the centre section to emphasise that there are no letters which belong in both categories!

Finally, we recapped the sun/moon letters along with this new heavy/light information by sorting some of the Arabic alphabet using a two-way table, again on the whiteboard, and labelling it as a Carroll diagram.

The heavy/light letters poster is currently on display in our front room and we use it to sing the alphabet to the tune of this song: starting with the light letters, then the in between and finally the heavy letters in alphabetical order (they're kind of arranged alphabetically on the poster!). We sing it through 4 times; first with the letter names, then as if each letter has a fatha, then a kasra and finally a damma. The girls enjoy it as finishing with the heavy letters sounds good! And it's a fun way to practise for them too. 😁

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While we were there, we looked at a Venn diagram in the context of numbers, too! Just to reinforce understanding and to recap our recent work on their multiplication tables. I drew the diagram on the board and asked them where certain numbers would go, then for examples of numbers from each of them which belonged in each section. Lastly, I gave them a number which wouldn't fit in any category and asked them where they thought it would go - M laughed and F said nowhere! As a joke, she pointed in the corner of the whiteboard so I said yes, she was right - if something doesn't fit in any of the categories, then it just goes outside the diagram! And we did a couple more examples to finish.

Maths Update: Properties of 2D & 3D shapes

Through looking at examples around the house (toys, packaging etc) and consolidating their knowledge with a couple of worksheets, the girls now:

- can explain what a polygon and quadrilateral are

- know that vertices mean corners and count them on a shape

- know what an edge and face are and count them on a shape

- can distinguish between straight and curved edges and faces

- can identify cones and square based pyramids, along with spheres, cylinders, cubes, cuboids, triangular based pyramids and triangular prisms (from a while ago!)

- know what a prism is and give examples (M said a banana isn't a prism because the ends are pointy but if you just cut the middle bit it is because it's like a cylinder!)

- can sort shapes based on their number of faces, edges and vertices


Next time we look at shape, I plan to cover symmetry with them inshaAllah. 💪

Horizontal & Vertical with Watercolours

The words horizontal and vertical are mentioned in the Year 2 NC for Numeracy, so I decided to explain them to the girls in the context of an art lesson...

I wrote the words on the whiteboard ("What do those mean??!") then held up the pen upright and said, "The pen is vertical," followed by holding it up on its side and saying, "The pen is horizontal," and repeating a couple of times with the pen and then with my finger and finally my arm. "What do you think vertical and horizontal mean?" MashaAllah the girls came up with vertical as standing up straight and horizontal as lying down. 👌

To make sure, I asked them to find examples of things or lines around the room which were either vertical or horizontal - e.g. the edges of the mirror, the window, the corners of the room - then to make themselves horizontal and vertical, which they found hilarious. 😂

On the whiteboard I drew a simple picture of the sky above some grass and told them it showed the horizon - the line where the sky meets the earth (could be the ground or the sea! Another quick scribble to demonstrate!). I wrote the word horizon next to my drawings and asked if they noticed anything about the word... Yes, it's inside the word horizontal! Underlined it within the word horizontal on the whiteboard to make it clearer... And is the horizon horizontal? Yes! (So a quick Literacy lesson on using other knowledge to help guess meanings of new words/word origin 😁)

So their task for today was to draw their own picture of a horizon, to help them remember the word horizontal, and also to include something with vertical lines in their picture too. What kinds of things could they draw? What could they possibly find outside with vertical lines? E.g. tree trunks, buildings, flower stems...

When they'd finished their drawing in pencil on a piece of white card, I took out the watercolour paints; this is where the art lesson comes in.

It was their first time using watercolours so it took a bit of explaining on how to wet the brush, wash it in between, how to mix colours on the palette, change the consistency and strength of the paint depending how much water/paint they used, to keep an eye on how dirty the water was so it could be changed... Quite a lot going on! But easy to pick up just by getting on with it, painting and experimenting!

The toddler joined in too, painting her own picture of whatever. 😄

Maths update: Money

* The girls are now familiar with the different denominations of coin and can recognise them by size, shape and colour even if they can't see the number. They also know the common denominations of note (i.e. £5, £10, £20).

* They can find a variety of ways of making the same total by using different combinations of coins.

* They know that the number of coins and the worth of the coins can be two different things, i.e. three 5p coins are worth less than one 20p coin.

* They can solve simple addition and subtraction problems involving money as both numerical sums and word problems.

* They understand how to find the total price for items on a shopping list by referring to a price list.

* They can calculate the money leftover in their purse after buying something and the change they would be given depending on what they spend.

* They know the meanings of the words: cheap, expensive, good/poor value for money, quality.

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We learnt the above through a combination of conversations (especially while out shopping), playing with real coins, playing with toy money, role play as customers/shop keepers (we built a shop out of Duplo and wrote out a price list for the things inside), completing worksheets.

The toy money we had was on sale a while ago and I bought it without thinking... Upon opening it, it turned out all the coins were the same grey colour. 😒 Although all the correct denominations were there along with notes... So after looking at some real money from my purse, I asked the girls what was wrong with the toy money we had? Some of the coins were the wrong colour! To which F then said, "We can just paint them brown and gold." 😍

So we did. 👍

And the toddler did a painting of her own while the elder two were busy painting coins. 😀😀

Another time, when we were completing a worksheet using the coins to help visualise the answers, the toddler wanted to join in... So I just gave her the task of matching up all the coins which were the same.

It kept her busy (until she became bored and went to play with Lego instead!) whilst at the same time not getting in her sisters' way since it was actually helping them to find the coins they needed quicker... And she managed to do it too, MashaAllah, even if she didn't know what each coin's worth was. It was still famliarising herself with the different coins. 👍