Typing practise...

In half an hour (timed using our sand timer), the girls managed to type:

This was their first time trying to type on the laptop, aside from the odd word here and there for a Google search, and it was copied from the descriptive writing they had done earlier so they could concentrate on the typing as opposed to needing to think what to write too.

It's funny how teaching things like this reminds you of how you take basic things for granted - such as needing to press the space bar in between each word! - and how everything is new for them at this age... Even using the mouse was a challenge! The spacial awareness and physically moving something on a horizontal plane to control a cursor on a vertical plane... Again, something we really take for granted being so used to it!

To prepare them for eventually (insha'Allah!) being able to touch type, I encouraged them to use both hands to type: the left hand for the left side of the keyboard and the right hand for the right side. They were also free to use whichever fingers felt most comfortable for whichever key. 👌

Fairytales

We're going to use fairytales as the scaffold for our next few Literacy targets, as is common for children of this age!

To build up to this topic, we've been reading in books and watching on YouTube a variety of different fairytales and also different versions of the same story. So for our first task, I gave them some pictures with characters from the fairytales the girls are familiar with...

I asked them which stories they were from... What were the stories' titles? I asked them who the main characters were and if they had anything in common. They noticed the characters were often animals and that the animals could do things animals can't really do, such as speak! There were also made up creatures such as witches, giants and trolls.

What was the setting for each story? Where did it take place? They said it was usually a forest, not in a big city. When was the setting - nowadays, in modern times, or in the past? They realised they all took place in the past, before things we have nowadays such as TVs and computers. Why might that be? Because the stories were all written in the past!

So because a common setting was a forest, on a piece of A3 sugar paper the girls had a go at painting a forest background - we played this video on YouTube as inspiration and for background sound. The 2 year old joined in too! I only gave them red, blue, yellow, green and white paint - so they needed to mix any other colours/shades they wanted.

While waiting for their paintings to dry, they coloured in and cut out the fairytale characters from before. Then they stuck these down on top using PVA glue. Finally, the twins wrote the word "fairytales" somewhere in their forest using glitter gel pens.

You can download the pictures we used (from http://images.google.com) here.

Understanding the clock face

We've covered telling the time to the hour and half past the hour on both analogue and digital clocks. Before moving on to quarter past/to and the intervals between, I wanted the girls to understand and be familiar with the fact each of the numbers 1-12 on the clock represents 5 minutes/seconds. Rather than simply tell them this, I thought it would stick better if they worked it out themselves!

They already knew there are 60 minutes in 1 hour from becoming familiar with digital clocks in our everyday life (e.g. the clock on the oven which we've been asking them to read since they were 3!) so I began by asking: If there are 60 minutes in an hour and it takes 1 hour for the minute hand to go all the way round the clock, how many minutes fit into each of those big numbers 1-12? Sounds like a mouthful, but not so complicated illustrated on a clock at the same time. 😂

They understood they needed to share the 60 minutes between the 12 numbers, so it was division, but they couldn't work it out in their heads! I asked them if they wanted to use the blocks to help and they said yes. 😏

I took out the numbers 1-12 from our Melissa & Doug jigsaw and asked the girls to arrange them to look like a clock... So they knew they needed to put them in a circle but it was a challenge to get it looking right lol. They started out with a triangle, then one commented the 6 needed to be in a straight line under the 12, and eventually they ended up with a wonky oval.

Next, I gave them the tub of multilink cubes and asked how many did they need to have one for each minute? 60... And what did they know about their cubes and the different colours? There are 10 of each colour... So how many colours did they need to use? 6! There are two of them, so how many colours did they need to get each? 3! MashaAllah. They put the 60 cubes in the centre of their clock.

Now for the sharing part... If they put the same amount of cubes on each number, how many cubes would each number end up with? I prompted them by saying to first try giving 1 cube to each number.

They then continued sharing out the cubes so they all had 2, then 3, then I stopped them and asked them to estimate how many more times they thought they'd be able to go round the clock... One guessed 8, the other 11. 😂 Ok. So I let them go round again then stopped them again to see if they wanted to change their estimate. They both laughed and one said she thought only one more time after this so she should have estimated 2 to begin with - then the other agreed and exclaimed she thought they were all going to end up with 5 cubes each. 👍

We equated this back to the original question: if there are 60 minutes in an hour, how many minutes are there in between each number on the clock? 5! Then we counted in 5s round the clockface to check.

Finally, I told them to look at the real clock so they could count how many seconds there are in a minute - count how many times the second moves for it to go all the way round the clock, using 12 as a starting point. I asked them if there are 60 seconds just as there are 60 minutes, how many seconds do they think are in between each number? 5! Then we counted 5 seconds between two of the numbers to check.

Later on in the day, after a break, they completed the above worksheet to consolidate what they'd learnt. Taken from both *** and *** [edit to add titles]

After a few days, one of the twins asked if it was five past six because the big hand was on the 1... I said yes. Throughout the day she kept asking if it was so-and-so past, getting it right; I asked how she knew and she said because she was counting in 5s for each number! Masha'Allah. Within the next couple of days her sister had caught on too - so now they can both tell the time to the hour, half past and x minutes past the hour. 💪

Using the 5 Senses for Descriptions

As planned - albeit a few months later! - I took the girls to the first of several different locations so they could practise using their five senses to write more detailed descriptions. We also recapped all five verbs in Arabic, too.

Our first stop was the woodland area of Martineau Gardens.

We focused on one sense at a time, making notes of at least one example for each, then adding in anything extra to any other box once they'd got into it (we walked round with clipboards which they loved the novelty of!).

You can download the worksheet template here.

Later on at home, they used their notes to write sentences underneath a picture of where we went.

First, we read a couple of examples of descriptions from their favourite book series at the moment: Willow Valley. The opening chapters always begin with a nice description, so we read a couple of examples and talked about which senses were being used for each thing.

e.g. "It was a bright, sunny morning in Willow Valley. Butterflies danced through meadows of clover, birds sang in the trees, and shimmering dragonflies fluttered over the river. The cave-houses on the rolling green hills all had their doors open wide as happy little animals pattered out to play in the sunshine." [Willow Valley - A Seaside Rescue, by Tracey Corderoy]

I asked them if that description was better than just saying, for example, "In Willow Valley there were butterflies, birds and dragonflies. Animals played outside." They said the description in the book was better because they could imagine being there!

I let them free write, so no spelling aid, reminders about capitals and full stops, spaces between words, etc... and put the sandtimer on for 30min so they had a set time to write in - in between talking to each other and to me before they wrote their sentences down! One of them finished within the 30min, the other decided she wanted to write for a little longer. I'm thinking of using this piece of writing for some editing work later on, giving them the chance to check for mistakes and improve.

You can download the second worksheet template here.

I left a blank in the title so we can re-use it for a different location and they will already be familiar with what to do. I might print out a photo again, or leave that space empty for them to draw a picture... Or we might link to ICT and have them type up their description into the file on the laptop. Will see how it goes, insha'Allah!

Morning Activity (Arabic reading/understanding)

We've not done as much work from the Madinah book as we should have over the past few months; I'd become complacent since joining an Arabic speaking club... 😅 So when I finally decided to pull it out the other day, I was disappointed to see the girls had forgotten some of the things they'd previously been confident in when we covered them! And we've not done nearly enough reading practise as we should have been either, so they've become a little slower in that too. 😩

It's hard finding the time at the moment with a newborn to tend to! So I've come up with simply putting something on the whiteboard each morning for them to work on while I get breakfast ready or feed and change the baby. Once they've answered the question, we can eat breakfast... A little motivation to keep their attention. 😂

Some examples... We started off by having to match the sentence to the correct picture. I chose vocabulary which they seemed to have forgotten as a way of revision - so they would use the pictures as prompts to help their reading and the sentences helped them remember old vocab. 

After a few days of those, so they got used to the idea and routine of it, I changed the question slightly... So a longer sentence (actually two: a question and answer) and they had to say which image illustrated it correctly.

So this helps revise old grammar points too.

I write the task on the board after they've gone to bed, so the first time they see it is in the morning. It's working well for us so far as I've already seen their reading improve - whereas before I struggled to find time to fit in focused Arabic reading on a daily basis, this is a nice top up for those days when we really don't have time. It's also been good for their teamwork skills as they can discuss what they think and fill in the gaps where the other struggles. Between them they've always managed to work it out, while I'm sure they wouldn't have been able to alone! 💕 My messy handwriting also doesn't help, so being able to decipher it is a skill in itself too. 😂

***EDIT***

Some more examples as we've continued:

Recipe: Honey & cinnamon flapjacks

Dry Ingredients:
200g rolled oats
1tsp cinnamon
handful chopped nuts (e.g. pecan, walnuts) to taste

Wet Ingredients:
150ml honey
1tbsp golden syrup
handful of sultanas / chopped dates to taste
100g salted butter

Topping:
flaked almonds
drizzle of golden syrup / sprinkle of demerera sugar

1) Preheat oven to fan 180C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, leaving some paper hanging over two of the sides.
2) Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
3) In a saucepan, gently heat and stir together the wet ingredients until the butter has melted.
4) Pour the melted wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and carefully mix until completely combined.
5) Tip the mixture into the baking tray and press down flat. Sprinkle on the toppings of choice.
6) Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. It will still be slightly soft when done.
7) Leave to cool before lifting out of the tray, using the overhanging paper to help.Cut into portions.

Store in an airtight container. Each batch lasts maximum 1 week in this house! I don't know if they would keep for longer. 😂

Science/Arabic - The Sense of Touch

The Sense of Touch - اَللَّمْسُ

I can feel... - ... أَنَا أَلْمَسُ

We reminded ourselves of the five senses and which part of the body we use for each one - we talked about how we feel things with every part of our body, so our skin, but it's easiest to use our hands and fingers when we want to know what something feels like!

I wrote the word "texture" on the whiteboard as a new concept. Something's texture is just the way it feels... So we talked about some familiar objects and how the word they use to describe what it feels like is its texture, eg their skin is soft and smooth, a tree trunk is rough and bumpy... Then we quickly read through some of their younger sister's "That's Not My..." book series, emphasising the word "texture" for the material on each page. This was also useful in giving them some ideas for words for later on.

I then gave them a piece of coloured card each so they could draw around their hands to represent the sense of touch and then cut them out (fine motor skills and scissor practise). Our 2 year old joined in with this part too; obviously I had to help her with the drawing and cutting! One of the twins asked me to neaten up her cut out hands for her while the other was happy doing it herself. Then they stuck these down onto another piece of coloured card.

I'd already prepared a variety of materials from around the house (chosen to encourage them to use a wide range of vocabulary and so help their descriptive language) which they felt one by one before sticking down around the paper. We also used this opportunity to remind ourselves of the Arabic for "I can feel ..."

The materials I chose for them were:

1) a feather

2) cotton wool

3) a piece of shiny gift bag

4) a piece of foam

5) blu tac

6) a lolly stick

7) velcro hooks

8) glittery card

9) scrunched tin foil

10) pipe cleaner

Some things they stuck down with PVA glue, the others with sellotape - it was good to hear their reasoning for why it was easier to use sellotape for some items and why they could only use sellotape on the edges rather than simply on top (or they couldn't feel the texture!).

After a break, to let the glue dry, we got out one of the big whiteboards and brainstormed a list of vocabulary they could use to describe the textures on their paper, making sure they had at least one word for each thing. There's something about writing on a whiteboard kids find fun, mine being no exception, so doing this as a shared activity was really effective!

To finish off, the girls had to choose one word to describe each texture and write them down inside the fingers of their cut out hands - 10 textures, 10 fingers! They could use the whiteboard display for ideas and spelling help. 

Obviously the toddler didn't do this last part! But she really enjoyed the gluing activity and got to hear all the lovely vocabulary being used to copy whilst talking about what she'd made. 😁