LANGUAGE
At Eastwards Consortium, our focus is primarily on educating and developing the next generation of our society. This section showcases off our ‘Wellcomm Primary’ activity set, and below you will find a set of tabs which depict these tasks further. If you find children are struggling with a task or, on the other hand, passing with flying colours, indications and suggestions are proposed in each section to ensure you keep all children challenged and on-task as much as possible.
To view the various parts of each activity, simply click on the respective tab and watch it magically appear!
SEQUENCES
MAIN ACTIVITY
1. Sing a song that has actions together. Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes works well.
2. Ask your child, ‘What are we doing first?’, ‘What shall we do next?’ and ‘What did we do last?’
3. While you are carrying out other activities during the day (e.g. running the bath), talk about what you will do first, next, after, later and last to help your child sequence the activity.
HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY MORE CHALLENGING?
– Describe a daily activity to your child, like getting ready for school. Make sure you describe it in four parts. For example: I got up, had a shower, got dressed and then went downstairs for breakfast. Ask the same questions: ‘What did I do first?’, ‘What did I do next?’ and ‘What did I do last?’
– Ask your child to describe a four step sequence of actions for a different activity using the time conjunctions first, next, after and last.
HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY EASIER?
– Use the pictures below of simple sequences and ask you child to order them. Ask the same questions: ‘What happened first?’, ‘What happened next?’ and ‘What happened last?’
– Concentrate on one time conjunction at a time e.g. first. Ask your child throughout the day questions linked to this concept. For example, ‘What shall we do first?/’Where shall we go first?/‘Who will be first to get ready?
VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS
MAIN ACTIVITY
1. For this activity you can use any cards with pictures (such as flashcards or from a memory game). Links are listed below if you wish to purchase some. Alternatively, you could use playing cards or cut pictures from magazines. You need at least 10 pictures/cards.
2. Lay out the cards and ask your child for six of the items. Say “Give me the ball, cat, cake, hat, bike and house. Say the whole sentence before your child starts to selecting the pictures.
HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY MORE CHALLENGING?
– Play a variation of the ‘In my bag I packed,’ game by adding two items at a time. For example, the first person says, “In my bag I packed a ball and a pen.” The second person then says, “In my bag I packed a ball, pen and a doll and teddy. Then the first person continues the list, “In my bag I packed a ball, pen, doll, teddy, a car and a Barbie. You continue taking turns until someone forgets an item!
HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY EASIER?
- Reduce the number of pictures.
- Reduce the number of items you ask for.
- Give clues such as the initial sound.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
MAIN ACTIVITY
- Use the following link and watch the first few minutes of ‘Peace At Last’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U9y35kWBvM
- Ask the child: ‘What is the problem in the story?’ Child should say that the problem is that Mr Bear cannot fall asleep.
- Ask the child to think of solutions for the problem.
- Watch the rest of the video and compare the child’s solutions to the actual solution in the story.
HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY MORE CHALLENGING?
- Ask the child to think of a variety of different solutions.
- Ask the child to think of how the problem could be avoided.
HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY EASIER?
- Talk about real problems and ask the child to think of solutions. For example, ‘If we ran out of milk for your cereal, what could you do?’
ANSWERING HIGHER LEVEL 'WHY' QUESTIONS
MAIN ACTIVITY
- Use the following link and watch the following video of Superman and The Flash about to have a race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9V3Pj47x4c
- Ask the child: ‘Why are they racing each other?’
- Support the child with answers if they required.
HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY MORE CHALLENGING?
- Ask the child ‘why’ questions regarding the topics that they are learning. For example, if the child is learning about Nelson Mandela: ‘Why was Nelson Mandela in prison?’ ‘Why did he want to end apartheid?’
HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY EASIER?
- Use cause and effect pictures to ask ‘why’ questions. For example, using the following picture:
- Ask the child, ‘why is the lady holding an umbrella?’ ‘Why does she look upset?’
TO CONSIDER WHAT A CHARACTER MIGHT BE THINKING
MAIN ACTIVITY
- Show the child the following picture:
- Ask the child: ‘What do you think Spiderman is saying to the woman?’
HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY MORE CHALLENGING?
- Ask the child to think of different suggestions that Spiderman would be saying to the woman.
HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY EASIER?
- Support the child with possible answers to the picture.
- Role play the picture with the child acting as Spiderman and you acting as the woman. This will support the child to think about what Spiderman would be saying to the woman.