The Happy Learner

50 things to do in the garden

Sophie — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 09:53:37 +0000

Yesterday we received a letter for Charlie and a letter for Isabel asking them to stay at home for the next twelve weeks as they are most at risk from the coronavirus. So I started to write down some ideas we could do in the garden to keep them entertained and I thought it would …

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School closures-What to do next?

Sophie — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 21:36:35 +0000

We are currently experiencing something completely unique and new to everyone it is hard to believe how much has happened in just a week. I know that schools closing has come as a surprise and shock to most people and this has lead to all sorts of questions about what to do next. So here …

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Counting 1:1 and early number recognition

Sophie — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 21:05:29 +0000

Charlie has started to notice numbers around him recently so I have been encouraging this interest to help support him to count 1:1 (saying a number for each object being counted) as well as recognising some numbers. He recently turned three and after all the birthday cards with the number 3 Charlie has started to …

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Christmas Fine Motor Skills Ideas

Sophie — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 22:14:53 +0000

I do love this time of year. The children are excited with the anticipation of Father Christmas visiting, the joy of watching the school nativity and lots of opportunities for arts and crafts and baking- what’s not to love? Well I am ignoring the stress of getting organised, making sure the right presents are bought, …

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Autumn and Halloween Learning Adventures

Sophie — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 21:18:50 +0000

It is that spooky time of year again and love it or hate it the children are certainly interested and want to get involved. We don’t do anything remotely scary as the children are very sensitive, but we do read our favourite books ‘Room on the Broom’ and ‘Pumpkin Soup’ and base activities around these. …

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Supporting children as they learn to write

Sophie — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 09:15:00 +0000

I have been chatting to a few mums lately whose children have recently started school. The same questions keep coming up “How do I support my child to hold a pencil properly?” “They get so frustrated because they can’t write the letters.” “They cross out their work or refuse to do it again because it …

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Spellings!

Sophie — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 21:09:30 +0000

It has been a while since I have blogged due to a very busy summer. Isabel finished her chemotherapy, which was very exciting. Nick has been busy training for the ‘Ride across Britain’ bike ride from Land’s end to John O’Groats, which he completed last week. A gruelling 980 mile ride in all weathers over …

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Why we love jigsaw puzzles!

Sophie — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 20:41:12 +0000

The humble jigsaw puzzle can be largely under rated but we absolutely love them in our house. As with all things the children go through phases with them, but I would say each child will complete at least one jigsaw puzzle a week. They help to develop such a wide range of skills and a …

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Phonics Through Play

Sophie — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 11:19:35 +0000

It has been a very busy few weeks leading up to the end of term so I haven’t had much time to blog. Luckily we have been playing lots of games at home so I have quite a lot to blog about. Something that has been brought to my attention a lot recently has been …

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Children Take Over The Weekly Shop!!!

Sophie Calienda — Mon, 06 May 2019 13:00:25 +0000

I have been thinking about letting the children take over the weekly shop for a while and during the Easter holidays a conversation started over breakfast about what they would like to eat, which turned into what they would put on their own shopping list. It started to develop into meal planning and so I …

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Easter Themed Finger Gym Activities

Sophie Calienda — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 19:22:35 +0000

Continuing with the Easter theme we have been enjoying some finger gym activities over the last couple of days. Building and strengthening the muscles in children’s fingers are essential for them to hold a pencil in the future, and for older children like Isabel it is important for them to keep exercising those muscles just …

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Easter Themed Maths Ideas

Sophie Calienda — Sun, 14 Apr 2019 20:23:36 +0000

With Easter approaching (and this year it seems to be taking forever) we have been taking advantage of all the Easter themed items available to develop our mathematical thinking. I read a quote yesterday which said that to learn something new it takes between 100-200 repetitions but when it is done through play it takes …

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5 Quick and Easy Role Play Ideas

Sophie Calienda — Fri, 05 Apr 2019 20:33:24 +0000

Role Play is one of our favourite things to do at home. We have spent hours and hours as different characters and in different scenarios and to be honest that ability to disappear into a different world has definitely helped Isabel through some lengthy hospital stays. Role play helps to support children to work through …

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Valentine’s day special – maths and sensory play

Sophie Calienda — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 21:45:09 +0000

Valentine’s day is arriving and there are hearts everywhere so I thought it would be a good way to incorporate some maths games and sensory play. We have had a lot of fun with these games and love is definitely in the air now! Sensory Tray Resources: Coloured rice, coloured oats, range of red items …

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Games for spellings and more phonics fun

Sophie Calienda — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 21:22:37 +0000

Since the last blog I have been working pretty much full time so it has been hard to fit in all the normal day to day bits as well blogging, but luckily things are now back to normal and back to part time work so I get more time to explore games and try them …

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Our Top 5 Accidentally Educational Fun Games!

Sophie Calienda — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 22:20:46 +0000

It is that funny week between Christmas and New Year when nobody has a clue what day it is. We have also been in semi hibernation because of a chicken pox outbreak (it is very dangerous for Isabel to catch while she is still on treatment) so there have been lots of opportunities to play …

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Christmas phonics games

Sophie Calienda — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 21:38:59 +0000

With Christmas rapidly approaching I thought I would share some of my favourite Christmas phonics games with you. These games help to practise either individual phonics sounds or CVC words. They can also be adapted if you have children working on different phonics phases. These ideas have all been tried and tested on either my …

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Initial sound phonics games

Sophie Calienda — Sun, 18 Nov 2018 22:13:09 +0000

It has been a little while since I last blogged, mainly due to me preparing for a phonics information session with parents at school. So I thought it would be good to share some of the games and activities on here. Most children will now have learnt most of the phase 2 sounds which is …

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Halloween Maths Games

Sophie Calienda — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 20:00:05 +0000

As it is nearly Halloween we have been enjoying lots of activities together this half term. Last year my Halloween blog focused on phonics and rhyming words and so this year I thought it would be good to have a maths focus. The following games are ones that we have had a lot of fun …

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Phonics Games

Sophie Calienda — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 20:22:54 +0000

The shops have stocked their shelves with Christmas produce and I have been inspired to create some phonics games using the chocolate coins. So here are a few games that can be used with your children whether they are just starting out on their phonics journey or they have been learning for a year or …

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Early counting, number recognition and number bonds to 10

Sophie Calienda — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 20:23:34 +0000

I wanted to write this blog last week, but with a hospital stay at the beginning of the week with Isabel, and then a hospital stay at the end of the week with Charlie it’s been a bit manic here. Luckily they are both doing well now, it’s just that horrible time of year and …

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First day at school is done – what next?

Sophie Calienda — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 20:59:46 +0000

I wrote a blog a few weeks ago outlining the ways you can help prepare your child for starting school. Hopefully now most children have had their first day and survived- phew! So how can we continue to support them as they navigate their way through the school day and come across situations that may …

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Problem Solving Maths Activities during the summer holidays

Sophie Calienda — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 20:49:07 +0000

We have been having a lot of fun over the last week, either staying at home or out and about. I wanted to put together some of the maths activities we have been doing that focus on problem solving. Isabel is really keen to count and is interested in numbers, but problem solving is a …

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Summer Holidays Reading- Fun reading activities to keep children interested and motivated to read

Sophie Calienda — Sun, 29 Jul 2018 20:50:45 +0000

This week we are focusing on reading. We have had lots of fun with books and some phonics games to keep Isabel interested in reading and also motivated to read. The summer holidays can be long and as children do not get any school reading books for the summer, it can be a long time …

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Summer holiday support – fun ideas for writing

Sophie Calienda — Sun, 22 Jul 2018 20:22:06 +0000

The long summer holidays are here and while the children are looking forward to their well deserved rest I know that many of us parents are wondering how we are going to fill all those days. As a teacher I know that the long summer holidays are needed for the children to rest and recuperate, …

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Learning the days of the week – Early foundations for telling the time

Sophie Calienda — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 19:45:05 +0000

The last couple of weeks have been all about the days of the week. It started with Megan randomly saying the day such as “is it Wednesday? Is it nursery day?” She then started singing a days of the week song which they had been learning at nursery. A few days later we went to …

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Starting School – Top tips for getting your child ready for their first day at school

Sophie Calienda — Sun, 24 Jun 2018 19:48:43 +0000

I decided to write this blog as there is very little information available to parents about starting school and the best ways to support them through this time. I am able to write from the viewpoint of a Reception teacher as well as a mum who went through the process last year. Isabel was starting …

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Recognising your name – great play ideas for pre-schoolers

Sophie Calienda — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 19:40:02 +0000

I haven’t written a blog for a little while, we have been struck down with a sickness bug that has slowly worked it’s way around us. Nick and Charlie seem to have escaped this round so hopefully we are all back to normal for now. Its always a bit worrying when we have an illness …

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The Royal Wedding! More Finger Gym and Emergent Writing

Sophie Calienda — Fri, 18 May 2018 11:32:50 +0000

The Royal Wedding is happening on 19th May and Isabel is very very excited about it (they have been learning about it in school.) We have been doing some activities in the lead up to it and I suspect her interest will go up even further once we have seen the wedding on Saturday. As …

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Finger Gym Activities – what are they and how do they work?

Sophie Calienda — Wed, 09 May 2018 20:07:36 +0000

I’ve decided to share finger gym activities today as they have been a big focus in our house for the last couple of weeks. Finger gym are games and activities that help children to develop their fine motor skills and exercises the muscles in the fingers and hands that are used when writing. The activities …

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Maths on the Beach!

Sophie Calienda — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 12:24:09 +0000

We are lucky enough to live very close to the beach and so when everyone is feeling well we like to go down and spend a couple of hours playing on the sand and with the stones. The game we played this week can easily be replicated with some pebbles or stones that you can …

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Alien words and slime!

Sophie Calienda — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 20:27:50 +0000

Isabel has been wanting to make slime for a while, but I haven’t been organised enough to buy the borax needed for normal slime. I found a recipe that used shampoo instead and so we gave it a go! The recipe we used was: Put 1/2 cup shampoo and 1/4 cup of cornstarch in a …

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Lots of learning with a cardboard box!!

Sophie Calienda — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 21:06:00 +0000

Today we were having a quiet inside day as we have had a busy couple of weeks and Isabel was not feeling 100% after a bad night. Normally a day at home can be really hard work but today was different because we had an empty cardboard box! Hooray!!! This box kept us entertained literally …

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Easter Phonics Ideas

Sophie Calienda — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 21:00:02 +0000

I am excited about this post as we have really enjoyed these activities in the lead up to Easter and I can see us continuing playing them long after Easter has finished. The games focus on identifying long vowel sounds and blending letter sounds to make a word. A friend recently asked me for ideas …

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Maths – Simple addition and subtraction

Sophie Calienda — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 21:08:01 +0000

All of my blog posts so far have been about phonics. This is mainly because there are not many parent friendly phonics sites around and it is the one question I get asked a lot from friends. However I know that Maths is an area that some children can find hard to understand and sometimes …

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The ‘reluctant’ reader and how to help.

Sophie Calienda — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 21:00:17 +0000

Learning to read is a complicated and long process. We have to understand that these black squiggles on paper actually mean something, and then when the black squiggles are put together in different ways they make words. When a child learns to read they have to first identify the letters, then blend them together, then …

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Top tips for learning ‘tricky’ words and keeping it fun!

Sophie Calienda — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 20:39:35 +0000

One area of phonics that the rules do not apply is ‘tricky’ words or ‘high frequency words’. We nickname them ‘tricky’ because they cannot be sounded out and just need to be learnt. Schools do this in a variety of different ways, a lot of the time your child will be given a set list …

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Phonics games using the ball pool

Sophie Calienda — Sun, 14 Jan 2018 21:19:53 +0000

All three of our children love playing with the ball pool, we play with it both inside and outside and all year round so I decided to make some phonics games using the ball pool or the balls from it. We have a ball pool that I bought from Morrisons in the sale last summer …

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Getting active with phonics!

Sophie Calienda — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 21:37:48 +0000

Learning phonics definitely does not have to be all about sitting down at a table with a pencil in hand, in fact I would say a large proportion of phonics learning can be done in an active way. In my experience more reluctant learners prefer active learning and will also be keen to join in …

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Getting started with Phonics

Sophie Calienda — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 21:17:18 +0000

I thought it would be a good idea to post a blog showing the variety of ways that you can expose your child to the world of phonics without actually sitting down and saying we are learning phonics. Learning letter sounds and eventually learning to read and write starts from very simple basics mainly being …

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Food Shopping

Sophie Calienda — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 21:23:35 +0000

I had to do the supermarket food shop with all the children on a Saturday morning. Whilst the children are generally good while shopping it still fills me with dread. It is one of those jobs that I want to get done as quickly as possible. I decided I would get the girls more involved …

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Halloween

Sophie Calienda — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 21:10:12 +0000

As it was Halloween yesterday I thought I would share some of the things we did together. Our girls are not into anything remotely scary so everything we did was very gentle. This was the first time we had done anything other than carve a pumpkin and the girls really enjoyed themselves. The first thing …

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