Topic “Understanding of Language/Comprehension”  

Sheet of paper (A4 size or larger)

Pens/ pencils/ crayons etc.

1. Explain that it can be difficult to tell which is your left hand and which is your right, but that there are some things we can do to help us.

2. Encourage the child to put out their hands palms downwards, with the fingers together and the thumbs extended at right angles.

3. Encourage the child to look for a capital "L" formed by the index finger and thumb. This will be on the left hand. Explain that the one on the right is backwards.

4. Help the child to draw round each hand with their thumb extended, with both hands on the same piece of paper. Help the child to write the words "left" and "right" on the correct hand shape.

5. Help the child to write a large capital L shape on the left hand following the index finger and thumb. Use a contrasting colour to do this.

6. Ask the child to draw a pen or pencil beside the hand they write with. If the child is right handed, you can remind them that "your right hand is the hand you write with; your left hand is the one that is left". This does not work for left-handed children.

7. If possible, ask the child to identify something visual to help tell their left or right hand and draw it on their poster. This could be their watch or a freckle, for example.

Object with a distinctive look and feel (I use a painted wooden egg)

Blindfold (optional)

Classroom equipment:

Pencil,

Paper,

Etc.

Prompt cards with the key words (as indicated in the text of the activity) written on.

1. Working with a group of children, help the group to line up in order of height.

2. Ask one child to identify the tallest (or biggest) and shortest (or smallest) person. Help as necessary.

3. Give the tallest person a card that says "tallest", and give the shortest person a card that says "shortest".

4. Explain that 'taller' means "more tall". Find two children who have quite different heights. Say e.g. "Martin is taller than Fatima". Explain that 'shorter' means "more short". Say e.g. "Fatima is shorter than Martin"

5. Ask each child to identify one person who is taller and shorter than themselves.

6. You can repeat this activity comparing other features such as:

biggest/smallest shoes

longest/shortest hair

widest/narrowest hand span

heaviest/lightest person

person who can jump the longest/ shortest distance

person who lives nearest to/furthest from school

most/fewest brothers and sisters

most/fewest letters in the name

longest/shortest hair

oldest/youngest person

or anything else you think of!

Selection of pencils

Pictures showing people at different stages of life (e.g. baby, toddler, young child, older child, teenager, young adult, middle aged adult, old adult)

Pass the parcel consisting of the following:

A small prize in the centre (a bag of sweets/raisins etc. which the group can share is a good idea).

Several layers of paper, each one needs a sticky label with a description on it. Each description needs to contain a superlative e.g.:

the oldest person

the youngest person

the tallest person

the shortest person

the person with the biggest feet

the person with the smallest feet.

the person with the longest hair

the person with the shortest hair

the person who was born furthest away

the person who was born nearest

the person who lives furthest away

the person who lives nearest

the person who has the most brothers and sisters

the person who has the fewest brothers and sisters

the person who speaks the most different languages

the person who has had fewest turns at the game

anything else you can think of!

A blank timetable for a school day (or week)

Flashcards with lessons and other school day activities on them (e.g. assembly, playtime, literacy, history etc)

Pen and paper or whiteboard

1. Explain that you are going to give instructions and the children should take it in turns to listen to you and put the right things on the timetable.

2. Give an instruction, using 'before', 'after' and 'then'. E.g. 'Before lunch I have numeracy and then handwriting. After lunch I have ICT.'

3. Note down what you have said on paper or a whiteboard so that the children can check later.

4. Have the children take it in turns to put the things on the timetable in the order you have said.

5. Let them check it against your notes.

Imagination!

Pictures to colour

Pens

OR

Blank paper

Pens

OR

Sets of objects

Sets of pictures (one for each child) E.g. food pictures, clothes pictures, activities, or topic related words.

Pretend money in 1p coins

Objects to buy from a shop

Piggy bank, which you can open easily.

Soft toys

1. Start by making sure the child can count 10 coins accurately. Ask the child to post 5/6/ etc coins into a piggy bank.

2. Can the child choose one of your hands hidden behind your back with some coins in and count them correctly?

3. Can the child tell you to post coins? Will the child notice if you do it wrong?

4. Play games with giving soft toys pocket money e.g. teddy gets 3p and dolly gets 7p.

5. Play shopping games. Label objects and take turns to 'buy' from the shop. Children may want to play with items bought. This will help motivate them for the activity.

6. Take turns to be the shopkeeper and count the correct money has been given.

Draw pictures of 1p coins on a sheet of paper

2 Plastic pots

Up to 16 pens/coloured pencils

1. Put out 2 pots one in front of yourself and one in front of the child

2. Get child's attention and slowly count 3 pens into your pot. Say 'Your turn' to the child and, if necessary, help the child put 3 pens in his/her pot.

3. Reward with praise and/or a sticker.

4. Repeat the activity with different numbers of pens working up to 8 at the end.

Pile of Lego bricks

Peg board and pegs

Paper and pens

Lego bricks

Miniature plastic animals and play mobile people.

Two part story sequence pictures

Home made drawings

Play games in a small group lining up at the door or the window. Point out who is first. Change the order and ask 'Who is first now?'

At dinner time comment on what the child takes first. Say 'Look.......first you are eating..........'

Build Lego towers. Take a pile of Lego bricks and say 'What colour do you want first?'

Build a tower yourself and comment on your first colour.

Follow the same routine when choosing pens to do a colouring in picture.

Make a line of plastic animals or Playmobil People. Make sure they all point in the same direction and say 'Look.......... cat is first.' Can the child make a line and answer if you ask 'Who is first?'

Look at the time table for the school day and comment on what comes first.

Use 2 part sequencing stories and comment on what picture comes first. Ask the child to make a story and ask 'What is the first picture?'

Draw pictures of stick men walking in one direction -can the child draw a circle round the first man etc.

2 small containers

Sets of bricks, compare bears, pens, lego etc

Number lines 1 - 10 that you can write on.

1. Count say 4 items into a container and 4 into a similar container. Line them up, build them into towers , let the child discover that these are the same amount.

2. Tell the child "Put one more here." Go through the counting and comparing routine again and label the group with the extra item as "Look........one more here...this makes 5" etc.

3. Use two number lines. Match the number of items in each container with its position on the number lines. Say 'Look......here are 4 and here are 4.....they are the same. They are both 4."

Tell the child "Add one more to this container".

4. Compare the two containers with the two number lines. Say "Look............this is 4" and mark 4 on the number line, and "Look .......this is 5" and mark 5 on the other number line. Compare the number lines , point out that one number line has "more" than the other.

5. Go through this process with different numbers. You want the child to be able to associate the real objects with the more abstract concept of a number on the number line.

6. Extend the concept to everyday life e.g. does the child want one more spoon of yoghurt?, or one more colouring pen in his/her bag?

Materials as above

Miniature people

Groups of cars or trains

Books with pictures of lines of people or cars or trains e.g Richard Scarry's transport books.

Stickers

Blu Tack

Home made coloured dots (red and blue)

Miniature people

Groups of cars or trains

Books with pictures of lines of people or cars or trains e.g Richard Scarry's transport books.

Stickers

Blu Tack

Home made coloured dots (red and blue).

Books/pencils/cups etc to class mates.

Pile of items the teacher wants handed round to the class

Give the child a pile of books to hand out.

Does the child notice if there is one too many or one too few? Set it up so that there is one too many/few and comment. Say 'Look......too many/too few books/pens' etc.

Form boards

Paper with parking slots drawn on e.g.:

Various cars

Real party with small food items and a group of children.

Cups with straws

Pretend party with dolls and teddies and a tea set.

Building simple models

Lego bricks

Make a tower of 3 bricks and another identical one of 2 bricks. Hand the child the third brick needed for the smaller tower and help the child complete the tower.

Say 'Look...the same' and point to the 2 towers.

Compare the towers and count the bricks.

Increase the height of the towers and the number of the bricks the child has to add to make the towers the same. Make your tower and then say 'Look......make the same'.

Give lots of praise for making a tower the same.

Pegs and a peg board

Make a peg pattern e.g. red peg, blue peg, red peg.

Start the pattern off for the child. Say 'Look.........Make the same'. You may need to hand the child the pegs to complete the pattern to start with.

When the child makes the same pattern praise and say 'Look.......the same'

Allow the child to complete more and more of a pattern that you have made as they become familiar with the activity.

Praise for completion.

Care bears

Counters

Colours and paper.

Large laminated numbers 1/2/3 on card

Small laminated numbers 1/2/3 on card

Pieces of food/crisps/biscuits (or other motivating items)

Marbles and marble run game

Cars and garage ramp

Recording of the song;

(for example on youtube)

Water spray;

Picture of a log and a pond with Velcro attached to the log and three bits of Velcro in the pond;

Three Velcro frogs

1. Give the child one frog at a time to place on the log.

2. You count the frogs.

3. Start playing the recording and do the actions to the rhyme.

4. Let the child move the frogs from the log into the pond at the correct part of the song and reward with a spray from the water spray.

Recording of the song; Visual prompt card (grid 2x3 on A4 with prompts for clap, stamp, nod, say "Ha ha" and do all 4).

1. Play the recording and/or sing the song.

2. Encourage the child to do the actions with a physical prompt, verbal prompt, in imitation or spontaneously as necessary.

Chair;

Large thick cardboard covered in glittery paper;

Water spray;

Talcum powder.

Optional: symbols for more/finished.

You can find symbols in the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint.

Objects to represent number rhymes

Pictures for familiar rhymes

Laminated picture of a flying saucer and five men. Attach Velcro to the flying saucer and each of the five men.

"Calculation Lotto" resource.

Duplicate the resource if there are more than 2 players. Cut up the calculation cards.

Some children will need some visual prompts to help them remember what the mathematical vocabulary means.

1. Each child has a Lotto base board with the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division symbols.

2. Put the calculation cards face down in a pile.

3. Each player picks a calculation card from the pile and matches it to the appropriate symbol on their base board.

4. If a player can't use a calculation card because they have used up all their spaces then they return the card to a discard pile in the middle and miss their turn.

5. Other players can choose to take a card from the top of the face-down pile or from the pile of cards discarded by other players.

6. The winner is the player to cover their board first.

A sheet of paper or the child's writing book

A pen

A long piece of card (to write sentences on)

A large marker pen

Scissors

1. Explain that you are going to play some sentence games and need to begin by writing a sentence.

2. Start from the child's experience so that the writing will have meaning for them. For example: "Tell me what you did last night.", "Tell me about your friend."

3. If necessary, and appropriate, discuss how to add to (or enrich) the sentence with an "extra clause", or an "adverb", or "adjectives" (see the comments for an explanation).

4. Write the agreed sentence in the child's book or on paper (in preparation for writing it on the card), encouraging the pupil to remember the sentence as you write it slowly. Constantly read what you have written so far, asking s/he to repeat what it was you said.

5. Ask the child to read the sentence to you as you write it slowly on the long piece of card.

6. Ask the child to cut up the card into separate words.

7. Re-read the sentence together then muddle up the separate pieces of card.

8. Ask the child to re-make the sentence, encouraging re-reading.

9. Ask the child to close his/her eyes, take a word away, ask the child to deduce the missing word by re-reading.

Commercially produced sequencing cards e.g. Black Sheep press (see general resources), Colorcards - available from many educational suppliers.

First/last or first/next/last template.

1. Use the first/last template to model the sequence of first and last.

2. Start with 2 picture sequences of a simple event e.g. 'rain falling' 'girl puts up umbrella'.

3. Talk about the pictures. Ask the child 'What is happening in the first picture?' Discuss the consequences of the first picture (getting wet) and what the girl does (puts up the umbrella)

4. Put the two pictures into the template: one in the FIRST column and the other in the LAST column.

5. Do this with a range of 2 sequence picture stories.

6. Turn the cards face down and take turns to turn them over and put them in the right part of the FIRST/LAST template. Can the child tell the story?

7. When the child is confident using the FIRST LAST template to order 2 picture sequences move onto using 3 picture sequences and use the FIRST/NEXT/LAST template.

8. Follow the procedure for working with 2 picture sequences.

Clothes pegs

String for a washing line.

Sequence cards

Published cards of 3 step sequences (LDA or Colour Cards do some good ones).

Sequences of 3 pictures on paper (Black Sheep Press have a wide range)

Digital camera photos of the child or people he knows doing every day activities

Ready made picture sequence cards, for example 'And then' (published by Schubi), pictures taken from a storybook.

Sources of picture sequences:

From https://www.learningresources.com/:

Step 1

1. Start with three cards: the three cards can make up a whole story, or be part of a longer one;

2. Tell the story with the cards introducing each card one by one;

3. Get the child to have a go at retelling the story.

Step 2

Using the same cards, this time give the child the cards all mixed up - the child needs to put the cards back in the right order and tell the story.

Step 3

1. Using three cards which the child hasn't seen before, mix them up and give them to the child to try and work out the story;

2. When the child has put them in an order that he or she is happy with (not necessarily the right order) get him/her to tell you the story (see 'comments' column for ideas of what to do if the cards are in the wrong order)

Step 4

Continue with more cards from the same story if the whole sequence is more than three steps long.

Step 5

Try working with longer sequences.

Commercially available sequencing pictures

Photo-copied pictures from a favourite book

Photos from an outing

1. Give the child first 2 then 3 pictures to sequence appropriately. Share talking about the pictures first then see if the child can put them in order.
2. Ask the child about the first picture e.g. 'Look.... who is this' 'Look.... what's happening?' etc. Can the child answer? Give a prompt if needed.
3. Stick the pictures into a scrap book. Can the child show an adult or peer and comment on the pictures.