The end of the year is almost upon us once again and no doubt you are looking forward to spending time with family and friends over the holiday season.
Mrs Kingston and I would like to thank you all for your support throughout the year and especially those of you who have been able to come to our parent meetings and who are currently involved in planning the
Multicultural Day celebration that will be on Thursday 25 February, 2016. On that day, our parents plan to share activities from different cultures in the morning and have a multicultural assembly in the afternoon. On
Tuesday, 23 February, we intend having a multicultural shared luncheon in the classrooms, and the students will bring a small plate of food from their country to share. More details will be advertised in the new term. You might like to think about what clothing identifies you and your family and wear it on our special day - 25 February.
Often people ask me what they can do to help their children continue developing their language over the holidays. I have therefore compiled a list of activities you might want to share with your child. You will no doubt have lots of your own as well. These ideas were given out at our last parent meeting, but I know some of you were not able to be there and have asked for them to be published on our blog.
Some ideas for maintaining language over
the holidays
This is a very basic list and there will be
many other ideas that you will have. It
is really important that you continue to develop your child’s first language
too. As you know, if your child is strong
in their first language, they will be more likely to succeed with their
English. I am sure you will have ideas
of your own as well. You can always
change the games or activities to suit yourselves. Above all, have fun and enjoy the holidays.
Word games
- · I Spy
– objects or colours. Say: I spy with my
little eye, something (or a colour) in the room beginning with ………. (letter or
sound)
- ·
Last
Letter – take turns to say a word eg bag.
The next player thinks of a word that begins with ‘g’ (the last letter)
- ·
Mandy’s
Memory Game – Think of something that Mandy took on holiday eg ‘Mandy went
to the beach and she took an ‘apple’. The next person says, ‘Mandy went to the
beach and took an apple and a book.’
Continue through the alphabet or as far as you want to
- ·
Connect –
The first person says a word and the next person has 5 seconds to say a
word that connects it eg ‘star’, ‘moon’
- · Rhyme
Time – The first player says a word eg ‘cat’ and the others take turns to
say a word that rhymes
- · Five of a
Kind – The first player gives a theme eg ‘beach’ and then each player has
to give a word that goes with the theme eg ‘waves’, ‘sand’ etc
- · Alphatravel
– If you are in the car, you can try to find things that begin with each
letter of the alphabet eg ‘ambulance’, ‘bus’, ‘car’ etc
- ·
Who Am I?
– The first player chooses a character and others must ask questions that
have ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answers to find out who they are. You can use books or TV characters for
ideas. You can also call this game ’10 (or 20) Questions’. You could also call the game, ‘What Am I?’ and ask questions about
things
- ·
Number
Plate Game – If you are out in the car, each person could take a turn and
make up a phrase using the letters on a number plate eg AST – ‘a scary tiger’
- Other activities
- ·
Board
Games – eg Ludo, Snakes and Ladders
- ·
Card
Games – eg Snap, Fish
- ·
Puzzles,
crosswords, dot-to-dot activities
- ·
Photos
– Take photos and write stories to make into a book about your holidays
- ·
Cooking
– Share a recipe and make something eg sandwiches, drink
- ·
Visit the
Library – Let your children borrow books. Many libraries have holiday
programmes too
- ·
Shopping
– When you go to the supermarket, get your child to find something on the
shelves to put in the trolley
- · Make
something – provide card, scissors, tape etc, and let your child make
something and talk with you about what they have made
- ·
Visit the
Museum – there are always interesting displays and exhibitions to view
- · The
Antarctic Centre, Ferrymead, Orana Park, Willowbank – are all great places
to visit. You will be able to read signs
and talk about many different and interesting things
- · Read,
read, read – read a story, or a book, or a comic and then talk about it, the characters, what
happened etc
Always remember that the most valuable thing to spend on your children
is your TIME
At our last meeting of the term we were lucky to share hummus with our crackers and cheese that was prepared for us by Mr McAven (who runs the Garden Club and Garden to Table) and Amber, Guston and Micah. The beetroot hummus and the broad bean hummus were delicious!!
