‘In the Desert’ – Foxes Home Learning Menu

Summer Term 2

Dear Parents,

We hope that you are all keeping well at home. Thank you for continuing to support your child with their home learning. It has been wonderful to see what you have been up to from those who have sent photos to the home learning email. We understand that this continues to be a challenging time but especially for those of you who continue to have navigate home-schooling and working from home. The feedback from the home learning grids has been very positive and so we have continued with this for Term 6. You will find the activities based on around the topic that your child would have been covering at school. Please note the daily tasks as it is very important that you child keeps up with their key skills in English and Maths where at all possible.

We are missing your children greatly. It is our wish to see them back in the classroom as soon as it is safe for them to do so. Please remember that As teachers we are very skilled at working from where children are, identifying and closing gaps and we will be focussing on this when we get back into the classrooms. You can help your child best by first of all ensuring that they stay happy and healthy. Secondly by keeping their key skills e.g reading, number facts and times tables ticking over by practising these regularly.

Home Learning Grid Reminders:

1. Each task is carefully chosen as a way of exploring/ expanding on their classroom experience. Children may want to take a photo of the activities they have done to share with their classmates. We have set up a new email address specifically for this. If your child would like to share their work with us then please email the following address homelearning@Stnicholas.wilts.sch.uk and it may just appear on the website. If you would like to share with us but DO NOT want it shared on the website you must make this clear in your email.

2. Your child should choose any activity they like, however they should complete at least one activity from the ‘I enjoy reading’ and ‘I enjoy working with numbers and being scientific’ row otherwise they have a free choice. By the end of the term they should have earned at least 50 points (there is nothing stopping you from doing more if you would like to.)

‘In the Desert’ – Foxes Home Learning Menu

Summer Term 2

Name………………………………………………………………

Daily Activities: In addition to the ‘point’ activities below, please ensure that your child enjoys some time on these daily reading, spelling, maths and physical activities.

Reading: Read as much as

you can – read aloud and

be read to or listen to

audio books!

Recommended books:

Desert Night, Desert Day,

Pugs of the Frozen North

and Holes by Louis Sachar

Reading: Keep reading the

reading word lists – ensure

you know the definitions of

the words on the list.

Spelling: Keep practising

small chunks of spellings

from your spelling lists. Try

and use some of the words

in the activities below.

Other spelling patterns to

practise are the suffix –ous

and words ending in -able

and –ible.

Maths: Play Professor

Assessor and/or Top Marks

Maths Games for 15

minutes each day and

complete either the White

Rose Home Learning

activities or BBC Bitesize

Maths daily lessons

Maths: Master your times

tables from 2 x up to 12 x.

Have a look at this link too

https://www.ncetm.org.uk/

resources/54454 for some

fun videos and resources.

PE: Walking, cycling,

scootering or even PE with

Joe.

Points 2 4 6 8 10

I enjoy reading, writing and

speaking (Must complete at least

one activity from this row)

Find out 10 facts about

deserts. List them in bullet

points.

Learn the spellings and

definitions of the following

words – arid, oasis, dune,

desert, biome,

precipitation.

Find out about a desert

animal. Create a fact file

about the animal.

Remember to think about

the features of a fact file.

Research Desert

formations. (sand dunes,

salt basins and rock pillars)

Create a leaflet about how

they are formed.

Research and find out

about desertification –

create a poster

campaigning against

desertification.

Look at the image of The

Sandman below. Here is a

story starter: Ordinary

people couldn't row a boat

through the desert. The

Sandman, however, was

not an ordinary person...

Finish the story – let your

creativity flow!

Can you include fronted

adverbials with a comma,

inverted commas,

paragraphs, apostrophes,

modal verbs and relative

clauses (Year 5 only)

I enjoy working with

numbers and being

scientific

(Must complete at least

one activity from this row)

Look at the climate data

on the page below for

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in

the Gobi desert – describe

the climate throughout the

year. Remember to give

minimum and maximum

numbers in your

description.

Find out the closest desert

to the UK. How far away is

it? Can you tell me in km

and miles?

Science - Explore plants

that are adapted to live in

the desert – draw a

diagram of one – labelling

it with its features of

adaptation.

Science – Did you know

Antarctica is also a desert?

Science is really significant

in Antarctica because

unlike most areas of the

world, it remains relatively

untouched and all

activities are carefully

controlled and monitored.

Visit the following website

to find out about

Antarctica and complete

the activities:

https://discoveringantarcti

ca.org.uk/how-is-

antarctica-

governed/geopolitics/scie

nce-of-antarctica/

Look at the information

below on the desert game

‘Dara’ Can you make your

own board and play this

game? Can you find any

strategies to help you to

win?

‘In the Desert’ – Foxes Home Learning Menu

Summer Term 2

I enjoy painting, drawing

and visualising

Draw or paint a picture of

an animal that lives in a

desert.

Draw or paint a world map

showing the location of the

world’s major deserts.

Or print a world map out

and colour in the desert

locations – remember to

use a key!

Draw a sketch of a cactus.

If you happen to have

access to a cactus you

could do a still life drawing.

Study some examples of

desert art. Look below for

some inspiration. Create

your own masterpiece.

Design a desert/dune

buggy. Look at vehicles

that are used to race in the

Dakar Rally for inspiration.

Can you also create one

out of Lego?

I enjoy being active and

doing hands-on activities

Use cardboard and cut out

some cactus templates.

Make slots in them and slot

them together. Use this you

tube video of Art Attack up

to 4mins to see an

example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSjblLw9ITc

Desert and dessert are

words that are often

confused. Look up their

definitions and then make

your own dessert!

Look up the Marathon des

Sables. A gruelling 6 day

run across the Sahara

Desert. How far can you

run in 6 days? Set yourself

a challenge? Can you

beat it?

Invent a dance that

represents a camel’s trek

across a desert – think slow,

lumbering, swaying

movements. Perform to

music of your choice.

Create your own desert

diorama – use a cardboard

box or a shoe box to

create it in

https://www.thesprucecraf

ts.com/desert-diorama-

craft-1253860 - here is an

example of how to do it –

see below for further ideas.

I enjoy making and

listening to music

Camels are known as Ships

of the Desert. Can you find

out why? Can you make

up a song or an acrostic

poem about camels and

perform it in front of your

family?

Listen to the sounds of the

deserts for 20 to 30 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCsAIG3hHfs

How does listening to this

make you feel?

Read this webpage:

https://www.geographyint

henews.org.uk/issues/issue-

24/desert-people/ks2/

If you had to create some

sound effects or music to

accompany a drama

showing people moving

across Antarctica what

would it sound like?

Would your music/sound

effects be different to what

you would create for

nomadic people travelling

across the Arabian desert

with their camels, goats

and sheep? If so, why?

Watch the following

episode of Deadly 60 set in

the Sonoran Desert in

Arizona

https://www.bbc.co.uk/ipl

ayer/episode/b00njdb0/de

adly-60-series-1-15-arizona

Listen to the music that

accompanies the

programme whilst you

learn about some of the

predators found in the

desert.

Why do you think certain

music is used at different

points during the

programme? What does it

do to the listener?

Cast your mind back a

thousand years ago and

imagine listening to the

strange and haunting

sounds of a didgeridoo

across the Australian

desert.

Are you able to make your

own didgeridoo and make

music with it?

Points 2 4 6 8 10

‘In the Desert’ – Foxes Home Learning Menu

Summer Term 2

Climate in the Gobi Desert

‘In the Desert’ – Foxes Home Learning Menu

Summer Term 2

The Sandman

Story starter! Ordinary people couldn't row a boat through the desert. The Sandman, however, was not an ordinary person...

‘In the Desert’ – Foxes Home Learning Menu

Summer Term 2

Desert Landscape Paintings

‘In the Desert’ – Foxes Home Learning Menu

Summer Term 2

Desert Dioramas Examples

‘In the Desert’ – Foxes Home Learning Menu

Summer Term 2

Desert Maths Game – Dara