Topic

As part of our 'Under the sea' topic this week we will be focusing on the story of The Rainbow Fish' by Marcus Pfister. Parents/carers I have highlighted the key vocabulary in purple that you should encourage your child to use and have put questions you should ask them in bold.

Before starting the video/opening the book look at the front cover, here is picture of it below:

Point out the author, who is the author? What does an author do? Look at the illustration, what can you see on the front cover? What do you think the story is about? What do you think will happen?

Here is a link to the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feytIwOzgns&t=12s

Questions for parents/carers to ask about the story:

Where is the story set? How do you know?

Who was the most beautiful fish in the ocean?

What did Rainbow Fish's scales look like?

What did the Rainbow Fish do at the beginning of the story when the other fish asked him to play?

How do you think the other fish felt when Rainbow Fish wouldn’t play with them?

Which character asked the Rainbow Fish for a shiny scale?

How did the Rainbow Fish feel when the blue fish asked him for a scale?

Why do you think the little blue fish wanted one of Rainbow Fish’s special scales?

What did the other fish do when the Rainbow Fish upset the blue fish?

Who did Rainbow Fish go to see for help? Where did the character live?

How did the other fish feel when Rainbow Fish shared his scales with them?

Why was it a happy ending?

If you were the Rainbow Fish would you give your shiny scales away? Why?/Why not?

What could you share with your family and friends?

Key vocabulary: author, illustration, front cover, character, event, beginning, middle, end, setting, scale, shiny, ocean, sparkling, amazed, glide, proud, shimmer, shocked, upset, dazzling, lonely, delighted, surrounded, prized possession

Writing

At the end of the story the Rainbow Fish is a good friend to the other fish because he shares with them. This week you are going to write about one of your school friends.

Day 1: Choose a friend from school and draw a picture of them. If possible use colours. Parents support them to draw as accurately as possible including all facial features.

Day 2: You are going to start by writing about what they look like, you can use the picture you've drawn to help. What colour eyes do they have? Do they have long or short hair? Etc. Encourage your child to use descriptive language in their writing if possible. I.e. Rather than writing 'She has long hair'  maybe they could add more description such as 'She has long, blonde, straight hair that she wears in a ponytail.' If they are able.

Day 3: What games and activities do you enjoy doing with them? Describe the game and where you play it. You might want to recall something that happened when you played that game with your friend or why you like playing that game with your friend. Don't forget to use descriptive language where possible.

Day 4: Explain why the person you have chosen is your friend. Why do you think they are a good friend? What nice things do they do? What do you like about them? Maybe they share like the Rainbow Fish did. What do they share with you?

Day 5: It's been a while since you have seen your friend. Write about what do you miss about your friend? What do you hope to do with your friend when social distancing is over?

Depending on how challenging your child finds it to write choose whether they write one simple sentence each day, write a longer sentence (use 'and') or write more than one sentence. You can find more information about how to help you child with writing by referring to the 'How to write a sentence' information sheet in your "Home Learning" envelope.

Key vocabulary: letter, word, sentence, Fred Fingers, gap/space, full stop, describe, re-read, rehearse sentence, hair, eyes, face, long, short, curly, straight, game, friend

Rainbow experiment

Let's make our own rainbows!

What you'll need:

A glass of water (about three quarters full)

White paper

A sunny day

Instructions:

Take the glass of water and paper to a part of the room with sunlight (near a window is good).

Carefully hold the glass of water above the paper and watch as sunlight passes through the glass of water, refracts (bends) and forms a rainbow of colours on your sheet of paper.

Try holding the glass of water at different heights and angles to see if it has a different effect.

What can you see on the paper? How do you think the rainbow was made? Did the rainbow change when you moved the glass? How?

What happened (parents explain this part to your child):

While you normally see a rainbow as an arc of colour in the sky, they can also form in other places. You may have seen a rainbow in pictures of  water fountains or in the mist of a waterfall. Rainbows form in the sky when sunlight refracts (bends) as it passes through raindrops, it acts in the same way when it passes through your glass of water. The sunlight bends, separating it into the colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Try to take a photograph if possible.

Key vocabulary: rainbow, colours, refract, bend, sunlight, arc, separate, height

Prized possession

The Rainbow Fish gives away his most prized possessions. A prized possession is something that belongs to you that you think is really special and you want to keep safe. What is your most prized possession? Why is it important to you?

Draw a picture of your prized possession.

Label it's features and write a sentence or more about why it is special to you.

Key vocabulary: prized possession, important, special, belong, label, features, letter, word, sentence, Fred Fingers, gap/space, full stop, describe, re-read, rehearse sentence

Making a rainbow

Draw an outline of a rainbow on paper as big as you can. Using Lego, different coloured bricks, materials or a combination of coloured objects etc cover the rainbow with the objects sorting them according to colour and arranging the shapes so that they fit in the outline of the rainbow. Which colour are you going to do next? What object will fit there? Why? What size object are you going to put there? Can you see any patterns?

Things to encourage:

Remembering the colours of the rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Talking about the sizes and shapes of the objects used.

Directions - right, left, on top, around, etc. are all vocabulary words that should be encouraged during this activity.

Patterns - discuss any patterns that are made with the objects perhaps relating to the size or shape of the object or anything else your child notices.

Don't forget to take a photograph to share with us.

Key vocabulary: right, left, on top, around, big, small, tiny, little, huge, enormous, rainbow, sort, pattern, arrange, outline, shape, size

Song to learn

In connection with our story 'The Rainbow Fish' learn the Makaton signs to go with the song 'I can sing a rainbow '. Here they are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zS4RzyKrDU

This video teaches you how to do the Makaton signs for the lyrics of the song, in this version the line repeats " Listen with your eyes"  rather than continuing "Listen with your ears", just encourage your child to cup their ear if you use this lyric. Don't forget to explain that the colours in the song aren't quite accurate (it should be indigo and violet not pink and a purple).

Here is another video that your child might find it easier to sing along with whilst signing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g0NbaukkQc

Ask a parent or career to video you singing and signing. What was good about your video? Did you remember all the signs? What is the sign for red?

Hanging Rainbow Fish

The Rainbow Fish is the main character in the story and you could make one that can be used to retell the story with your family members. You can also use it to hang in your home afterwards. Use a paper plate, an old CD/DVD disc or a circle shaped card for the body then add the fins, scales and eyes using collage materials such as tissue paper, paper, magazine/catalogue pages, beads, glitter, feathers, lolly or matchsticks, pieces of foil and/or sweet wrappers. Then make a small hole at the top of the body and tie a string through it. You can also use ribbon, shoelace, pipe cleaner or a piece of fabric. Now you are ready to hang your Rainbow Fish!

Possible questions you could ask your child:

What will you use to decorate your fish? How many colours will you use? Will your fish have some shiny fins? If so, what can you use for this? How big will your fish be? Can you remember the name of the main character in the story?

Being a good friend

The Rainbow Fish was not a good friend to the small blue fish. He was rude and unkind. What can he do to be a good friend with the other fishes? Think of 4-5 words that describes how to be a good friend. Then draw some sea creatures under the sea and write friendship words in each one. You can then colour them in. If you are not sure on what words to use, think about how you are a good friend. What do you do to be a good friend? Here are some words to get you started: Kind, caring, helpful, good manners, shares, smiles, listens.

Here are some ideas on how you can draw your pictures:   

'What's the time Mr Shark?'

Rainbow Fish has made many new friends by sharing, being kind and caring, so he has decided to play a game with them. This game is similar to 'What's the time Mr Wolf?' game. The whole family can play this together - indoors and outdoors. You start by deciding which sea creature you want to be, it can be from the story or your own choice. One person has to be a shark. (An adult can have the first turn to show how to play.) The shark can be called Mr Shark or the correct shark name (such as the Great white shark, Tiger shark, Blue shark, Hammerhead shark). The shark stands at one end of the room, turns away and the rest of the group stand at the other end of the room. The group then asks "What's the time Mr Shark/Great white shark/etc?" The shark turns around and says a time between 1-12 o'clock e.g. 4 o'clock. The group would then take that 4 steps forwards. This continues until the group is close to the shark. When they ask the question again, the shark says "It's dinner time!' and tries to catch someone before they all run back to the other end of the room. When this game is played, you can dress up in costumes, use props and move like your chosen sea creatures. 

Carnival of the animals - The Aquarium by Saint-saëns

Play the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyFpZ5MZ7kk

Watch the fishes swim around. How does the music make you feel? Do you want to sway your body side to side or swim around? Play the music again and imagine you are one of those sea creatures. Now move around. How does it feel to move in the water? What parts of your body is used to move through the water? How does the water feel? Warm, hot or cold? Can you make yourself into starfish? What body parts are you using for this? How does the starfish move? Now be an octopus. How do you think the octopus moves? Does it move quickly or slowly? Why? Then become the little blue fish by using your hands as little fins and open and close your mouth. For these dances, you can also use props such as stuffed old tights or socks for the octopus, gloves or mittens for fins, cone shaped paper or hats for the starfish.