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As part of our 'Seaside' topic this week we will be focusing on the story of 'The Train Ride' written by June Crebbin and illustrated by Stephen Lambert. 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, tell your child who the illustrator is. What does an illustrator do? 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=wOzEh-gmjuk&t=22s

Questions for parents/carers to ask about the story:
What animals did they see?
Where was the farm?
Why was there a ticket collector on the train?
Why was the tunnel scary?
Was there a mirror on the train? Why did the child think the window was like a mirror?
How were the geese moving?
Would you like to have a ride in a bit air balloon? Why? Why not?
What is a lighthouse? (A tower with a light to guide ships at sea.)
Why did they go to the seaside?
How did the grandma welcome the child?
What do you think they did after they met the grandma?
Would you like to go on a train ride? Why?/Why not?
Where would you go on the train? Why?

Key vocabulary: author, illustration, front cover, character, event, beginning, middle, end, setting, journey, meadow, ticket collector, foal, mare, tractor, tunnel, geese, strutting, hot air balloon, engine, lighthouse, station, grandma

Writing activity

In the story the people go on a train ride. You are going to write a story about a train ride. Building on the previous work you have done on story writing it's your turn to come up with your own ideas for a story. Each day write a section of the story as follows:

Day 1: Write an introduction to your story including the main character and getting on the train. It could start with 'Once upon a time' or 'One windy day' etc. Who is the main character? Can you describe them? Where do you get on the train? What is the train like?

Day 2: Add an event to your story. Will they meet someone? Will they see something out of the window?

Day 3: At this stage you could continue to describe what you see out of the window like in the story or add some conflict - will they face a problem on the train?

Day 4: End the story. Will the character overcome their problem/s if they had any? What place will they get off at? Try to make it different from the seaside. What will they do at the place? Will it be a happy or sad ending?

The above is just a guide to writing the story, as long as the story is set on a train and has a beginning, middle and end that makes sense, it can be written in any way you choose.

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.

Encourage your child to form letters correctly and write nearly remembering spaces between words.

Key vocabulary: letter, word, sentence, Fred Fingers, gap/space, full stop, describe, character, setting, place, event, conflict, problem, beginning, middle, end

Role play activity

Line up some chairs or cushions - feel free to make your train more interesting if you have other resources. With family or toys act out being on a train. Imagine the noises you can hear, what can you see you see out of the window? Is it a bumpy journey? What are you doing on the train? Where are you going? Maybe you could make some train tickets for the journey or dress up. What will you take on your train journey?

Melting experiment

The people were going on a train journey to the seaside. It's usually nice to go to the beach when the weather is hot. This experiment is about the effect the sun has on different materials.

Things you will need:
A muffin or cake tin with sections. If you don't have one small plates or dishes will do for each material.
Examples of materials could include: chocolate, ice, a crayon, a penny, Lego, a small chunk of cheese, a marble, cotton wool etc

What to do:
Place one of the materials in each section of the tray or on each plate. Let your child touch each of the materials encourage them to describe how it feels. Encourage vocabulary such as hard, soft, slippery, smooth, bumpy, squishy etc. Explain that you want to make the objects melt. What does that mean? (solid things turn into liquid). Where should you put the things so they will melt? Praise any good ideas and steer towards the idea of putting them in the sunshine. Why would this be a good place? With your child's help draw out a table like the one below.

	Prediction	What happened?
chocolate
Lego
marble
ice
cheese
crayon

Ask your child to predict whether each of the materials will melt by placing a tick or a cross in the prediction column next to each material. Also ask them why they think the material will/will not melt.

Together either find a sunny spot on a window sill or in the garden to place the objects. Encourage your child to keep checking on the materials and to describe what is happening. When you feel the experiment has run it's course update the table asking your child what happened to each object and writing it in. Why do you think that object did/ did not melt? Which material(s) melted the most? Which material melted first? Why? How does it feel now?

Key vocabulary: melt, solid, liquid, prediction, change, hard, soft, smooth, slippery, squishy, watery, drippy, heat, materials, describe

Memory game

Linked to this story you could play a memory game with your family: The first player will say for example "I went on a train ride and saw a sheep" the next player has to repeat the last players idea and add their own i.e. "I went on a train ride and saw a sheep and a lighthouse" The game continues like this with the next player remembering the previous players items and adding their own until someone forgets the list or an item.

Music and movement to the story

The story has a rhythm that sounds like train moving. Listen to this version of the story whilst tapping your knees with a steady beat:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jHbE8kaBDKU&t=24s

You are now going to act out the story using this version. You will need to come up with as many movements and actions to go with the story as you can. Examples of questions to ask: What does the sheep do? What could you do to show you are eating lunch? Can you come up with an action for 'What will I see?' How will you make yourself look like mare? What does a ticket collector do?

When you have practised your actions and remember them, act the story out whilst playing the above version of the story. If possible get an adult to video your performance. Did you like it? Why?/Why not? Is there anything you could do better?

Making your train

Design a train (with 2 or 3 carriages) that you would want to go on to visit someone special. Think about the shape of your train, length and size. Will your train have smoke coming out or will it be an electric train? Next, make your train using recycled materials such boxes, plastic pots & bottles, etc. Use glue or sticky tape to join it together. Then decorate your train. Possible questions to ask: What can you use to make your train? How will you decorate it? What colour(s) will the train be? How could you join the materials together? What else does a train have? What could you change to make it better? Who will you visit? Where will you go on your train?

Passengers on your train

Draw, paint, collage or even cut out pictures of your family & friends that will come with you on the train ride. Then stick the pictures on sides of the carriages. Now discuss with your family where you all would like to go and why. Possible questions to ask: What would you see? Who will you see? When will you start your journey - in the morning, afternoon or at night time? When will you arrive at your place? How long will you stay there? Who will you visit? What will you do when you get there?

Now think about what you might see out of the window of your train and draw, paint, collage or cut out pictures from magazines/travel brochures to create 2 or 3 different scenes.

Map of the ride

Create your own 3D map using objects around your home such as toys (cars, Lego, small bricks, animals); recycled materials made into things such as houses, shops, buildings, zoo, park; fabrics and furniture. Your map can be made in a bedroom, living room, on the floor or the garden. You can even use the pictures of scenes you made earlier. Then place a long piece of string or cut up strips of paper as train tracks around your map. Then use your train to visit the places you have made. If you did not make a train earlier, don't worry, you can make one up still or use a toy one.

Possible questions: Where will your journey start? Which place will you go to first, next, last? What objects will you go under, over, in between? Where will you stop to eat/rest? What will you buy in the shops?

Patterned trains

On a piece of paper draw 3 rows of trains with 10 carriages each. Then choose 2 or 3 colours to create a repeating pattern for e.g. red, blue, red, blue; or red, blue, yellow, red, blue, yellow; or green, yellow, yellow, green yellow, yellow. See document as an example.

Letter trains

On a piece of paper draw a train with 26 small carriages. Then write an alphabet letter in each carriage or you could choose to write names of your family members. See document as an example.

Number trains

On a piece of paper draw a train with 10 or 20 carriages. Then write the numbers 1-10 or

1-20 in each carriage. You can use this as a number line. See document as an example.

Train snacks

Use biscuits, fruit pieces and/or vegetable pieces to make a snack in the shape of a train for your family. You can even use slices of bread, cut out train shapes and make them into toast or sandwiches. See example below: