Junior Blog – 24th August 2020

Welcome to the Katie Jayne Tutors Junior Blog Issue Number 14.

We know that you will all want to pack as much into your last few weeks of the summer holiday as you can, so we have packed in a number of great activities that you can take part in before you get back to the school routine. If you give them a go please send us some photographs. We love to see what you have been getting up to.

Join us in the world of Harry Potter and find out which family you would belong to: the Potter’s, Granger’s, Weasley’s or the Malfoyd’s. Take a look at our football section to learn new warm up exercises ready for the next school football season.

We hope you find this week’s blog interesting. Enjoy your last few weeks of the summer holiday.

Sam

Harry Potter Madness

We have all loved the exciting adventures of Harry, Hermione and Ron. Celebrities such as David Beckham, Daniel Radcliffe, Stephen Fry and Eddie Redmayne, to name a few, have taken turns to record 17 chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on video for all to watch. So if you are new to Harry Potter or you want to relive the magic of the first book in the series, why not jump onto Spotify or harrypotterathome.com where you can find the chapters free of charge.

Try taking this quiz to find out if you belong to the Potter family, the Granger’s or the Weasley’s or the Malfoy’s. It turns out I find my feet firmly in the Potter family- which I am secretly quite pleased about.

Or how about attending classes at Hogwarts? Try creating spells and learning wizardry with the Harry Potter Minecraft platform.

Definitely one for all the family.

Love Football?

Many of you budding football fans will probably have heard of Mason Greenwood. He is one of the UK’s youngest rising stars in the world of football. Currently playing for Manchester United and scoring roughly 16 goals this season, he is rated as one of the players to watch. Coming from Bradford, Greenwood always loved football, playing from the age of six years old.

Want to get fighting fit for the new football season at school? Then take a look at this Chelsea video with Katie Chapman, former women’s captain and club ambassador and Magda Eriksson. Or take a look at the FIFA recommended warm up exercises to make sure you avoid unnecessary football injuries on the pitch.

Katie Jayne’s Book Club

Aged 5-6

Have fun reading ‘Dragon Bay’ by Ruth Miskin. Use the colour coded stars to work out how well you are reading as you go along.

Aged 7-9

‘Cornflake Coin’ by Jonny Zucker follows Matt and Kerry on their adventure looking for treasure. After reading the book think about what other treasure you might find in the ground next to the coins and talk about what items you have at home that are really old.

Aged 9-11

Jack and Harry have need to take shelter during an ‘Air Raid’ in this fun packed book written by Jean May.

Katie Jayne’s Interesting Fact

Did you know that there are approximately 44 different phonic sounds that help you learn to read?

Thought for the Week

Why not work through this phonic sheet before you go back to school. Reading may become a little easier and it will also help with your spelling.

Cook’s Corner

Veggie & Meat Spaghetti

Ingredients

300g good quality pork sausage (about 4 large or 8 chipolatas)
500g lean beef mince
1 small onion , coarsely grated
1 carrot , finely grated
1 tbsp dried oregano
50g parmesan , finely grated, plus extra to serve
1 medium egg
1 tbsp olive oil

For the tomato sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

1 courgette , coarsely grated

3 garlic cloves , finely grated

1 tbsp tomato purée

pinch caster sugar

splash red wine vinegar

tins chopped tomato

To serve

cooked spaghetti

Method

Squeeze all the sausage meat out of the sausage skins into a large bowl and add the mince. Tip all the rest of the meatball ingredients, except the olive oil, into the bowl and season with black pepper then squish everything together through your hands until completely mixed.

Roll the meatball mix into walnut-sized balls and place them on a plate – a great job to help you to learn basic division.

After rolling the meatballs make the sauce. You may need an adult to help with the hot pan. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the courgette and garlic and cook for 5 mins until soft and mushy. Stir in the tomato puree, sugar and vinegar leave for 1 min then tip in the tomatoes and simmer for 5 mins. If you don’t like courgettes then blitz the sauce with a hand blender – either way continue to simmer sauce gently while you cook the meatballs.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and, working in batches, brown the meatballs on all sides then pop them into the sauce – continue to simmer the sauce for 15 mins, stirring very gently until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve with cooked spaghetti, extra grated Parmesan and a few torn basil leaves.

Yum!

Walk On The Wild Side

We love our wellies and there is no better time to dust them off and take them down to the river. We had so much fun on our river walk! The relaxing sound of the water as it bubbled past our feet and the sight of the butterflies as they bobbed past us fluttering on their merry way.

What do you need?

Grab a pair of wellies, a pac a mac, a fishing net, a bucket, a picnic, something to sit on and a towel to dry your feet just in case you decide to paddle.

Find a local river or maybe ask your parents or grandparents to drive you all out to a favourite spot. Park up and pitch yourselves in a safe place on the rivers edge. Enjoy a walk along the river and throw in some wet river fun by seeing what you can catch, play poo sticks (if you find a bridge) and see how many different insects, fish and animals you can find down by the water’s edge.

Depending on where you live in the country you may come across some of these in their natural habitat: carp, roach, minnow, eels and brown trout or some furry friends that can be found are otters, dormice, badgers, polecats, water voles, stoats and mink.

Be sure to treat nature well so that it can flourish and others can enjoy seeing it too. So if you do catch a fish, don’t keep it in your bucket for long as it will miss its natural habitat. Remember to be sure to take all of your rubbish home with you to keep the river ways clean.

Educational Activities

Spelling for 5+

To help with spelling and creating words you could try a game of scrabble everyday with a member of your family, having fun and learning at the same time!

Dexterity & Imagination 5-8 year olds

If you have some Lego bricks, try building an imaginary tower. Once you have built your tower, make up a story about the tower and tell it to your family.

Poetry

Write a poem inspired by Friendship. Use this downloadable printed sheet to help you.

Fractions with Food

Make learning fractions fun with this printable help sheet.