Additional Suggested School Closure work | St Joseph's CBS, Sunday's Gate

3^rd – 4^th class work:

Choose as many activities from the lists below as you like that you think are appropriate for your child. The activities are divided under the following headings:

Literacy
Maths
Physical activities
Other ideas

All activities are suitable for 3^rd to 4thclass children – Maths has been separated into 3^rd/4^th class level but your child can try questions from another level if they wish!

There are also links to lots of useful educational apps and websites on the school app if you wish to use them to supplement this material.

Literacy:

Write a chapter summary of a book that you are currently reading or a novel that you have read in school.
Make a comic strip of your favourite part of the book.
Design a new book cover for the book. Be creative!
What character would you like to be in the book? Why?
Write a detailed character description of one of the main characters.
Choose a chapter from your book and make a list of all of the adjectives and nouns that you can find.
Choose 5 new or interesting words from your book and use a dictionary/the internet to find and record their meaning.
Write a diary entry in role as a person from a time in History –it could be a Viking, a Roman, Christopher Columbus, a child during the Irish famine and so on. Use your imagination!
Write a story with the title ‘When my pet began to talk.’
Children should wear school uniforms to school. Do you agree? Why/Why not? Write a persuasive text with your arguments.
Write about what you would do if you were the President of Ireland for a day.
Make a list of as many verbs as you can think of – Challenge a family member to do the same and see who the winner is!
Write a spring acrostic poem.
Write a recount of your favourite memory.
Imagine that you are working for a magazine and you are about to get the opportunity to interview your favourite celebrity – Write about who it is and a list of questions that you would ask them.
If you could choose any superpower, what would it be? Why would you choose that particular superpower? If you had one day with that superpower, how would you spend it?
Read a book/short story to a younger sibling or family member.
Write a review of the last movie that you watched. Include information about the characters, the plot, the setting etc. Would you recommend this movie? Why/Why not?
Invent a new game and write about it. How does it work? What are the rules of this game? How many players can play this game? What equipment is needed? Etc.
Write instructions on how to make your favourite snack.
What do you think the world will be like in 100 years? Write about it.
If you had a time machine, what point in history would you travel to? Or would you like to time travel into the future? Explain your reasons for your answer.
Practice your cursive handwriting by writing out a verse from your favourite song/poem in cursive writing.
Write an alternative ending to a book that you have recently read. You could also write an alternative ending for a movie that you have recently watched.
Imagine that you are on holidays. Write a postcard to a friend telling them all about your trip so far.
Choose your favourite animal and write an explanation text all about this animal.
Imagine that you are a writer for a national newspaper and Ireland has just won the World Cup. Write a newspaper report telling people all about it.
Create a fictional story on any topic you like. Brainstorm some ideas before you begin. Think about your plot (beginning, middle, and end), characters, setting etc. How will you keep the reader interested?
Imagine that you are an inventor! You can make any machine or invention that you wish. What would you make? How would it work? Write all about your invention.
If you had 3 wishes, what would they be? Write a short paragraph on each of your wishes. (You cannot wish for more wishes!!)

Maths (Applicable to all class levels across 3^rd-4th):

Measure the length of 10 objects in your house. (You could use a ruler or a measuring tape).
If you have a measuring tape at home, you could record the height of everyone in your house. What is the combined height of everyone? Who is the shortest/tallest? What is the difference between the shortest and tallest height?
Go on a 2D and/or 3D shape hunt in your house/garden and record the shapes that you find. Record how many faces, edges etc. that these shapes have.
Practice your times tables – choose a number between 1 and 12 and write down all of its multiples. Challenge yourself by timing yourself and see if you can beat your time the next time(Use you Times Tables pack!)
Follow a recipe with a family member. Help them to weigh the ingredients that you need.
Think of a 2 digit number and write out all of the ways in which you can make that number. You could challenge yourself further by using a 3 or 4 digit number. E.g. the number 110 can be made using 60 + 50, 200 – 90, (50 x 2) + 10 and so on.
Choose any 3 or 4 digit number and answer the following questions based on that number – Is your number odd/even? Multiply the number by 6. Write the number in words. Add 165 to the number. Subtract 97 from the number. Underline the units in the number. You could make up your own questions and challenge a family member to do it too.
Write a timetable of your day. You could use analogue or digital time. You could include things such as what time you woke up at, what time you ate breakfast/lunch/dinner, when you played outside/did school work, what time you went to bed etc.
If you have weighing scales at home, you could choose 5 random items from your fridge/cupboard and estimate (guess) their weight. Make sure to record the actual weight of the object too and find the difference between your estimate and the actual answer.
If you have a measuring jug at home, you could also try this with liquids!
Look at the TV guide on your television. What time is the next programme due to start? How far away is that from the current time? How long will the next programme be on for?

Try some of the maths problems below. Use a sheet to do rough work and record your answers.

Challenge – Can you create your own word problems for yourself or a family member to complete? J

Maths problems – 3^rd/4^th class level:

Q1. Fill in the missing number in these patterns:

2, 4, __, __, 10.
12, 15, __, 21, __, 27.
33, 44, 55, 66, __, __, __.
100, 88, 76, 64, __, __, __.
200, ___, 500, 650, ___, ___.
914, 910, 906, 902, ___, ___, ___.

Q2. Lucy is going on holidays. Her luggage allowance is 19kg 500g. When she weighs her case, she finds that it weighs 21kg 760g. How much does she need to take out to reach the weight allowed?

Q3. I went to the shop with €20. I bought a magazine for €2.60, some sweets for €1.30 and a CD for €7.90. How much did I spend altogether? What change was I given? How much would I have spent if I did not buy the magazine?

Q4. Emma reads 7 pages of her book each night before bed. How many pages will she read in a) one full week? b) a fortnight? c) 3 days?

Q5. Room 19 took part in a survey on how they get to school. One quarter of the class are boys and the rest are girls.

a) If there are 5 boys in the class, how many are girls?
b) How many children are there in total in the class?
c) Half of the class said that they travel to school by car. How many children travel by car?
d) One fifth of the class walk to school. How many children walk to school?
e) If half of the class travel by car and one fifth walk to school, then how many children use other methods of travel to get to school?

Q6. Try these sums:

1,906 – 304 =
(2 x 6) + 23 =
206 + 94 + 7 =
3 x (4 + 5) =
2,432 + 62 + 100 =

Q7. Write these numbers in words:

3,003
654
93, 678
9,000
34, 021

Q8. Write these numbers in figures:

One hundred and sixty two
Nine thousand and four
Four thousand three hundred and nineteen
Six hundred and fifty nine
Twenty one thousand three hundred and sixteen

Q9. Put these numbers in order from the smallest to the biggest:

32.1 12.3 23.1 1.32 3,132 3,312

Q10. Write, in analogue time,

i) half an hour before and
ii) 20 minutes after these times:
Half past 3
Quarter past 4
10 past 9
5 to 6
5 past 11
12 o’ clock
20 to 8

Q11. Fill in the blanks so that the sum is correct;

200 – ____ = 109
6 x ___ = 42
20 + ____ + 12 = 50
93 – ___ = 60
4 x ___ = 28
15c + ____c = €1.25
15cm + _____cm = 1m
30 + (90 – ___) = 50
(12 x 8) – ___ = 84
(234 – 196) x 4 = ____

Q12. Fill in the blanks;

A ______ line goes from left to right.
A _______ line goes from top to bottom.
A ________ line goes from corner to corner.
An octagon has ___ sides and a hexagon has ___ sides.
A five sided, 2D shape is called a ________.
If Tuesday is the 30^th of March, Sunday will be the ____ of ______.
There are ______ml in 2 litres.

Maths problems – 4^th class level:

Q1. Try these long multiplication questions;

95 x 62 =
34 x 17 =
113 x 84 =
106 x 35 =
39 x 24 =

Q2. Write, in digital time, i) 40 minutes before and ii) 25 minutes after these times:

20 to 8
25 past 7
8 o’ clock
Half past 12
Quarter past 2
5 to 1
10 to 3

Physical activities:

Do 20 push ups.
Time how long you can do a plank for. Record your time and try to beat it!
Do 20 jumping jacks.
Choose a Go Noodle video to try – gonoodle.com
Play your favourite game outside with a family member.
Touch your elbows with your knees 20 times.
Do 10 leg raises (On each side!)
Go on a walk with a family member and note as many signs of spring as you can. You could also do a minibeast hunt whilst on your walk too!
Open up your hands and place them at your hips. Hit your hands with your knees for 1 minute. Can you try 2 minutes?
Try a ‘5 Minute Move’ workout with ‘The Body Coach’ (Joe Wicks) on YouTube.
Walk on the spot for 3 minutes. Then try to run on the spot for 3 minutes.
Make up a dance routine to your favourite song. (You could even perform it for your family when you’re finished!)
Create an obstacle course for yourself and/or a family member to complete. You could write a note for each station explaining what must be done there and for how long. Try to make a more difficult version of each activity too to challenge yourself/your family.
Try a ’10 @ 10’ video challenge on RTÉ Junior.
Practice some yoga/meditation. ‘Cosmic Kids Yoga’ on YouTube have great videos that you can use to help you.
If you have a skipping rope at home, try to skip continuously for 2 minutes without stopping.
If you have a hula hoop at home, try to keep the hula hoop spinning on your hips for 1 minute. Can you try 2 minutes? You could also try spinning it on your arm/foot!

Other ideas:

List as many Irish counties as you can. Use a reference book/the internet to find any that you were missing. Challenge yourself even more by seeing if you can divide up the counties into the 4 provinces – Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Ulster.
Think about some goals that you have for the rest of the year. Write about them and keep them somewhere safe to look back on later in the year!
Offer to help with cooking the dinner with a family member.
Do a project on someone or something that interests you – It can be anything you like! Be as creative as you can. Show your project to teacher when you are back in school!
Make a card for a neighbour or family member.
Draw a picture of a classroom or a house and write 5 sentences about your picture As Gaeilge.
Make some junk art using recyclable materials – egg cartons, cereal boxes etc. Use some sellotape or glue and get creative!
Play the game ‘Stop The Bus’ with a family member – Say the alphabet in your head. When the other person says stop, give them the letter that you were thinking of. You both must then think of a country, a food, a girl’s name, a boy’s name and a TV show/movie that starts with that letter. Give yourself one point for each one you managed to get. Continue on with another letter. The player with the most points at the end wins! You can also add more categories to make it even harder.
Help a family member to write a shopping list. Estimate how much each item will cost. You could even estimate the total cost of the list!
Gather 3 objects from around your house and draw a still life picture. Or you could sit in front of a mirror and draw a self – portrait!
Create your own word search for a family member to complete. You could write the words that you want to include horizontally, vertically or diagonally and then add random letters around these words. Make sure to write the words you want them to find at the bottom so that they can tick them off as they find them.
Create a list of 20 countries that you know and see if you can list their capital cities. Use a reference book/the internet to check how many you got right and correct any that you didn’t get. You could challenge yourself with even more countries or by doing this daily until you’ve learned them all off by heart!
Draw a body and label as many body parts as you can As Gaeilge.
Play a card game with a family member – Snap, Go Fish etc. Or you could even create your own card game!
Play Boggle – Choose any 10 letters and create as many words as you can from these letters. You can only use each letter once. You could play this with a family member also – give yourself one point for a one letter word, two for a two letter word and so on. The person with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.
Create a fact file on a European country of your choice (see Geography blog post). You could include information such as capital city, national flag, population, currency, language(s) spoken, landmarks, famous people from this country etc.
Write 5 sentences using 5 different Irish verbs, e.g. chuaigh mé, chuala sí…
Think about your local area. What is one thing that you like about it and what is one thing that you would change? How would you do this? Could your research your local TD and write an email/letter to them about it?
Make a time capsule. This is a very unique time in History! You could include information about yourself, what class you are currently in, who your teacher is, your friend’s names, your hobbies and so on. You could also write about what is going on in the world right now – It would be very interesting to read all about it in years to come!
Read, read, read! Reading is one of the best things that you can do to pass the time and it will help you with lots of other subjects in school. If you have books at home, make sure that you give yourself an opportunity to read them!
Make sure that you have lots of time outside too – playing in your garden, going for walks etc.
Keep a diary/record of all of the things that you have been doing whilst school is closed. You can share this with your teacher when you are back in school.