Our Topics– Super Heroes and Mad about Mini Beasts!
This half term the children will be learning about the different aspects of being a real-life superhero! We will learn about the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. We will also explore how our bodies are just like a superhero. In our next half term, we will be exploring mini beasts. We will identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide what is needed to survive. We will also go on our own mini beast hunt!
Reception– We will deepen our understanding of numbers to 5 and introduce numbers to 10 exploring addition, subtraction, weight and capacity, sorting shapes and simple problem-solving activities. We will learn through many practical, fun activities and rhymes. We will be learning about the composition of each number to 10 so that your child can find all of the possible ways of making each number using addition and subtraction number bonds and can represent them using play toys and a variety of maths equipment. We delve very deeply into this to ensure your child knows each possible number bond for the numbers to 10. Please provide opportunities to practise your child’s early counting skills: counting up to 10 or 20 and back, using the language of ‘one more’, ‘one less’. This can be done through activities such as laying the table or counting how many grapes they have in their lunch box. Another area where you can help out is by playing games with your child such as cards, snakes and ladders, bingo or dominoes. In addition, you could help your child to notice shapes in the environment or find hidden numerals to order from smallest to biggest.
Y1/2– All of the above still apply to Y1 and 2 children but can be extended to numbers 20/100 and counting in 2’s, 3’s, 5’s and 10’s. In class we will be delving into numbers to ensure your child has a deep understanding of the bonds of numbers and their composition, how many tens and ones are in each. They will be challenged to solve problems and manipulate equipment to prove and explain their answers using mathematical language. Please help your child at home by providing practical situations where they can apply their learning to real life contexts, such as estimating how much three items at the shop would cost, asking your child to say the number one/ten more or less than a given number and frequently count forwards to 100 and backwards from 100.
Useful apps include: Glowburst, Numberrun, Addition & subtraction– daydream education and squeebles (all the squeebles apps are amazing). Useful websites include: www.primarygames.com/math.php, https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zjxhfg8, https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/homeTimeLadybirds/
We will be continuing to use Read Write Inc (RWI) to support your child in becoming an effective and confident reader and writer. RWI develops children’s knowledge of phonics (letter sounds) to enable them to decode different words they may come across. RWI ensures that the books which your child reads at home directly relate to the sounds (phonics) which they learn in class.
Your child will have RWI books in their book bag each week. Please ensure that the book is returned at the end of the week. This is vital as we will need the book for another child. There will be core books that the children will have read in class and book bag books which will be new to the children but should only have words and sounds that your child has read in class. The books will be changed at different times depending on the group your child is in so it is vital that book bags come into the school every day.
Some ideas to try:
- Begin reading the book together and discuss the story.
- Build up to your child recognising words and reading the book independently.
- Ask your child to find words on particular pages.
- Cover up the picture and ask children to read the sentence.
- Copy a sentence from the book on a piece of paper and cut it out, ask the child to then put the sentence back together.
- Ask children questions about the story e.g. who is the main character, what do you think will happen next, what was your favourite part of the story and why?
Useful apps include: Squeebles Spelling (great for inputting weekly spellings to learn), Look, Cover, Write Check and our favourite, Teach Your Monster to Read.
Useful websites include: www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/5-7-years/letters-and-sounds and www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/
PE will be on Mondays. Please send your child into school with their PE kit on.
Reception children will be focusing on developing good control, coordination and confidence in a range of small and large movements. We will be practising basic throwing, catching and kicking techniques.
Y1/ Y2 children will be working on ball skills, throwing, catching, kicking and playing a variety of games using these skills.
In Reception, we will be setting up lots of fun activities where children can explore early concepts of science, including animals and growing. We will be encouraging children to verbalise their thoughts and ask questions to further their understanding of a concept. You can help at home by talking through activities yourself and asking/encouraging questions.
Y1/Y2 Children will learn to identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other.
Useful website- www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/topic/science.shtml
We will be linking a lot of subjects into our topic including;
History Linking with our topic superheroes, this half term we will be learning about Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. We will learn how they changed the way hospitals work and who had the biggest impact.
Geography In our next half term our geography will link with our mini beasts unit, we will use simple fieldwork and observational skills to study the geography of our school and its grounds and physical features of its surrounding area.
Art We will be creating minibeast patterns! We will develop a wide range of art and design techniques using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space.
DT We will be designing, making and evaluating our own superhero cape. Children will learn how to sew and make their own capes.
ICT Children will use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs. During the next half term, they will use technology safely and respectfully, keeping personal information private; identify where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies.
Music In music we will be learning lots of songs about people who help us. We will be exploring sounds in our environment and sounds we can make using different materials around us. The children will learn about pitch in music as well as dynamics, and we will be listening to a variety of different classical and modern pieces, seeing how it makes us feel.
PSHE (Personal, Social, Health Education) During our PSHE lessons, we will be looking at how behaviour affects others and how we can be polite and kind. We have written our own class rules to support this in our classroom and will develop the skills we need to be a successful team. We will also be developing our understanding of the roles of different people and how to keep ourselves safe.
RE We will complete our two-part study of “who is a Muslim and how do they live?”. During our next half term, we will be learning about why does Easter matter to Christians?