Dear Parents,
Welcome to the Spring Term. The adults who will be working with your child are Mrs Rowley, Mrs Purdue and Mr Brailsford.
We will regularly keep you updated on their progress but if you have any problems or concerns please do not hesitate to let us know.
This term we will be focussing on Traditional Tales Spring and Growth.
Listening, Attention and Understanding
Speaking
-
Develop listening skills.
-
Contribute to classroom rules and routines.
-
Follow basic instructions, including the rules and routines.
-
Begin to focus attention, maintain concentration and participate in discussions.
-
Speak confidently and in sentences during independent play.
Comprehension
Children to take home a library book to share with their adults. Demonstrate an understanding of what has been read to them.
Encourage children to retell stories and predict what might happen next.
Anticipate key events in stories.
Use recently introduced vocabulary during discussions about stories.
Word Reading
Teach phonics using the Monster Phonics programme.
Encouraging children to read independently.
A reading book will also be sent home.
Say a sound for each letter of the alphabet.
Guided reading groups three times a week.
Writing:
Develop fine motor skills – jigsaws, threading beads etc.
During structured play children will have free access to a wide variety of writing tools and materials.
Forming letters correctly.
Daily shared writing.
Encourage all children to give meanings to marks they make as they draw, write and paint.
Be able to say the sounds in a word like ‘bag’ and know which letters match the sounds.
Write useful words like ‘the’ and ‘was’.
Write short sentences.
White Rose Maths
Alive in five!
Introducing zero
Comparing numbers to 5
Composition of 4 and 5
Compare mass
Compare capacity
Growing 6,7 and 8
Combining 2 amounts
Making pairs
Building 9 and 10
Counting to 9 and 10
Comparing numbers to 10
Bonds to 10
Numerical Patterns
Length and height
Time
3D shapes
Spatial awareness
Patterns
Topic theme: People of Prayer.
This unit explores the Epiphany of the Lord (The visit of the Wise Men, Matthew 21-12) and the Escape to Egypt before moving to teach about the Beatitudes and the Lord’s Prayer. Scripture passages are all taken from the Gospel of Matthew.
-
Come to know Jesus is God the Father’s Son
-
Experience that a church is a special place where God’s People gather to pray
-
Experience and recognise prayer is talking and listening to God
-
Experience praying with others as a celebration
-
Be able to join in simple prayers and hymns
-
Ways in which a Christian family and parish share and celebrate life, and show care for one another
Topic theme: Lent to Easter.
This unit explores the season of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, before moving to Matthews’ account of the passion of Jesus. The framework concludes with study of the special actions of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday and Good Friday liturgies.
-
Coming to know Jesus is God the Father’s Son
-
Hearing the story of Easter
-
Experiencing and becoming familiar with the sign of the cross
-
Experiencing that a church is a special place where God’s People gather to pray
-
Experiencing and recognising prayer is talking and listening to God
-
Experiencing praying with others as a celebration
-
Joining in simple prayers and hymns
-
Exploring ways in which a Christian family and parish share and celebrate life, and show care for one another
Creating with Materials
Create simple representatives of people and objects.
Choose particular colours to use for a purpose.
Construct with a purpose in mind, using a variety of resources.
Introduces a story line or narrative into their play.
Being Imaginative and Expressive
Use puppets/ props to retell stories.
Sing songs based on traditional tales.
Gross Motor Skills
The children will have the opportunity to explore and have a go at:
Outdoor games.
Ball games.
Finding space
Using control
The children can solve problems for example;
How could we cross the …?
Children partake in PE sessions with Non-Stop action coaches.
Fine Motor Skills
Hold pencil effectively.
Use a range of small tools including scissors.
Show accuracy when drawing.
Past and Present
Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered through books read in class.
Explore castles and towers. How does living in a castle compare to where you live?
People, Culture and Communities:
Describe the immediate environment. Go on a walk along Durant’s Road.
The Natural World:
Observing changes that occur during the season of Spring
Talk about weather patterns for Spring.
Planting beans. Observing any changes.
What does a plant need to grow?
Self-Regulation.
Managing Self
Building Relationships
Can play in a group, extending and elaborating play ideas, e.g. building up a role-play activity with other children.
Initiates play, offering cues to peers to join them.
Keeps play going by responding to what others are saying or doing.
Demonstrates friendly behaviour, initiating conversations and forming good relationships with peers and familiar adults.
Can select and use activities and resources with help.
Welcomes and values praise for what they have done.
Enjoys responsibility of carrying out small tasks.
Is more outgoing towards unfamiliar people and more confident in new social situations.
Confident to talk to other children when playing, and will communicate freely about own home and community.
Shows confidence in asking adults for help.
Aware of own feelings, and knows that some actions and words can hurt others’ feelings.
Begins to accept the needs of others and can take turns and share resources, sometimes with support from others.
Can usually tolerate delay when needs are not immediately met, and understands wishes may not always be met.
Can usually adapt behaviour to different events, social situations and changes in routine.
Edward De Bono
We continue to use Edward De Bono's six thinking hats to help us to organise our thinking and process or ideas. There are 6 hats and each has a different colour and so a different use or meaning. When children answer questions in class, each question will have a different colour hat attached to it. The diagram below shows you in better detail how we use them. Ask your children what hats they have used in their learning today!
Habits of Mind
The Habits of Mind are a collection of 16 thinking dispositions designed to help children develop their critical and creative thinking skills. Every week children are taught to use a different ‘habit of mind’ to help with their thinking and apply this to their work.
Visual Maps
The children are now using visual tools in all areas of their learning. These tools help the children map out their ideas and organize their thinking.
