For our final half-term together, we will be having lots of fun learning in the sunshine and outdoors.  Our learning will be based around mini-beasts, lifecycles, summer and the story Princess and the Pea.

Communication and Language 

The children will be able to watch the caterpillars growing and changing and discuss what they notice. In ordered to do this, they will learn lots of new vocabulary linked to insects and other creatures. With the story of The Princess and the Pea, the children will retell the story and act out the story in our outdoor theatre.

Vocabulary: centipede, millipede, woodlouse, chrysalis, cocoon, metamorphosis, colony, hibernate, thorax, antennae.  

Literacy

This  half-term our focus book will be The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen.  The children will learn this story using actions and the story map.  At the end, they will write their own little Fairy tale story. We will read lots of other prince and princess stories and compare them.

We will continue with our Read Write Inc sessions for phonics based reading.

In our writing areas, the children will have word mats with vocabulary linked to Fairy Tales. They will write invitations to Kings and Queens in other kingdoms. Linked to mini-beasts, the children will create lift the flap information about different features of different creatures.

Vocabulary: king, queen, prince, princess, royalty, castle, tower, turrets, celebration, thunder, fairy tale, imaginary, long, long ago.

Physical Development

In our PE sessions, we will practising ball skills.  Throwing and catching on our own, with a partner and then in groups.  We will throw balls at targets and through hoops. With footballs, the children will practise dribbling in and out of cones.  As the children practise these skills, they will add these into sports. We will play: basketball in the mugger, football and dribble the ball and then shoot into the goal. We will be outside each week on the field or the playground.

In our playtimes, we will continue to go out on the hill.  The children will have access to tyres this half-term, to build up their arm strength to roll and carry them.

Vocabulary: throw, catch, kick, goal, target, aim, shoot, dribble, pass.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

In our circle times this half-term, we will look at ‘My Wellbeing’.  Although this is something we have discussed all year, it will be nice to recap on all of these points in a focused session. 

We will be looking at: what is exercise, yoga relaxation, being a safe pedestrian, eating healthily and a rainbow of food.

Vocabulary: fit, healthy, exercise, pulse, heart rate, calm, peace, variety, balance, unhealthy. 

Mathematics

The children will continue to practise to consolidate the key skills. There will be lots of opportunities to count and quickly recognise small amounts by subitising.

We will continue to encourage the children to notice similarities and differences as they match and sort objects in new contexts. They will look at the composition of amounts and continue to develop the children’s understanding that all quantities are composed of smaller quantities. We will build in regular opportunities for the children to continue comparing and ordering quantities and measures. Prompt them to notice which set has more, which has fewer and when 2 sets have the same amount. There will be regular opportunities for the children to practise and consolidate counting on and back within 10. Support the children to use the counting principles in order to find how many in a set or to count out a required number of objects from a larger group.

Vocabulary: add, subtract, subitise, altogether, more, less, take away, forwards, backwards.

Understanding the World

Our focus is on summer and how the environment and weather changes.  We will look at sun safety and the importance of protecting our skin from the sun.  With mini-beasts, we will look at where they like to be and the characteristics of the different creatures. We will compare and sort them according to their features such as wings or number of legs.

We will go on regular bug hunts and use the magnifying glasses to look in detail and talk about our observations.

With the story of The Princess and the Pea, we will look at castles and the children will be able to construct large castles outside with cardboard and the crates. They will design shields and their own crests.

Vocabulary: antennae, legs, habitat, diet, castle, tower, turret, shield, crest, knight, kingdom.

Expressive Arts and Design

Mini-beasts are so different and interesting, so we are looking forward to using junk modelling to make various ones. When we read ‘The Very Busy Spider’, the children will make spiders and spiders webs.  With The Very Hungry Caterpillar, we will make cocoons and butterflies using kitchen rolls and tissue paper. We will be trying out salt painting as part of our Art lessons as well as making beautiful petal sun catchers.

Vocabulary:   join, attach, thread, concertina, scrunch, fold, paint, mix, stroke.

USEFUL WEBSITES

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/topics/zf44jxs/videos/1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Early-Years.html

http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm

http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/