Spring 2
We have had another wonderful half-term together. The children are really enjoying learning and retelling stories, being totally immersed in the tale. As we move into spring, we are looking forward to seeing the changes in the season and growing lots of plants. The children are looking forward to the new role-play opportunities as this is their favourite area of learning.
The children have made good progress in their reading, writing and maths. We appreciate all of your support from home and it really supports the children in their development
Communication and Language
With each area of learning, the children are constantly being introduced to new vocabulary related to maths, role-play or our topics. We keep these word banks on display to refer to and we add them to our ‘wow words wall’.
With our non-fiction topic of transport, the children will be introduced to lots of new vocabulary. In our outdoor garage, the children will ask questions to find out the problem with the vehicle and to then discuss how they will solve the problem.
The children will have lots of opportunities to act out the story of The 3 Billy Goats Gruff on a large scale outside and inside with smaller role-play puppets.
Vocabulary: under, over, across, river, meadow, bridge, strong, wide, long, short, measure, helicopter, tram, pedestrian, passenger, vehicle.
Literacy
In our Read Write Inc phonics sessions, we have now covered all of the set 1 sounds and we will start to introduce the set 2 sounds. Homework will continue to reflect the learning in class. In this half term, the children will be focusing on reading and writing simple sentences using the sounds they know. These will be encouraged through their play, for example to write lists of transport types, repair notes in the garage. The children will make a transport book with information about different modes of transport.
The children are doing brilliantly with their handwriting which they do every morning when they first come in to class. We will start to look at the formation of capital letters.
With our focus book: ‘The 3 Billy Goats Gruff the children will retell the story through talk for writing. They will be able to play the roles of the different characters from the story. The book focuses on defeating the monster. So we will look at other stories with a similar theme such as Supertato. As part of our writing, the children will practise using descriptive words to improve their work. Such as a hairy, ugly troll or the sweet, fresh grass.
Vocabulary: capital letter, adjective, description, sentence, digraph, trigraph,
Physical Development
Our focus for PE this half term is multi-skills. This will involve a range of skills to support the children when they come onto other sports. We will practise throwing and catching bean bags and balls independently and with a partner. They will be using a target to throw and aim. Using bats and balls or hockey sticks, the children will learn to move a ball around the space and to shoot or to hit the ball with the bat, building up hand eye coordination and accuracy. In each session, we will look at being healthy and how we exercising makes us feel and strengthens our muscles. We will improve our running and moving in different ways such as jumping skipping and hoping in our warm up sessions.
Vocabulary: pace, spin, target, aim, obstacle, turn, rotate, jump, move, direction, travel, strength, muscles, veins, blood, heart, exercise, healthy, unhealthy.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
In the myHappymind curriculum, our next module is ‘Celebrate’. It will support the children in building self-esteem and confidence. The core focus is on character strengths
W will look at the idea that everyone has unique character strengths—traits like kindness, bravery, and teamwork—rather than just skills like football or maths. Understanding Strengths: Children will learn what these "special things" are and that using them helps them be their "best selves". Identity over Ability: The module emphasises who the children are (character) rather than what they can do (achievement).
Vocabulary: strengths, character, unique, bravery, special, hero.
Mathematics
The children have learnt so much already this year. They are able to count and recognise numbers to 8. They have measured weight, capacity and length so far. It is important that we keep encouraging the children to use the correct vocabulary instead of big and small, to use long, short, wide, narrow, full, empty as this is something that they need to keep practising.
This half term, we are building 9 and 10. There will be lots of counting and matching, looking at different ways to make 9 and 10. Outside, the children can throw at a target to match the amounts to the numbered pots. With the dice, they can add the amounts and collect the corresponding number of objects. We will play lots of maths bingo together. With a ten frame, the children will be able to quickly find ways to make 10 and to recognising which number is missing.
We will begin to look at 3D shapes and look for where they are and how they are used in real life and in look for them in the school environment.
Vocabulary: total, altogether, most, least, bond, number, shape, subitise, compare, different, same, more, less, pair, amount, yesterday, tomorrow, before, after, next, soon, long, short, tall.
Understanding the World
In our water area, the children will be exploring floating and sinking. They will be make boats to test out on the water. Lots of children already enjoy using the ramps to see how fast the cars can go. With a focus on pushes and pulls, they will investigate how they can make vehicles go further, faster, slower using different ramps and materials. Also they can use the large trikes to experiment with pushing each other and pulling, then linking to previous learning in maths about heavy and light.
Linking to past and present, we will look at old and new types of transport and how they have changed with technology.
We will look at the countries of the United Kingdom. By reading books and watching videos, we will find out about other countries around the world and how they are similar or different to the UK.
As part of our Religious education, the children will learn The Easter Story. They will also find out about what times are special for different people around the world.
Vocabulary: push, pull, force, friction, material, ramp, fast, slow, heavy, light, float, sink, absorb, country, map, United Kingdom, climate, temperature, north pole, south pole, globe, equator.
Expressive Arts and Design
We will focus on painting and mixed media. The children will have access to junk-modelling and large construction outside to create a range of different types of transport. Boats for the water area and cars or lorries to test out the ramps.
The children will make a role play area for outside which will be a train station. They can make tickets, talk about places to go an visit on their journey. We love to sing in Reception and we will learn lots of new songs related to transport. Such as down at the station, the wheels on the bus. We will then adapt these to match different vehicles such as the wheels on the truck.
Vocabulary: mould, attach, join, link, blend, add, bend, paint, collage, transient, stick, journey, station, tickets, travel, move, direction.
Computing
The unit will be ‘Exploring Hardware’. We will have a tinker tray for the children to explore computing items and electronics such as remote control toys, keyboards, calculators, microphones, voice recorders. We will use ipads to take photos of each other, selfies and pictures of the children in their play. We will then create a class photo album.
We need your help!
For our topic, please save and bring in any small boxes, bottle tops or kitchen roll tubes for our junk modelling area.
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