Welcome to Sparrows & Linnets Class!

Week beginning 5.6.23

In Literacy this week, the children will be starting our new focus text Oi Frog! They will be learning about nouns and will be making rhyming captions following the examples of those given in the story eg A frog on a log, a mule on a stool. They will then be applying their phonic knowledge to write the captions and learning how to write split vowel digraphs eg. grape, plate, mole and hole.

In Maths, the children will be learning how to use Rekenreks to support their learning. They will be learning how to represent numbers on the Rekenreks, to subitise and work out '1 fewer'.

Week beginning 22.5.23

In Literacy this week we will be focusing on non-fiction writing. Firstly, we will be using what we learnt from the visit from Mrs Hooper's guinea pigs to write some facts about how to care for guinea pigs. Next, we will be using the photos we took on the ipads on our trip to Lowndes Park to sequence our walk and discuss the geographical features we saw. We will then be using our writing skills to write labels and captions to accompany the photos. 

We have been very excited about the tadpoles we got from the school pond and we have been looking closely at them and learning about their lifecycle. We will be labelling pictures of tadpoles at different stages of development and also writing facts about our observations.

In Maths, we will be learning how shapes can be combined to create new shapes. We will also be investigating how many different ways a given shape can be made using smaller shapes and exploring shapes we can make by combining shapes. Alongside this, children will be revisiting number doubles and number bonds to 5 and 10.

In Understanding the World, we will be talking about our recent visit to Lowndes Park and the human and physical features we observed. We will use the photos we took to create a map which we will annotate. We will then be locating the features in our photos on a map.

Week beginning 15.5.23

Literacy:

In Literacy this week, we will be using the sounds 'ar', 'or', 'er' and 'ur' in words and sentences.  Later in the week we will be visited by Mrs Hooper's guinea pigs. We will be labelling photos of the guinea pigs and using the new sounds, for example, sharp and fur. 

Key vocabulary: label, guinea pig, fur, claws, sharp, short, long.

Maths:

This week’s activities will provide experiences that help the children to develop an understanding of the magnitude of numbers. Previously, the children have reasoned about the size of numbers through comparing sets of objects and identifying which set has more or fewer. This week, they will focus on ordinality: considering where numbers to 10 are in relation to each other.

Key vocabulary: count, size, compare. 

Understanding the World:

This week, the children will be walking from school to Lowndes Park and using the ipads to take photographs of physical and man made features of the local area. Children will talk about their favourite things they saw along the route, recall features such as a pond, bridge, hill etc and explain how can tell if they are natural (physical features) or man made (human features)

Key vocabulary: natural feature, physical feature, human feature, environment, map. 

Week beginning 8.5.23

Literacy:

In Literacy this week, we will be completing our work on the text Weirdo by Zadie Smith and Nick Laird by creating our very own information leaflets about the importance of being unique and how to be kind to others. We will be using our phonics knowledge to write words and sentences, remembering to leave spaces between the words and illustrating our leaflets carefully. We will be thinking about how to layout our work to make it clear and using our neatest handwriting. 

Key vocabulary: leaflet, information, illustration, headings.

Maths:

This week, the children will review the composition of the numbers 6 to 9 using the ‘5 and a bit’ structure, and then begin to explore how 10 can be composed. They will also develop a sense of the ‘ten-ness of 10’ by making their own collections of 10 objects. 

When exploring how 10 can be composed of 2 parts, the focus will be on developing the children’s ability to subitise the parts in structured arrangements. The children will be encouraged to recognise a larger part of 10 when it is presented in the ‘5 and a bit’ structure, and then subitise the smaller part. They will also be encouraged to see how finger patterns can be used to represent 2 parts of 10, using the ‘fingers up and fingers down’ approach that was used when exploring the composition of 5. The children can also be given opportunities to see the composition of 10 represented on a 10-frame. 

Key vocabulary: subitise, count, pattern, ten frame, 5 and a bit.

Week beginning 1.5.23

In Literacy this week, we are continuing our new text Weirdo by Zadie Smith. The children will be thinking of how we can welcome new people in preparation for writing a leaflet next week. We will start writing dictated sentences using known sounds and do some special writing for the King's coronation. 

Key vocabulary: kind, friendly, welcome.

This week in Maths, the children will consolidate their understanding of the composition of 5 and practise recalling the parts of 5 when 1 part is not visible. A key representation of the composition of 5 will be the fingers of 1 hand, and the children’s attention will be focused on both the fingers that are ‘up’ and those ‘folded down’, connecting this to a rhyme about 5 kittens jumping ‘down’ from the bed.

Key vocabulary: subitise, recognise, double. 

In Understanding the World we will be thinking about where we found the locations in photos the previous week and creating a map of the outside area. We will be learning the countries in the United Kingdom and naming the capital cities.

Key vocabulary: order, locate, location, photograph. 

For the Kings Coronation we will be making crowns, creating a class collage and looking at pictures of the crown jewels. 

Week beginning 24.4.23

In Literacy this week, we are contining our new text Weirdo by Zadie Smith. The children will be writing sentences to the character to thank her for being kind. They will be writing in the first person, pretending to be the guinea pig and starting sentences with 'I'.  They will be showing their understanding of the story by retelling it and answering questions. 

Key vocabulary: kind, friendly, first person. 

This week in Maths, the children will continue to develop their subitising skills (seeing the quantity without counting) in increasingly complex arrangements. Some arrangements are easier to subitise than others – e.g. a set of 6 dots arranged in a structured die pattern that exposes the double-3 pattern is easier to recognise than a random arrangement of 6 dots. A key focus this week is to use the children’s developing understanding of doubles to support their subitising skills.

Key vocabulary: count, order, arrange, subitise, recognise, double. 

In Understanding the World we will be going on a walk around the school grounds and recognising locations from a photo. The children will be ordering the pictures to show the sequence we visited the locations. We will be using the iPads this week to learn how to take photos on the photo app.

Key vocabulary: order, locate, location, photograph, iPad, app. 

Week beginning 17.4.23

In Literacy this week, have started our new text Weirdo by Zadie Smith. The children will be learning to think about why they are unique and why it is important to be kind to other people. 

Key vocabulary: unique, special, individual. 

This week in Maths, the children will be recapping previous skills to ensure they are embedded. We will be subitising numbers to 5 and discussing why it is harder to subitise larger quantities. We will be remembering good counting strategies and helping our puppets to count accurately. We will count larger quantities by moving them into lines or crossing them out on paper.

Key vocabulary: count, order, arrange, subitise, recognise. 

In Understanding the World this term, we will be learning about maps and starting to create our own maps. This week we will be reading books which contain maps.

Key vocabulary: map, locate, location. 

Week beginning 20.3.23

In Literacy this week, we finishing our learning on 'The Tiny Seed' by Eric Carle. We will be writing a leaflet on how to take care of plants. The children will be using their learning on finger spaces to write informative sentences using digraphs we have learnt this term (ee, oi, ai, igh).  

Key vocabulary: seed, grow, plant, soil, roots, sun, water, sail. 

This week in Maths, the children will be continuing to looking at doubles. We will be saying when we see 2 equal parts and understanding that some numbers are made of doubles. We will be sorting objects on different criteria and using the sorting skill to sort odd and even numberblocks.

Key vocabulary: part, whole, same, equal, double, sort, odd, even. 

In Understanding the World, we will be continuing to plant and care for seeds. We will be exploring fruit to find different types of seeds and recording what we find using art. 

Key vocabulary: root, shoot, stem, leaf, grow, fruit. 

In Expressive Arts and Design, we will be looking at the Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo. We will learn that he uses fruit to create portraits and then start to create our own portraits using fruit and other classroom objects. 

Key vocabulary: portrait, Italian, fruit, create, imaginative, surrealist, artist. 

Week beginning 13.3.23

In Literacy this week, we will continuing with our new book The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. We will be writing instructions on how to plant a seed, learning the oi sound and concentrating on using finger spaces.  

Key vocabulary: seed, grow, plant, soil, roots, sun, water, sail. 

This week in Maths, the children will looking at doubles. We will learn that a double is when two parts are the same. We will be looking at visual representations of dice and deciding if they show a double or not. 

Key vocabulary: part, whole, same, equal, double. 

In Understanding the World, we will be continuing to plant and care for seeds. We will look at our beans growing in zip-lock bags to see what happens to the roots and shoots of the plant. 

Key vocabulary: root, shoot, stem, leaf, grow. 

This week is Science Week! The theme of Science Week this year is connections. The children will be exploring how different papers change how well paper planes fly, exploring how to find our what is inside an unlabeled tin can and connecting pictures of different animals to name which animal it is. 

Week beginning 6.3.23

In Literacy this week, we will continuing with our new book The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. We will starting to plan a leaflet to explain how to grow and look after plants. We will be looking at sentences and concentrating on using finger spaces.  

Key vocabulary: seed, grow, plant, soil, roots, sun, water, sail. 

This week in Maths, the children will consolidate their understanding of the composition of numbers by investigating the numbers within 7. Composing and de-composing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 7 can be made of 5 and 2. The children will deepen their understanding of a whole being made up of smaller parts through games and practical experiences, such as investigating the number of ducks on a pond. We will use the generalised sentence: 'My ______ is a part of me, the whole of me is ______', for example 'My nose is a part of me, the whole of me is Mrs O'Shea!'

Key vocabulary: part, whole. 

In Understanding the World, we will be continuing to plant and care for seeds. We will look at our beans growing in zip-lock bags to see what happens to the roots and shoots of the plant. 

Key vocabulary: root, shoot, stem, leaf, grow. 

Week beginning 27.2.23

In Literacy this week, we will be starting our new book The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. We will starting to plant seeds, writing instructions for seed planting and learning the digraphs 'ee' and 'igh'. We will be learn to write words with these sounds in. 

Key vocabulary: seed, grow, plant, runner bean, cress, sunflower, tiny, medium, big, soil. 

In Maths this week, the children will continue to learn about numbers above 5 and describing them in terms of '5 and a bit'.  We will return to looking at the staircase pattern that numbers make and order representations of numbers to 10. We will spot when a mistake has been made and teach our group puppets how to order numbers properly. They will use the generalised statements '_______ is more than ____________' for example, '5 is more than 4'. 

Key vocabulary: more, less, equal to. 

Week beginning 20.2.23

In Literacy this week, we will be making pancakes as part of our learning about Shrove Tuesday and we will be reading Mr Wolf's pancakes as our focus text. The children will be making and trying pancakes with sugar and lemon, and will write a shopping list of ingredients for Mr Wolf as well as a set of instructions on how to make pancakes.

Key vocabulary: pancakes, Lent, Shrove Tuesday, whisk, fry, flip, taste.

In Maths this week, the children will continue to learn about numbers above 5 and describing them in terms of '5 and a bit'. They will use their fingers to understand 6 as 5 and 1 more, 7 as 5 and 2 more etc. The children will be using the Numberblocks characters to help them understand this concept. They will use the generalised statements '5 and 1 more makes 6 altogether', 6 and 1 more makes 7 altogether' etc.

Key vocabulary: 1 more, 1 less, altogether.

Week beginning 6.2.23

In Literacy:

This week, the children will continue to work on the story Little red by Lynn Roberts. They will be making changes to the story, inventing their own character and making some Banana Berry Blast! Children will be writing recipes for the drinks and inventing their own as well as tasting some Ginger Beer before writing adverts for it. 

Key vocabulary: story mountain, short sighted, ginger beer, berry, honey, bear, belch.

In Maths:

This week, the children will be focusing on the numerosity of sets, noticing when quantities are equal and unequal and manipulating the number of objects in two sets to make them equal.

Key vocabulary: more than, fewer than, an equal number. Please note that 'fewer' is used as we will be working with countable objects.

Week beginning 30th January 2023

In Literacy:

This week, we will be beginning a new story called Little Red by David Roberts. It is a twist on the traditional tale of Little Red Riding Hood and it is funny! The children will be learning the story step by step, talking about what they think might happen using the future tense in the correct form. They will be looking at pictures from the story and suggesting then writing speech bubbles for what the characters could be saying at specific points in the story. Children will take part in some role play and drama activities around the story too. 

They will be learning to read and write z and zz.

Key vocabulary: highwaymen, inn, travellers, wolf, forest, could, would, might, will.

In Maths, we will be exploring ways to represent numbers using the Hungarian number pattern (dice pattern). These key representations help to underline the 5-ness of 5 and will provide structures that will support the exploration of its composition and relationships with other numbers. Children will secure their understanding of pairs of numbers that make 5, and then use double dice frames to begin to explore 6 and 7 as number s which are '5 and a bit'.

Key vocabulary: altogether, double, take away, left, dice frame, pattern, 5 and a bit.

Understanding the World:

This week, children will be learning about animals such as lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs and naming them, identifying similarities and differences, and describing them. 

Key vocabulary: tiger, lion, mane, stripes, tail, whiskers, paws, cheetah, leopard, claws. 

Week beginning 23rd January 2023

Literacy:

This week, we will be completing our work on The Magic Paintbrush which will culminate with children adapting and writing their own versions of the story. They will be sequencing pictures from the original text, orally retelling the story using key vocabulary, suggesting changes to each part and using these ideas in their own work. 

Key vocabulary:

sequence

order

retell

rulers - king, queen, prince, princess, lord, tsar

rhyme

Maths:

This week, the children will be consolidating their understanding of numbers to 5. They will investigate part-part-whole relations eg seeing that 5 can be made of 3 and 2. They will begin to recognise that numbers can be made by combining parts in different ways and considering missing parts. The children will visualise numbers to 5 and work out how many are hidden when they know the whole number in a set.

Key vocabulary:

part

whole

visualise

missing number

missing part

Stem sentences - 5 is made from 4 and 1

                              5 is made from 3 and 2

                              5 is made from 2 and 3

Understanding the World:

Children will continue to learn about Chinese New Year. They will listen to the story of the Great Race and find out which zodiac year they were born in. Children will get to try some Chinese food and talk about the similarities and difference between the food and traditional British food. They will also be using their creative skills to make Chinese dragons. They will continue to learn about similarities and differences between British and Chinese culture and traditions.

Key vocabulary: China, Asia, chopsticks, spring rolls, noodles, rice, dragon, zodiac, tradition.

Week beginning 16.01.23

In Literacy this week, we are continuing our text, The Magic Paintbrush, by Julia Donaldson. We will be labeling parts of a dragon, creating our own monster outfits and labeling pictures of ourselves. We will also be learning to read and write 'w' and 'y'. 

Key vocabulary: scales, claws, fangs, fur, sharp, horns. 

In Maths this week we are learning that each number is one more than the number before. We will be using Numberblocks to order numbers and spotting when a mistakes has been made. We will notice the staircase patterns as numbers increase and create our own staircase towers using construction materials. 
Key vocabulary: more, bigger, small, compare, staircase. 

In Understanding the World, we are learning about Chinese New Year (also known as the Lunar New Year). We are learning how Chinese New Year is celebrated, where China is, and we will be reading the traditional story 'The Great Race' to learn about the animals associated with Chinese New Year. 

In Expressive Arts and Design, we will be starting to make paper lanterns and looking a Chinese symbols for luck. 

Key vocabulary: China, Chinese, New Year, Lunar New Year, fireworks, lanterns, luck/lucky. 

Week beginning 09.1.23

In Literacy this week, we are starting our new text, The Magic Paintbrush, by Julia Donaldson. We will be thinking about what we would paint with the magic paintbrush to help other people. We are learning to read and write the 'x' and 'z' sounds. 

Key vocabulary from our book: dish, shrimp, oyster, seashore, empty, poor, wealthy folk. 

In Maths this week we are building on our subitising skills by looking at more complex patterns. We will be thinking about the number shapes on dice and playing dice games to help our quick recognition of dot patterns. We will be using positional language to describe the arrangement of the dots and patterns. 
Key vocabulary: top, bottom, left, right, diagonal line, together, apart. 

In Expressive Arts and Design this week we will be painting using our own magic paintbrushes and hoping that our paintings become real! 

Week beginning 12.12.22

This week we will be performing our Christmas play. We will be showing our dress rehearsal to the school, and year 3 from Brushwood. Then we will be performing to parents on Thursday and Friday. We are very excited to put on our costumes and sing the songs on stage. 

In Literacy this week, we will be creating invitations for people to come and watch our Christmas performance. On Wednesday we will be watching the pantomime at the Elgiva.

Key vocabulary: act, perform, pantomime, invitation, confident. 

In Maths this week we will be learning about 2D shapes and using them to construct pictures. 
Key vocabulary: 2D shape, flat, circle, square, triangle, rectangle, sides, corners. 

In Understand the World this week, we will be looking at pictures of Christmas in the 80s and thinking about similarities and differences. We will learn about how different families celebrate Christmas and look specifically at how decorations and presents compare from the 80s to now. 

Key vocabulary: Christmas, past, present, decoration, garland, tinsel, bauble, different, similar 

Week beginning 5.12.22

Literacy:

In Literacy this week, we will be continuing with our work on Halibut Jackson. We will be writing letters to Halibut's friend Cod telling how he can be confident, and we will be dressing up and role playing different experiences linked to the story. We will also be writing invitations.

Key vocabulary: confident, location, blend in, disguise, invitation, event.

Alongside this, we will be continuing to rehearse for our Christmas performance.

Maths:

In Maths this week, we will be creating and continuing repeating patterns using 2, 3 or 4 different colours to make paper chains. We will be using Numicon to work out which values fit together to make a present with 100 Numicon 'holes'. We will also be continuing with our counting and number recognition work.

Key vocabulary: pattern, repeating, colours, next, count, value.

Expressive Art and Design:

We will be continuing to make props and headbands for our Christmas performance. We will be singing the songs together, joining in and trying to sing at the correct pitch and follow the melody.

Key vocabulary: props, cut along, design, pitch, melody, tune.

Week beginning 28.11.22

Literacy

This week, we will be looking at the story 'Halibut Jackson' by David Lucas. We will describing where Halibut is using prepositional vocabulary such as 'on', 'in front of', 'next to' etc. We will be sharing ideas about how we think Halibut is feeling at various ;points in the story and making links to our own feelings (Zones of Regulation).

Alongside this, the children will be rehearsing our Nativity performance, working on learning individual and shared lines, using a loud clear voice and joining in at the correct times.

Maths:

This week, the children will revisit the concept of 1:1 correspondence when counting and will develop their understanding of cardinality - that the last number in the count tells us how many. They will begin to count more abstract things like claps and jumps. Children will begin to verbally count beyond 20 to see the pattern of number names beyond the 'tricky' teen numbers. They will explore conservation of numbers by investigating what happens to quantities of objects when they are rearranged.

Expressive Art and Design:

Children will be practising singing the songs for our Nativity and will be taking part in collaboratively making props for the performance.

Week beginning 21st November 2022

Literacy:

In Literacy this week, we will be looking at the text 'The Nativity - The story of Baby Jesus' by May Eliot, in preparation for our Christmas performance. The children will be acting out parts of the story to aid their understanding of the events and talking about how Mary and Joseph might have felt after their long journey. They will be practising writing their names on a register on arrival at Bethlehem and will learn key vocabulary from the text which will in turn help the children to understand our performance and the songs they will sing.

Key vocabulary:

Nativity , register, pregnant, Bethlehem, stable, manger, shepherd, angel, wise men.

Maths:

This week, the children will build on their understanding of the composition of numbers by investigating the composition of 3, 4 and 5. Composing and de-composing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 3 can be composed of 1 and 2. Through practical experience, they will consolidate their understanding of a whole being made up of smaller parts. They will begin to recognise that numbers can be made by combining parts in different ways. A key focus will be the spatial arrangements that can be made with different combinations of the same number of objects.

Key Vocabulary:

whole, part, subitise.

Understanding the World:

This week, we will continue with our enquiry question 'What is a telescope?' and the children will learning about the Hubble telescope. We will share the story 'You Choose in Space' by Pippa Goodhart as well as the non-fiction text 'Look Inside Space'. Children will also learn about meteors (pieces of rock), meteoroids (a piece of rock that has not yet entered the earth's atmosphere) and meteorites (pieces of rock that have landed on earth).

Key vocabulary:

Hubble telescope, space, meteor, meteoroid, meteorite.

Week beginning: 14.11.22

Literacy:

In Literacy this week, we will continue to use the story Look Up! as our focus text. We will be creating our own stories and narratives using the structure of Look Up! but changing some of the key aspects using our own ideas. We will use our speaking and listening skills to share our ideas in our groups and to develop and build on each other's suggestions.

Key vocabulary we will be learning and using:

speechless

disappointed

meteor shower

beginning

middle

end

Maths:

In Maths this week, we will be learning about the composition of number in terms of the concept 'wholes' and 'parts'. Children will explore composition by investigating their own bodies and familiar toys, and will begin to understand that whole things are often made up of smaller parts and that a whole is therefore bigger than its parts.

Key vocabulary we will be learning and using:

whole (not to be confused with 'hole')

part (not to be confused with 'apart')

Stem sentence: My (arm, leg etc) is a part of me and the whole of me is (name). 

Understanding the World:

We will be continuing with our enquiry question 'What is a telescope?' which links to our Literacy text, and we will be learning about the sun being a star and how planets orbit the sun. The children will act out orbiting the sun and will continue to work on learning the names of the planets.

Key vocabulary we will be learning and using:

telescope 

astronomy 

asteroid 

asteroid belt 

orbit 

meteor  

Planet names – (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)  

We will also be beginning to learn the songs for our Nativity performance!

Week beginning 7.11.22

Literacy:

In Literacy, we will continue looking at the text Look Up! by Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola. Children will be looking at the single sounds b and f, as well as the digraphs ff, ss and ll as well as recapping the tricky words 'the', 'to' and 'me'. We will also be writing letters to the main character, Rocket, to try and cheer her up after she feels bad for making her friends wait outside in the cold to see a meteor shower which then didn't happen. Children will explore and discuss how Rocket feels and how her friends feel in this situation. Children will also be sequencing pictures from the story and talking about and drawing and/or writing about their favourite part.

Maths:

This week, we will be focusing on comparison. Children will notice attributes and begin to understand similarities and differences and this week's activities look at further developing these skills by comparing the number of objects in two sets by matching them 1:1, seeing that some objects in sets can be matched without any being left over. This will draw attention to instances when quantities of objects are equal. We will be reinforcing the language of 'more than', 'fewer than' and 'an equal number' to describe how many objects there are in each set. Again, 'fewer than' is used instead of 'less than', and 'more than' rather than 'greater than' because we are working with countable objects.

Understanding the World:

This week we will be learning the names of the planets and continuing to learn about aspects of the solar system linking to our learning in Literacy. 

Week beginning 31.10.22

Welcome back to school! We hope you all had a lovely half term break.

This week in Literacy:

We will be using the text Look Up! by Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola as the starting point for talking about Space. We will be discussing details of the story, making predictions and sharing our thoughts and opinions in our groups. We will then be creating leaflets about meteor showers and using our phonic knowledge to read and write simple words. 

This week in Maths:

We will be focusing on counting, ordinality and cardinality. 

Children will be reinforcing their knowledge of counting by finding 'how many altogether' and understanding that the last number they say tells them how many in a set (cardinality).

A key focus will be deepening their understanding of 5 as a quantity by linking the number itself to 5 fingers on one hand. Children will explore ways to make 5 using their fingers and the Hungarian number pattern (the pattern of 5 dots on a dice with dots coloured in two different colours to show bonds to 5). These key representations help to understand the 'fiveness of 5' and provide structures that will later support exploration of its composition and relationship to other numbers.

This week in Understanding the World:

Children will begin our enquiry into 'What is in Space?' As a starting point, they will be thinking about what they would like to find out about space and we will be finding out what the children already know, to inform of our next steps. We will be watching a star gazing episode on CBeebies.

Week beginning 17.10.22

Literacy:

In Literacy this week, we are using the Mighty Writer to orally construct and rehearse grammatically correct sentences using the pictures and symbols on the Mighty Writer mat. We will be learning how sentences need an 'action word' (verb) to make sense and we will be experimenting with inventing our own silly sentences by swapping in different pictures of objects (nouns) and thinking of different verbs we can use in our sentences. On Thursday, we will working together to use the Mighty Writer to invent our own Pirate and Princess stories!

Maths:

In Maths this week, we are focusing on Comparison. We will be developing our comparative language skills to describe sets of objects using the words 'more than' and 'fewer than'. We will be using the word 'fewer' instead of 'less' because the focus is on countable objects.

Understanding the World:

This week, we are learning about the festival of Diwali. We will be making Diya lamps and creating Rangoli patterns using coloured pastas and chalks. We will be learning the story of Rama and Sita and using our speaking and listening skills to act out the story with our friends.

Week beginning 10.10.2022

In literacy this week we are continuing "Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain" by Verna Aardema. We will be learning the sound h. We will think about animals which live here in the UK, in Kenya or both countries.

We will be looking at leaflets and learning that they give us information. We will write out own leaflets about Kapiti Plain.  

In maths we are exploring the different compositions of the number 4. We are using our fingers on one hand to show 2 and 3 quickly, to build the muscle memory.

In understanding the world we will be continuing to use the book 'A Place Called Home' to look at homes in different countries around the world. We will look on a globe to find these countries and think about similarities and differences. 

Week beginning 03.10.2022

In literacy this week we are moving on to a new book called "Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain" by Verna Aardema. We will be learning the sounds k, c, ck, r and u. We will be acting out the story and using percussion instruments to create a musical accompaniment. We will also be learning a traditional Kenyan Song. 

In maths we are composing and decomposing numbers three and four. We will be using lots of practical resources to compose these numbers. We will be using stem sentences to talk about the numbers, for example, "1 and 1 and 1 makes 3". 

In understanding the world we will be using the book 'A Place Called Home' to look at homes in different countries around the world. We will look on a globe to find these countries and think about similarities and differences. 

Week beginning 26.09.2022

In literacy this week we have continued to look at Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. We will be using the sounds s, a, t, p, i and n to create names for the wild things and drawing pictures to show what is happening in the story. 

In maths we are singing lots of counting songs to 5 (for example 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive) and counting using 1:1 correspondence (saying one number for each object in a set). We have had some puppets come to count with us and we've been helping them when they make counting mistakes. 

In understanding the world we have been looking at pictures of homes and thinking about what we can find inside our houses. 

Week beginning 19.09.2022

In literacy this week we have started looking at Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. We will be focusing on identifying initial sounds and developing our speaking and listening skills. 

In maths we are focussing on numbers 1, 2 and 3. We will be subitising with these numbers (recognising patterns of them quickly) and showing that number with our fingers. 

In understanding the world we have started thinking about who lives with us in our homes.