Spring 2
Spring Term 2 ‘Once Upon a Time’
Welcome to the magical world of fairy tales! Let’s find out more about our favourite stories, and discover some new ones. We will be looking at a range of different fairytales across the half term and exploring the different plots, characters and feelings within them. Each fairytale offers us new concepts to discover. We’ll look at different character types, and decide whether our favourite characters are ‘goodies’ or ‘baddies’. Did the big bad wolf really mean to blow the three little pigs houses down? Are wolves really big and bad? The little red hen will help us to understand how to make healthy life choices and understand where some of our food comes from. Jack and The Beanstalk will help us explore the mathematical vocabulary of tall, taller, tallest and short, shorter, shortest. Within The Three Billy Goats Gruff story we will be investigating concepts of floating and sinking when making rafts for the goats for an alternative ending. As you can see the possibilities within fairytales are endless!
Links to support Home Learning:
https://www.getepic.com You can read many of your favourite fairytales on this site. Try free for 30 days.
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/have-some-fun/storybooks-and-games/ - Different books and games to explore
https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/make/paint-draw/draw-fairy-tale - Draw a fairytale
https://www.bl.uk/childrens-books/themes/fairy-tales-and-folktales# -British Library
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/eyfs-listen-and-play-the-little-red-hen/zfptqp3 - The little red hen book
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/stories/GingerbreadMan.aspx- Gingerbread man Story
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories -Cbeebies stories
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/english-ks1-jack-and-the-beanstalk-episode-1/zjfwkmn - Jack and the beanstalk story
Medium Term Plan:
picture of medium term plan
Links to support Home Learning:
https://www.getepic.com You can read many of your favourite fairytales on this site. Try free for 30 days.
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/have-some-fun/storybooks-and-games/ - Different books and games to explore
https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/make/paint-draw/draw-fairy-tale - Draw a fairytale
https://www.bl.uk/childrens-books/themes/fairy-tales-and-folktales# -British Library
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/eyfs-listen-and-play-the-little-red-hen/zfptqp3 - The little red hen book
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories -Cbeebies stories
The children will have the opportunity to develop their awareness of familiar story structures, thinking about the beginning, middle and endings of key stories. We will also have the opportunity to explore traditional story language such as 'Once Upon A Time' and 'The End'.
Please remember to use the hashtag on tapestry #readingrecord and have enjoyed seeing all our children reading at home.
Please also use #Oracy to share examples of the children's language development. At Silver End we are working to ensure that our children are confident orators that have the vocabulary and presence to share their ideas.
We have introduced a new #ParentNoticeBoard through Tapestry to share any good articles, research and strategies to support awareness of child development. We hope you have found these resources useful.
Gentle Reminders:
Please continue to practise your Songs of Sounds phonic song daily to reinforce your knowledge of letter sounds and the accompanying actions.
PE sessions to be held every Friday morning (please bring in a labelled PE uniform to be kept on the school grounds till PE session and then taken home after each session for washing - as per government guidance). Please also remember to celebrate the children's independent attempts at getting changed.
Learning logs will be handed out every Friday to be returned the following week with completed work by very latest Thursday.
Spring 2 Curriculum
PSED & C&L
This half term we will continue with our topic will be 'Once Upon A Time'
We will be thinking about celebrations we share as a family and those that are experienced within the wider community. We will have the opportunity to share news about our holidays, discuss experiences as they arise such as birthdays and Easter. We will also be discussing the need to stay warm in the changing season and show awareness of the dangers of snow and ice.
We use Tapestry to share experiences from home and use our language to communicate confidently using our Oracy strategies:
- Listening to the children who are speaking
- Projecting our voices to speak clearly
- Speaking in clear sentences
- Using vocabulary to express our ideas
- Looking at our audience when we are speaking
- Making sure our hands and fingers are away from our mouths to promote clarity
Phonics
This half term the children will be exposed to a range of phonemes and also introduce some digraphs (the way sounds are pronounced) and their corresponding graphemes (the way the sound is written). They will have the opportunity to form the graphemes and apply the phonemes to read a range of words. We will be also be learning how to spot the phonemes in words and how to use sound buttons to blend the sounds together to form words.
We will also be learning different strategies to support to read words (blending and segmenting words).
Reading
Reading is promoted through application of phonics. We are also promoting reading for pleasure through our reading corner. Each week we have the opportunity to explore a core book to develop the children's vocabulary and imagination. We send home reading books and reading records so you can enjoy reading together at home. Each child will also to read to an adult at least twice a week in school. During this half term we will also be taking the children in small groups to our school library. This will be a fantastic way to develop reading for pleasure and also extending children's vocabulary.
Please use the #readingrecord to add a note on Tapestry about your child's reading progress.
Writing
During our Literacy session we will be applying our phonic knowledge and the use of tricky and high frequency words to explore a range of writing features. We will be exploring caption writing, the use of finger spaces between words and simple punctuation such as full stop. We will be developing our recognition of Upper and Lower case graphemes. We will be continuing to practise correct letter formation when writing our names, cvc words and simple captions. Through our topic we will be exploring meaningful writing experiences such as writing recipes, invitations and posters.
Maths
At Silver End Academy we follow the Power Maths scheme of work. This half term we will be learning about Measures (Length, Weight and Height). We will have the opportunity to use weighing scales to compare the weight of objects and discuss our findings. We will also be exploring number bonds to 10 using 10 frames and the part / whole model. We will use objects and symbols to explore the concept of subtraction. We will also have the opportunity to explore patterns through observing and commenting on patterns, making simple patterns and exploring more complex patterns. Through our different math topics we will be developing the children's vocabulary and encouraging them to explain their ideas.
Understanding of the World
We will be exploring some of the changes that occur in our natural environment such as the changes we observe in the weather. Spring time brings lots of weather surprises with storms, rain showers and rainbows! We will also have the opportunity to explore and discuss some cultural and social celebrations such as Easter, World Book day and Mother's Day. The children will have the opportunity to explore similarities and differences between different celebrations and also have the opportunity to discuss their own experiences of key events. We will also show awareness of the natural world through changes observed in life cycles, such as chicks! Spring time will also provide the children with the opportunity to discuss flowers and plants observed growing in our garden area.
Physical Development
The children are taught PE by a dedicated Sports Coach. Our PE sessions are held every Friday morning. Please ensure that your child brings in their PE kit into school every Monday, it will be sent home each Friday to be washed.
We also have a range of fine motor activities in the classroom and the children are encouraged to use gross motor movements whilst playing outside in the garden.
Our Code of Conduct:
As a class we developed a bank of rules for us all to follow
- We share with our friends
- We will help to tidy up
- We use kind hands and feet
- We listen to each other
- We use our manners
Phonic Games
Please continue to practise your songs of sounds phonic song to reinforce your knowledge of letter sounds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48uf9I6P2xQ&safe=true
Please find attached some links to phonic games that your child can explore to develop their awareness of and discrimination of sounds.