Spring Term 2 (2023)

Welcome back to school as we start our second half of the spring term.

We had a great start to our term, exploring topics about a starry night and winter wonderland .We will continue building on our experiences and developing our friendships whilst playing and learning. We will continue to think about our next steps to develop as curious learners. There will continue to be regular opportunities to explore outside and learn through nature. Independence, self-confidence and creative thinking will be our focus.

We continue our focus on the prime areas of learning (Communication and Language, Physical Development and Personal, Social and Emotional Development) to underpin everything we do. In addition we will plan and experience many activities and opportunities to enhance the specific areas of learning (Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design).

Daily phonics sessions will continue to build on our phonic knowledge through our Little Wandle programme. As readers, books will be sent home weekly, after reading the book three times at school. Children will also bring home a library book each week. As we learn new sounds, they will be added to the orange phonics books.

Our Talk for writing text this half term is The Gingerbread Man. We will learn to tell the story using a story map and with actions. Then we will deepen our understanding through practical activities to explore the setting, characters and structure of the story. As writers, we will develop our skills in writing words, captions and sentences.   In addition we will continue to focus on securing our fine motor control to help us when we write. We are excited about our planned trip to enhance our text in a different way!

As mathematicians, we will develop our understanding of numbers to 10, as well a exploring 3D shapes and making patterns.

Our new topic for this half term will be Ready, Steady, Grow – This project helps us to find out more about food and farming and explores themes, including where food comes from, what plants and animals need to grow and survive and what constitutes a healthy lifestyle.

Through our mini topic, signs of spring, we will be out and about, noticing changes around us as we head into a new season.

Things to remember:

Please bring a drink of water every day for snack time/lunch

The weather is changeable at the moment so bring outdoor clothing to cope with this – rain coats for those wet days or warm clothing (coats, hats, gloves) for colder days.

Read every day and write comments in the reading diary. This should include time for re-visiting your sounds in your phonics book, reading your Little Wandle book and looking at your sharing book.

Remember to check the website for our weekly class blog and homework activities. We love it when you leave us a message too as we read them out in our class.

As well as outdoor physical play, we will take part in a weekly P.E session in the hall (Wednesday). We will be using larger apparatus such as benches, mats and climbing frames.

We will continue to welcome children through our blue gate from 8.45-8.55 in the morning.

If you have any questions or you would like to send me information about any of your learning at home, please contact me by email.

Mrs Puddick