Welcome back to a new half term! As we are now half-way through our first year at school, we will be encouraging the children to ‘Reach for the Stars’ to achieve their very best in all areas of learning, persevering to achieve their goals and finding their own ways to solve problems.  We will travel together through Lent as we prepare for Easter, making some ‘super’ discoveries about ourselves along the way!

Personal, Social & Emotional Development

Our RE topics are ‘Gathering’ and ‘Growing’ and our collective worship value is ‘Forgiveness’.  Thank you for joining in with our baby photo and timeline home challenges, the children have loved sharing a ‘story of my life’ and they look beautiful displayed for all to see in school!

We will explore Lent as a time to ‘grow more like Jesus’ and think of ways we can follow in his footsteps, shining from the inside out.  We will learn about our own springtime traditions and those from other cultures when we celebrate Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Mother’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Easter and the Hindu festival of Holi.  During ‘Fairtrade Fortnight’, the children will explore the idea of ‘fairness’ and understand how they can help make life fairer for others.

Understanding the World:

‘Egg-citing’ times ahead, as Lent continues, we will observe new life growing from the ‘inside out’ when we look after a dozen duck’s eggs for two weeks just before Easter.  The children will be on ‘duckling watch’ as they take care of the eggs in the incubator and, fingers crossed, we will hopefully witness a real hatch, right before our eyes!  Once the ducklings are hatched, the children will take charge of feeding and caring for them, as they grow in their brooder box for the rest of their time with us. 

Communication & Language

The children are exposed to high quality reading experiences every day and we continue to develop our vocabulary, being ‘word collectors’ finding new words to remember and use.  In addition, the children will be encouraged to develop specific vocabulary and give verbal accounts of what they see, hear, feel and think while they engage in awe-inspiring activities such as witnessing a duckling hatch right before their eyes! During ‘time to talk’ sessions, we will encourage the children to reflect on these experiences by asking questions, making predictions, noticing patterns and examining evidence to draw their own conclusions.

Literacy

We look forward to celebrating World Book Day on Friday 4 March.  Throughout this half-term, we will focus on our Reception adopted author, Julia Donaldson.  In particular, we will focus on ‘The Gruffalo’ over the coming week and embark on a Gruffalo Hunt in Forest School.

Please note: the children may come to school dressed up as one of their favourite book characters on Friday 4 March.  If this experience will prove to be overwhelming or upsetting for your child, they may come to school in their uniform as usual or own clothes.

In phonics, the children have begun a new rotation of teaching in their Read Write Inc groups.  We will continue to keep you informed of the phonic skills, sounds and words your child has been learning via the school app, homework books and school website.  Please continue to send in your child’s daily reading book/ditty sheets (in the small zip wallet) every day and their library book/big blue learning log book (in the purple homework bag) every Wednesday.

Shared reading and writing sessions will focus on non-fiction texts.  We will explore the key features to know and remember when reading or writing factual information.  The children will have opportunities to write about the real events of the ducklings hatching in their own ‘duck diaries’, recording the changes they observe each day, drawing and writing about their observations.

Mathematics

We will build our understanding of numbers 9 and 10, applying counting principles and representing 9 and 10 in different ways.  We will explore subtraction in a real life context as we watch our ducklings hatch and count the remaining eggs.  As the term progresses, we will introduce number bonds to 10, finding number pairs and asking how many more to make 10? We will learn the names of 3D solid shapes and use them to build, create and construct models, pictures and patterns with an Easter egg theme.

Expressive Arts and Design

In music, we will learn a variety of topical songs including ‘Reach for the Stars’, ‘Spring Chicken’, ‘Easter Jubilation’ and ‘Shine from the Inside Out’. We will design and make seasonal greetings cards and gifts using mixed media and materials.

We will explore colour mixing when we celebrate ‘Holi’ gaining hands-on experience of mixing powder paint to create new shades as we follow in the traditional of throwing and sprinkling brightly coloured paints to welcome the beginning of Spring.

We hope to create a natural ‘cross of New Life’ as part of our Easter preparations- be prepared to save your Mother’s Day flowers once they begin to wilt, they will be very welcome in school for this special project.

Physical Development:

In PE this half term, we will focus on fundamental movement skills: balancing, hopping, jumping and landing, running, stopping and changing direction.  Please continue to praise your child’s efforts to dress themselves and look after their belongings independently as we are continually encouraging this in school when we get changed in and out of our PE kits.

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement, we look forward to another half-term filled with many more ‘magic moments’ to remember.  Please encourage your child to always ‘reach for the stars’ to be the best they can be, at home and in school.