Oak
Class Letter Summer Term 2010
Dear Parents,
I hope you all had a wonderful rest and you are eager to find out all the exciting activities we have planned for the Summer Term. I cannot believe how fast this school year has gone so far!
There are so many fun filled activities that we still have to come, in this busy Summer Term. We are going on a trip to Old Holly Farm also within school we have Health Day, Sports day, Creative week and a public speaking competition. These are just a few of the activities and learning tasks that will keep you on your toes until the time arrives, details will be given nearer the time.
Our topic for this half term will be based around minibeasts. We will find out how they grow, how they move and what they feed on, and all about their lifecycles. We will link this to the books written by Eric Carle – The Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Quiet Cricket, these are just two of the exciting books we will use to help us in our learning. If you have anything that will help to further our learning it would be greatly appreciated.
Yet again we are beginning to create our Role Play area as a team, having lots of fun on the way! This half term we are going to create a giant minibeast in the Sunshine Room, we are going to use our creative skills to create an abstract bug using our imagination. In the classroom we have created an investigation area where we will be able to explore and discover minibeasts and use new scientific equipment. We are hoping to invite some little creatures into school so we can explore how they move and what they eat.
During Communication, Language and Literacy this half term we are going to be focusing on writing simple sentences with full stops and capital letters, then we will be progressing to more complex sentences. We already use our THRASS charts to help us with spelling and we are fantastic at singing our vowel phoneme rap, and consonant phoneme rap and point to the correct boxes to help with our writing. We are also continuing to look at the different spelling choices we can use for each sound we want to represent in our writing. We are beginning to write for different purposes, including lists and recounts and we are continuing to learn about and use fiction and non- fiction texts and their features to learn about minibeasts. Within our reading we are going to focus on punctuation and how it changes the way we read a book or a passage of writing. We really enjoy reading as a class and we are getting better and better all the time!
Throughout our Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy area of the Early Years Foundation Stage we will be covering different practical activities, beginning to use more complex vocabulary involved in addition and subtraction. Also we will be developing our skills and knowledge finding one more and one less than a given number, then progressing to 2 and 3 more and less and then moving onto ten more and ten less than any given number up to 100 and beyond. We are going to deepen our knowledge of numbers up to 100 and place value, by finding and explaining different patterns we can see within the 100 square. We are very familiar with a number line to 20 and a number square to 100 and we are going to learn more about how and what we can use these tools for when working with numbers. Also we will be recapping on 2D and 3D shapes and identifying them in our everyday environments. We will be using mathematical language to describe position and direction, and we will use mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical and mental problems.
Our Knowledge and Understanding of the World will be based around exploring and identifying similarities and differences between insects and minibeasts. Also we will be investigating living things using all our senses where appropriate. These are the key skills we will be using to observe and explore lifecycles and different parts of creatures and insects. As a class we are very good at expressing our likes and dislikes and I don’t feel we will have a problem when we discuss how minibeasts feel and move!!
In our Creative area we will all be using our creative skills to get messy, using our imagination and having fun whilst learning about minibeasts. We have already started to get our hands dirty by making creatures to hang in the exciting Role Play area! I have some very exciting and interesting activities based around minibeasts that we will be completing and learning from over the next half term but I don’t want to spoil the surprise. I am sure we have plenty more stories to tell about our wonderful creations.
Throughout our physical development we will be using our bodies to move like minibeasts and exploring the different ways they move. We are constantly working on our physical skills in the Sunshine Room where we are using different parts of our bodies to explore the different areas of learning. Not forgetting sports day practise!!
We will be following the same routine within the classroom– Communication, Language and Literacy and Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy are held daily with reading books being changed twice over the week. Homework will be given out on a Friday and returned to school on the following Wednesday, unless stated otherwise. PE days are Mondays and Wednesdays however, please ensure your child has their full kit in school at all times. If you have not returned your child’s water bottle please return them to school as soon as possible. Also as the weather is getting warmer and the children will be learning more in the outside environment. Please send your child with a suitable sun hat and apply sun cream (both clearly labelled with a name) when needed before the school day or send your child to school with sun cream for them to put on throughout the day.
If you have any concerns, however small, please do not hesitate to make an appointment to discuss them with me.
Yours Faithfully
Miss R. Snape
