Spring: Half Term 2 Magic and Mysteries English

 We will be learning the story of Frozen and innovating it to create our own magical stories.  We will then be moving on to learn the Snow Queen and where the ideas for the story of Frozen came from.  These stories will help with our descriptive writing and sentence formation.

Vocabulary  We will be learning lots of new vocabulary throughout the topic. Please talk to your child about the new words they learn in class each day.

Reading  We practise our reading every day for half an hour. This is time for us to read to an adult in the classroom, change our reading books or be assessed to move up book bands!  Please take time to check your child’s book bag and read with them every day at home.  Your child now has a personalised bookmark. For every 3 reads in their reading diary, they will receive a sticker. Once filled, these will go into a prize draw at the end of every half term. The more you read, the more chance you have of winning!

Phonics and Grammar  We practise our phonics skills daily – this is done through the teaching of stories and characters of Letterland.  Please practise and reinforce these with your child at home and ask them about the new sounds that they are learning!  We also have a daily Grammar lesson to help us improve our writing. We will be learning about homophones, prefixes, suffixes and many other things, so please take the time to talk to your child about what we have been doing each day.

Handwriting  We are still using our handwriting lines and have regular handwriting sessions every week.  This also gives us the opportunity to practise our spellings.  If you would like a copy of the handwriting lines to practise with your child at home then please see the class teacher.

Language for Discussion  We have been learning the language for discussion and every week, we have a debate in our classes about a SEAL or Extra Curricular Related Topic. I disagree with… because… I agree with… because…

Topic  Alongside learning the stories of Frozen and The Snow Queen, we will be using the content of these to undertake lots of scientific experiments.  We will be looking at melting and freezing and how this happens. As well as which countries have lots of snow and ice and why this is.

How to help your child at home  Check your child’s book bag every night for new reading books and letters.  Read with your child at least 3 times a week and ensure that this is recorded in their reading diaries – more reading means more stickers!  Practise spellings and vocabulary with your child every day.