What will your child be learning in the Spring Term ? Literacy: This term in Literacy we will be focusing on reading, writing, listening skills understanding and speaking. The daily phonics lesson will move on to blending sounds together to read words and high frequency words. Letter formation will also be recapped. Children will continue to read twice a week and will be tested on their sounds and their ability to segment and blend words. Children will have a story read to them four times a week. Each book will be related to the current topic and the daily activities prepared will be related to the story. Handwriting occurs on a daily basis where children will be continuing to practice their capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. Numeracy : This term we will be reviewing numbers 1-20 with a focus on number formation, number recognition and ordering numbers. Addition and subtraction number sentences will also be revised. 2D shapes will be recapped and 3D shapes will be introduced by studying their properties and by finding different 3D shapes in our environment. Weight and capacity will be introduced this term and taught in practical ways. R.E. R.E lessons take place every Tuesday morning and the Come and See programme is used. In the Spring term, our focus in R.E will be the Local Church, the Eucharist and Lent/Easter. Each topic will be emphasised within our daily routine and prayer. Physical Development: In the Spring term, P.E lessons will continue to take place on Tuesday afternoons. Dance, Gymnastics and Games are some of the different activities that the children participate in. Balance, Co–ordination, Agility, Spatial Awareness and Movement are all areas of Physical Development that are covered. The children also have access to play dough, construction equipment, using scissors, painting. activities that involve drawing and writing, and bicycles in the playground on a daily basis. This will increase their confidence and ability for handling tools and equipment safely and with control. Expressive Arts & Design Understanding the World In the first half of the Spring term, the topic will be Food, focusing on healthy eating and the importance of a balance diet. The children will have the opportunity to create their own healthy dinners, make their own fruit salads and milkshakes! The second half of the term will be focused on Mini beasts. The children will be exploring nature at Forest School and studying different insects in detail. Other imaginative and creative activities will also be available. These include: painting, making finger puppets, masks, drawings, junk modelling, cutting and sticking, making animals using paper plates and using an extensive variety of different resources to create pictures and various artistic pieces. The children also have the opportunity to engage in imaginative role play based on own experiences & build stories around toys. Songs, are sung regularly as well as taping out simple repeated rhythms and explore how sounds can be changed. ICT lessons occur on a weekly basis. Children have access to technological toys including computers where they complete programmes and understand how information can be retrieved from computers. Personal, Social & Emotional Development : The children have made a fantastic start to their academic year. They will be continuing to develop their personal, social and emotional development this term. Show and tell will be continuing with a greater emphasis on speaking and answering questions coherently. Circle time will occur on a regular basis which enables children to grow in confidence by talking freely to their friends about their home and community. Children will be learning more about how to solve conflicts by managing their feelings and behaviour in a more mature way. School rules will be reinforced and also the children will be given the opportunity to learn to describe oneself in positive terms and develop happy relationships within the classroom.