1. Curriculum Overview for Reception Parents
UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD-
The children will:
Find out how Christians get ready for Easter?
And why we have Easter eggs?
Listen to some of the stories Jesus told:
The Lost Sheep, The Precious Pearl
The House on the Rock, The Two Sons
The Rich Farmer
Look at non-fiction books about owls
What do they already know? What do they want to find out?
UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD
The children will:
Make a map of mummy owl’s journey. What did she see? Where did she land? Talk about the landmarks she may have flown past
Label different body parts of owls and other animals
Find out facts about owls – what do they eat? Where do they live? How do their parents look after them?
How do they hunt? What sounds do they make? – Any clues in the story?
Explore owl pellets, find out what the owls have eaten
Look at owl boxes- is there somewhere we could put one in school? How could we protect an owl’s habitat?
Explore changes in the owls from birth to adult-compare to human.
Discover nocturnal animals- when do owls sleep? Diurnal and nocturnal. How are nocturnal animals specially
adapted for the night environment
Make a food chains that include owls. What do they eat? What eats them?
Meet Owls
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT–
Spatial awareness
Identify changes to the body during rest and exercise
Gymnastics- use equipment safely
To be able to jump off low tables/benches safely
To explore different ways to move across equipment
The children will:
Catch feathers, let the wind carry them, can they whirl and twirl like a feather in the wind
PERSONAL SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The children will discuss:
Being brave- in the book the baby owls are trying to be brave about their mummy not being there. Have they ever had to be brave?
Feeling safe, the baby owls cuddle together and comfort each other. What makes them feel safe and happy?
Their thoughts – Owls think a lot, what sorts of things do they like to think about?
How the owls are feeling at different points in the story. How could mummy owl have stopped the babies from worrying?
Owl Babies
Spring Term 2
EXPRESSIVE ARTS & DESIGN
The children will:
Compare and contrast the difference between the way the mother owl looks in Owl Babies to the way the baby owls look
Explore making owls using different artistic materials,
use items found in school grounds e.g. leaves, twigs feathers
Look closely at a collection of feathers and notice the patterns, recreate the patterns using different media and materials
Paint with feathers, dipping them into paint like quills
Make nests from twigs, leaves, grass and moss. Imagine doing it with only a beak
Make chocolate nests
Set up a role play bird hide, become a bird spotter
Make twig trees and decorate with both natural and found objects
Make owl masks
COMMUNICATION & LANGUAGE
The children will:
Retell the story of Owl Babies and begin to use model to rewrite own stories – through shared reading and writing
Consider character feelings and thoughts-speech bubbles
How did Bill feel at night? How could we make him feel better?
Describe the personalities of each of the owl babies.
How do we know what each baby owl is like?
Describe the wood where the owls live. How is it different at day time and night time?
Predict where the mummy owl has gone to. Why did she leave them? What would the story be like from her point of view? What does it feel like to fly?
Continue to consider the difference between fiction and non-fiction books
Be exposed to vocabulary related to owls
e.g. raptors/talons
Use a Talk table- set up with a variety of objects to discuss
Take part in Big it up Monday! Orally generating an imaginary adventure
WRITING
The children will:
Consider character feelings and thoughts-speech bubbles
Complete character profiles
Take part in Shared Writing
Write a note from the owls’ mum telling the owl babies not to worry while she has gone
Campaign to save the woods
What do the owl babies hear in the deep, dark woods?
Continue to write ‘learning review’ daily, applying their phonic knowledge
READING
The children receive a letter from the owl babies telling them that a builder wants to chop down their woods!
Use fiction and non-fiction books about owls
e.g The owl who was afraid of the dark
Look at information books on some of the animals that live in the woods
Ditties will be used for independent readers
Reading books sent home weekly
MATHEMATICS
Numbers
The children will:
Say number names in order,
1 to 20, then to 30, then to 40, building up to 100
Count in 10s to 100, 5s to 100 and 2s to 20
Use simple addition and subtraction, counting on or
back to find answers
Begin to read / create number sentences
Begin to solve problems
Begin to halve and double numbers
Share and be fair
Shapes, Space & Measures
Use everyday language to talk about size e.g.
big, medium, small
Will order two or three items by length or height
Owls have very round eyes
Collect together lots of circles, bottle tops, hoops, counters
Children will sort them (size, colour, type)
Sort animals, who is nocturnal, who isn’t using pictures and small world toys