Lion Cubs 

                                         Hello Summer Term! 

                                      

Welcome back to Summer Term 2 

   ^{Can you believe your little one has nearly completed their first year at school? It only seemed like yesterday, we were welcoming you as 'new parents' and a new cohort.} 

^{We have so much more to learn, to think about and have fun, for our last half-term.}

^{Here is a preview of what we are going to do...}  

  English 

                                                                        

 This half-term our topics will be 'Travel' and 'Saving the Seas!' using the books 'The Hundred Decker Bus' by Mike Smith and 'Who Swallowed Stanley' by Sarah Roberts.  Here we will look into different ways of travelling, maps and pollution of the seas and recycling. 

Writing  

The children have come to adore writing. We encourage them to write anything in reception, from lists, to celebration cards, to factual sentences and funny captions too.  It is important that they use a 'good' pencil grip and form their letters correctly. The children will be using capital letters, finger spacing and full stops.         

Read Write Inc (RWI)

Daily RWI activities will teach and consolidate new sounds, blending, practise writing each sound, read sounds speedily, read green words speedily, read words with new sounds, practise blending with nonsense words (alien words), write spellings, read short sentences and write short captions. Below are set 1 and set 2 sounds and the correct rhyme for each letter formation.

                                

     

Reading

Children are now taking home Read Write Inc (RWI) levelled reading books. Please continue to read them repeatedly, as this will build up the children's fluency in reading. On the website-Oxford Owl, they will be assigned an e-book which reflects the RWI level too.

We also encourage reading any book at home, whether the children read or an adult reads to them. At this stage of their reading, as well as children looking for words they do not need to blend, e.g. it, on, yes etc, we encourage them to look for and be familiar with 'red words', i.e. words that cannot be blended/'Fred talked', e.g. I, he, she, me, was, you, no, you, my, was, etc. 

 Speaking and Listening 

This term, the children will consolidate on participating in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary; offering explanations for why things might happen and making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate;

The children will be supported by using full sentences, including the use of past, present and future tenses and making use of conjunctions.

Maths

This half-term, our focus will be consolidating the compositions of each number up to 10, continue with addition and subtraction, odds and evens, directions and doubling, sharing and halving. In addition, the children will continue to look at measures- e.g. length, capacity and height, and rot
For mental starters, the children will be consolidating counting beyond 20 and recognising the pattern of the counting system of 'teens' numbers and recognising numbers 0-20.  

                                      

                                 

 Physical Development

P.E. lessons will continue to be on a Tuesday. We will still be encouraging children to practise their gross and fine motor skills during continuous provision, e.g, pencil grip, cutting up food, taking on and putting on a jumper, putting on socks etc. It is important to work on their hand muscles in order to strengthen their pencil grip and to exert good pressure when writing.  

                                                             

In addition, we will be practising 'bat and ball skills' and team games.  

Understanding of the World

Tying in with our theme of 'Vehicles' and 'Saving the Seas', the children will be looking at the 'pushes and pulls' recycling, safety in the sun and water, maps and directions.   

                 

                                          

RE & PSED

Through stories, artefacts and Puddles the cat, the children will be able to talk about the members of their immediate family and people who are familiar to them in the local community, and revisit the timeline of class celebrations across the year. Also, we will discuss 'how to look forward to the transition of year 1'. 

In R.E, the children will explore how God is a creator, He is loving, kind and forgiving'.  

                                 

For Personal, Social & Emotional Development (PSED), this whole term will be working on working towards simple goals, being able to wait for what they want and control their immediate impulses when appropriate. In addition, embed being confident to try new activities and show independence, resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge.

Expressive Arts and Design

Through our new topics, the children will be designing and making vehicles on a small and a big scale and creating with different mediums ,e.g. clay and learning to make a map and read simple maps. They will be taught how to return to and build on their previous learning, refining their ideas and be able to talk and comment on their peer's ideas too. 

                             

In Reception, sometimes the ideas and initiatives come from the children themselves. Therefore, there may be activities we do that are not on our topic web, but have come and grown from children’s own interests. For example, 'sharks, Super Mario, Minecraft etc'.   

                     

The Curriculum

For more information about what we have planned for this academic year, please go to the curriculum section on the school's webpage, click on 'Reception' and have a read about our amazing and busy curriculum.

Tapestry 

We look forward to putting our observations onto our electronic learning journal 'Tapestry' which will show you the wonderful learning that is taking place with your child in school. Equally, you can load onto 'Tapestry' the special moments your child has at home, e.g. a day out, a special time, a 'wow' moment etc. We love to know what they have been doing, and the children love sharing and talking about their photos/videos of what they have achieved.

                                                                             

Water Bottles

Please ensure that they take it home every day to be cleaned and refilled. 

                                                                           

We have an open-door policy where, at the end of the day, if you have a query, please ask away or email at lioncubs@parkgate.cheshire.sch.uk

No question is daft, so please never feel uncomfortable approaching us. 

Thank you for your continued support, 

Mrs Foster, Mrs Barralet, Miss Whiteway & Mrs Wilson xxxx