Religious Education

Religious Education is central to all that we do and Collective worship and celebration are an essential part of this. Please pray with your children at home and help them learn the school prayers and the Our Father.

Our RE topics this term are ‘Belonging’ and ‘Waiting’.  In ‘Belonging’ the children will discuss how we all ‘belong’ to certain groups and how we are all part of God’s family through the sacrament of Baptism. After this our new topic will be about ‘Waiting’ which is linked to advent. They will be thinking of occasions they have waited for and they will learn that Advent is a time of waiting and preparing for Jesus’ birth.

English

Reading

The children will be doing lots of reading as a class, in a group and individually. They will be reading a variety of texts both fiction and non-fiction. They will be learning to read lots of new words on sight and use their phonic knowledge to sound out new words. They will be encouraged to develop their comprehension skills by retelling / discussing texts they have read, predicting what might happen in a story and begin to make inferences on the basis of what is being said and done.

Writing

The children will be constructing exciting sentences using adjectives and building up their use of punctuation. They will also be using conjunctions (joining words) to extend their sentences. The children will have opportunities to write creatively during story writing sessions using all the skills they have learnt so far (adding adjectives, conjunctions and using punctuation correctly).

Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation

The children will learn how to use ‘and’ ‘because’ ‘but’ and ‘so’ to join words and clauses.

They will be learning how to punctuate sentences using a capital letter and a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark and add adjectives to make their writing more interesting.

Phonics

The children will be recapping phase 4 sounds and starting Phase 5. Please see the link below for more information and guidance on the Letters and Sounds programme followed. Spellings will start coming home this half term. Spelling books will be handed out every Friday and should be returned on Tuesday. A spelling quiz will take place on Wednesday. Please practise the sounds listed in your child’s spelling book.

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Mathematics

We will be looking at the place value in numbers (eg 27 = 20 + 7), simple addition and subtraction problems and also our number bonds to both 10 and 20. We will also be looking at the properties of 2d and 3D shapes. The children will be encouraged to articulate the strategies they have used to work out their answers.

Science

In Science we will continue to classify and group animals. We will be identifying and naming a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals and we will also be identifying and naming a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. The children will also be describing and comparing the structure of a variety of common animals.

Computing
The children will be learning about the function keys on a keyboard to create and edit their own work on a blank Word document. They will also add images to a document using clipart and add captions to an image by adding information in a text box.

Art + Design

In Art we will be looking at repeated patterns and printing our very own patterns by using different objects. We will also be making Christmas cards and calendars by printing our designs from polystyrene tiles and finishing them off with a Christmas themed pattern.

PE

The children will be developing their skills in gymnastics. We will be covering two units: Flight, Bouncing, Jumping and Landing and Points and Patches. The children will use their bodies to travel/ move in different ways on the floor as well as on the apparatus. They will practise how to jump and land off the apparatus safely and in a controlled way. They will also develop their coordination and balancing skills by practising how to balance on the smaller and bigger parts of their bodies.

Music

The children will have a morning music session every Wednesday with an external music teacher named Mrs Hoskins. They will learn how to use their voices creatively and expressively by singing a variety of topic related songs and they will have opportunities to play instruments musically.

We look forward to an exciting term ahead. Please do not hesitate to make an appointment after school to see me if you have any queries.