Welcome to Seahorses

Teacher - Seahorses Amanda Waters
Photo of Amanda Waters

Hello and welcome to Seahorses Class!

We are a vibrant class of 10 busy and active children learning alongside 5 adults. We love to be as multi-sensory as we can with our learning and a combination of songs, signalong, movement, exploration and mark making works well for us.

Through a combination of structured activities and self-selected tasks, we support each other in learning and playing cooperatively alongside and with each other to achieve a shared goal or purpose.

Every afternoon we have Golden time which is an opportunity to celebrate and enjoy the achievements of ourselves and our friends.

Seahorses SUMMER Term 2 timetable 2022

 

 

Curriculum Information for parents: Summer term 2 2022Topic: Carnival of Animals
SubjectProfiles & Ideas for Home Learning
English Our theme this term is ‘Carnival of Animals’ which will give us a chance to explore animal naming vocabulary, descriptive language and some exciting stories. We will be using cross curricular links between PSHE, maths, science, D.T, art and geography to collect vocabulary, find facts about our favourite animals, their environment and the food they eat and will create some animal pictures and displays of our own! We will look at books such as ‘The Monkey with the Bright Blue Bottom’ by Steve Smallman and ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ by Giles Andraea that will give us opportunities to develop our imaginative role play, be creative, develop and practise our rhyming and storytelling skills. We will also be using non-fiction books to learn about and develop our understanding of how to collect information and using this as a starting point to create some informative posters about animals from all over the planet. Each week we will focus on a different environment, such as Rainforest, Desert, Under the Sea and the Polar regions. We will also listen to Camille Saint Saens music, ‘Carnival of Animals’ and come up with movements and words to describe the music and match the pieces to the corresponding animals. At home, to support the children with their learning why not discuss animals you see when you are out and about, look at and describe their characteristics. Do they have fur? A tail? How many legs? If you visit anywhere that features animals, take lots of photos and share them with us in class!
MathsIn Maths we will be exploring and developing our number knowledge, covering numbers, place and value as well as some simple addition and subtraction. We will share and explore the book ‘Animals on board’ by Stuart J Murphy and will be linking much of our learning to our Carnival of Animals topic. We will count out legs on one or more animal and find the total amount. We will also look at sorting animals according to their characteristics, such as ‘no legs’, ‘4 legs’ or ‘6 legs’ or ‘8 legs’ etc. We will also be exploring patterns and symmetry, looking at various examples of camouflage on Safari animals and the symmetry in Butterflies and Beetles. When looking at the different regions in which the animals live (Polar, Desert, Rainforest etc.) we will be looking up and recording the temperature and comparing it to the temperature readings we take in class. This will help us develop and give context to our previous learning of counting on and back to 20 and beyond. We will also be learning to recognise and use numerals through songs and games, counting forwards and backwards from 0-20. Our maths will be approached in a multi-sensory way, encouraging the children to interact in a meaningful and engaging context. To support your child’s learning at home you could talk about the numbers in your own home, such as on the clock or on food packets etc. To help with recognition, why not point out numbers when you are out and about – you could spot them on road signs, number plates or house numbers.
ScienceIn ‘Carnival of Animals’ Science, Seahorses class will be developing our understanding of animals and their distinctive features and environments. We will be learning about their habitats and what they need to survive and comparing the similarities and differences between various environments. We will be using lots of sensory exploration to develop language and experience the different climates and textures the animals live in, such as dry sand, thick oozy mud, snow and ice or large spiky leaves! We will look at the changes in state and textures of these materials when we add water or heat to them, linked with maths, we will be taking and comparing temperatures, using various thermometers. At home, you could discuss animals with your child – do you have any pets at home? What do we do to help our pets? What do our pets need to stay healthy? Please encourage your children to notice and comment on the many different animals we have in Norfolk when you are out and about. You could discuss how we look after animals and the different ways in which animals help us.
HumanitiesIn History and Geography, the children will be exploring the distinctive features of the environments of various exotic animals and finding these areas on a map. The children will be encouraged to explore both digital and paper maps and Atlases, to find deserts, rainforests, polar regions etc. We will have opportunities to explore the World using Google Maps, Google Earth and photographic images and will take time to discuss local features and compare our area with areas from around the world. To support your child with this, perhaps you could look at some maps at home or explore routes on a Sat Nav next time you are taking a journey – can they identify the fields? Woodland areas? Towns and Villages? Etc.
PSHEIn Personal, Social, Health and Emotional lessons the children will be learning to reflect on how to look after ourselves and others and keep ourselves safe. This will include considering ways to keep safe in familiar and unfamiliar environments (e.g. the beach, a shopping centre, park, swimming pool, on the street) and how to cross the road safely. We will build on and develop our understanding of road safety and awareness and the importance of staying with our responsible adults when out in the community. We will be building on what we have previously learned and extending our understanding of what it means to feel safe and stay safe with our friends and trusted adults. We will learn about the people whose job it is to help keep us safe and discuss what to do if there is an accident or if someone is hurt. We will be learning to recognise risk in simple everyday situations and what action to take to minimise harm. We hope to put much of this into practise on a couple of visits out of school this term.
ComputingTechnology will be used throughout the term to support the children with developing their understanding of our ‘Carnival of Animals’ topic as well as building fine motor control. We will use computers and sound devices to explore Camille Saint Saens music, ‘Carnival of Animals’ and will attempt to match some of the music to the corresponding music! We will be using simple software to practise organising and making themed images and typing or forming letters or numbers. We will have daily opportunities to practise typing our name as well as some of the high frequency words we are learning to read, such as ‘no’, ‘to’, ‘the’, ‘go’ and ‘was’. We will use programmable toys, such as Beebots and Coda-Pillars to practice giving simple directions and build in the use of maps to support our learning theme.
Art & D.TOur art and D.T projects will be opportunities to explore our topic further as well as develop our creative design skills. The children will be encouraged to design their own Animal Print patterns and we will be looking at different ways to create 3D model versions of our colourful favourite Animals.