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.

Autumn Term 1 2021 Visual Timetable

 

Curriculum Information for parentsTopic: Superheroes - people who help usAutumn Term 1 2021
SubjectProfilesIdeas for home Learning
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 ‘10 Little Superheroes’ by Mike Brownlow and will be linking much of our learning to our Superhero (people who help us) topic. We will enjoy role playing, looking at phone numbers, times and dates to make appointments or taking measurements on thermometers. 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 phone number. You could also role play making appointments with them, making up phone numbers, dates and times. 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.
English Our theme this term is ‘Superheroes’ which will give us a chance to explore descriptive language as well as some exciting stories. We will be using cross curricular links between PSHE, maths, science, D.T, art and geography to collect vocabulary and create some Superhero characters and characteristics of our own! We will look at books such as ‘Superkid’ by Claire Freedman, ‘Real Superheroes’ by Julia Seal and ‘A Superhero Like You’ by Dr Ranj that will give us opportunities to develop our imaginative role play, develop and practise our rhyming and storytelling skills. We will also be using non-fiction books, such as the ‘People who help us’ series by Rebecca Hunter to learn and develop our understanding of how to collect information and using this as a starting point to create some informative posters about every day superheroes like Doctors, Nurses, Firefighters and Police. At home, to support the children with their learning why not discuss characters in stories that you share and how they might help others. You could also comment on the ways in which families and friends help and support each other in daily life. You could also have some fun coming up with superhero characters with special powers and unique names – feel free to share all ideas with us in class!
ScienceIn ‘Superheroes’ Science, Seahorses class will be developing our understanding of how to look after ourselves by keeping fit and healthy. We will be exploring the ways in which Doctors and Nurses help us, learning about our bodies and building a positive approach to making healthy choices and keeping active. We will also learn about Dentists and discuss how to care for our teeth and which sugary foods to avoid! We will explore how Vets help animals and use it as an opportunity to learn more about common pets as well as some farm animals. This is also something that you could discuss with your children at home – 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.
PSHE/CitizenshipIn 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.
ComputingTechnology will be used throughout the term to support the children with developing their understanding of our ‘People Who Help Us’ topic as well as building fine motor control. 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 and local landmarks 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 Superhero outfits and uniforms and we will be looking at different ways to create 3D model versions of our colourful Superhero characters.
HumanitiesIn History and Geography, the children will be exploring images of various old and new emergency vehicles, comparing the changes from 50 years ago to the present day. We will look at the distinctive features of the vehicles and how they have changed and adapted over the years. The children will also be encouraged to explore both digital and paper local maps, to find Police Stations, Hospitals, Fire Stations and Surgeries. We will have opportunities to explore the area around school using Google Maps, Google Earth and photographic images and will take time to discuss local landmarks that are important to us. To support your child with this, have some fun looking out for emergency vehicles – can they identify which emergency service it is? Discuss the colours, the lights and the sirens – why are they important? You could also explore your local area for other services that we use, full of superheroes that help people every day, such as libraries, care homes, recycling centres or supermarkets!