Welcome to Seals

Teacher - Seals Amanda Waters
Photo of Amanda Waters

Welcome to Seals Class! We are an energetic and lively group of 10 children supported by 5 adults.

We use lots of different approaches to our learning but we particularly enjoy singing with sign along, designing and building towers and writing and drawing. Where possible our learning is linked, so our English lessons will support our learning in Maths, History and even cooking! We enjoy working together on our communication and language development and we are learning to support each other with our emotional understanding. We have a positive attitude to learning and developing and we aim to make every day fun!

 

Autumn Term 1 Timetable

 

Autumn Term 2 2020 Topic: Authors and ArtistsCurriculum Info for Parents - Support communication and language development, emotional growth and generally embed a positive attitude to learning and developing.
EnglishOur theme for this term is ‘Authors and Artists’ which will give us a chance to explore characters and stories from all our favourite books using cross curricular links between PSHE, maths, science, art, geography and more! We will look at books from Nick Sharratt, such as ‘Just imagine’ and ‘You Choose’ that will give us opportunities to develop our imaginative play and storytelling skills. ‘The Gruffalo’ and ‘Monkey puzzle’ by Julia Donaldson and ‘Rumble in the jungle’ and ‘Commotion in the Ocean’ by Giles Andreae will encourage us to develop and practise our rhyming skills. At home, have some fun playing games such as ‘I hear with my little ear, something that rhymes with cat’ … (mat, hat, pat, bat or sat!) or you could simply sit down to share a good old story book with your child, focussing on the characters, the setting and the theme.
MathsIn Maths we will be looking at shape and pattern, using inspiration from artists such as Kandisnky, Miro and James Rizzi. We will be drawing, cutting and sticking all sorts of colourful shapes and patterns, developing our fine motor strength and control as well as our mathematical language such as smaller, bigger, biggest and edges, curved, straight and corners. To support your child’s learning at home you could try looking at and comparing different shapes you see around the home or while you are out and about and the various patterns found on walls, floors and clothes etc. You could also practice counting out items to encourage one to one counting correspondence.
SceinceIn ‘Authors and Artists’ Science, Seals class will be learning about animals and their habitats, with the help of books such as ‘Monkey Puzzle’ and ‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson and ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ and Commotion in the Ocean’ by Giles Andreae. We will be linking some of this learning with an Artist called Andy Goldsworthy, collecting all sorts of natural materials to create both art and habitats for small, woodland animals and some ocean themed art for some sea life and creatures. This is also something that you could discuss with your children at home – please encourage them to notice and comment on the different animal homes and environments you see when you are out and about, especially if you’re near a beach or a woodland area.
HumanitiesIn History and Geography, the children will be exploring ‘natural’ and ‘man-made’ objects and artefacts. We will be using all sorts of foraged materials from woods and beaches to explore and create pictures, patterns and sculptures. At home it would be great if you could share examples of natural and man-made objects materials with your children and explore the similarities and differences between them.
PSHEIn Personal, Social, Health and Emotional lessons the children will be learning to reflect on the characters in the stories, how they might be feeling and why. We will discuss our own emotions and those of others, how we might affect the feelings of others and develop our understanding of what it means to be part of a group, working together to support each other. Through a combination of structured activities and more self-selected play, we will be supporting the children in playing cooperatively alongside and with each other to achieve a shared goal or purpose.
Art (Nikki Wardell, Tuesday am) During Art we will be looking at some different artists work and trying to recreate some pieces. The artists that we will be focusing on are as follows; Kadinsky, Miro, James Rizzi & Andy Goldsworthy. When at home and out in the community, continue to take the opportunity to collect items such as twigs and leaves. Try to make a piece of artwork that can be left in the garden or outside. Send in any artwork that has been created at home – we would love to see it.
D.T. (Nikki Wardell, Tuesday am) During DT we will be looking at the clothing for characters found in some of our favourite stories. We will be attempting to make a hat in the style of ‘The Cat in the Hat’; a cloak in the style of Little Red Riding Hood & a witch’s hat & cape from the story ‘Room on the Broom’. When at home and out in the community, continue to explore and talk about different types of clothing can be seen. Take time to explore a piece of clothing carefully. What material is made from? How is it joined together? Does it have any patterns or logos on it? Let us know about any favourite pieces of clothing that you have at home – we would be interested to hear about it.