Welcome to Shells
| Autumn Term 2 23/24 | Topic: Homes & Houses |
|---|---|
| Focus Stories for this half term | Traditional Tales: Goldilocks and the Three Bears; The Three Little Pigs; The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Also Christmas stories! |
| Curriculum Area | Suggestions for Learning at Home |
| English | We will share one of the focus books as a sensory story each day in whole class circle time, where the children will get to touch, smell, feel and see objects related to the book of the fortnight and sometimes even taste things too! Perhaps you could bring a story to life with puppets or toys at home? Or watch some traditional tales on YouTube? Each week we will be exploring activities based upon our book of the week. These will include: ● Sequencing a familiar story ● Joining in with repeated phrases, e.g. ‘I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down!’ ● Role play using masks to act out the stories, e.g. jumping over the bridge away from the troll ● Listening activities, e.g. each of the three bears being represented by a different percussion instrument; can the children identify which bear is hiding using only their ears? ● Following recipes to make porridge with different toppings We will also be mark making each day, with pens every morning to explore our name and throughout the day using different sensory materials. You might like to continue this at home by allowing your child time to colour and make marks on paper. We will be reading following our school reading scheme, Rhino Readers, as well as reading books that interest us from the school and class libraries. We will listen to the children read individually to us at least once a week. Your child will bring home a reading book each Friday; this can be sent as an electronic copy if this is easier for you. Please try to find time to sit and share books with your child, it’s ok if this does not look like ‘reading’ as long as you are enjoying some time together with a book! |
| Mathematics | We will be focussing on the number 3: 3 bears, 3 billy goats gruff, 3 pigs and then the 3 Kings who visited baby Jesus. We will be thinking about what 3 looks like – are 3 things the same if you move them around, or change one for a bigger one? How can we show 3 – tally marks, dominoes, numicon, numerals, using pictures etc. We will be playing games of snap and bingo as well as Higher, Lower to practise our understanding of the numbers 0, 1, 2 and 3. Perhaps at home you could sing number songs together; it does not matter if you count higher than 3! Last half term the children really enjoyed Five Little Speckled Frogs and Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer. We will be singing songs each day about the days of the week, and will learn the signs for Monday through to Friday. We will continue to think about what is happening now and next using visual timelines and photos and symbols. |
| Science | We will be thinking about what happens to materials when they are cut, mixed and cooked on Friday afternoons where we will be exploring food and simple cooking in the school teaching kitchen. We are planning to make porridge for the three bears, fairy cakes for Goldilocks, straw cakes for the three little pigs and ‘grass pasta’ (chives and pesto) for the 3 billy goats. We will be spending time in the woodland area following our Shells Forest School Programme, where we will be able to safely explore the plants and animals that live outdoors as well as have some time playing on rope swings and hammocks! |
| Messy Play, craft and PE | Every Thursday morning is dedicated to sensory play and craft activities related to the theme of Homes and Houses and led by Julie. Julie will also be taking the class to the hall on Thursdays between 11-12 for PE sessions. |
| Please remember to send in NAMED warm hats and coats, even gloves, with your child now that the weather is colder and wetter. We like to encourage children’s independence so any time that you can spend helping your child to put their coat on and off, or helping them to tolerate wearing a warm hat would be much appreciated, thank you. |