Welcome back to our final term in Macaw class, and what a busy term we have planned.

Our
theme this half term will be Mini Beasts following on from our interests in Spring and all the
insects we have found in our outside area. We have begun our theme using our talking tub and
have a great interest in ladybirds and butterflies. Therefore we will begin by focusing on the
stories The Bad Tempered Ladybird and The Very Hungry Caterpillar as well as learning about
the lifecycle of the butterfly. We will also looking at a variety of mini beasts, how to care for
them and exploring where they might live. Please can I ask that children have wellington boots in
school so they are able to participate in the search for mini beasts which will involve digging and
with unpredictable weather possible wet conditions.
In our final half term we have planned to explore travel: different modes of transport; places to
travel to; discussing past experiences and holidays. However as we work on the interests of the
children this is dependent on the childrens interests and where their learning journey will take
us.
In Phonics this half term we will be re-capping all aspects of Phase 1 Phonics. This includes
environmental sounds, instrumentals sounds, sound discrimination, rhythm and rhyme,
alliteration, voice sounds and segmenting and blending sounds. Last half term the children really
enjoyed segmenting their words and were attempting to segment all their words into their
sounds, we played games such as eye spy and Miss Anderson says Pat your h-ea-d to reinforce
such learning. It would be a fantastic opportunity to continue these games at home to continue
sound recognition to support learning. As of yet we have not matched any letters to the sounds,
our focus has been on hearing the different sounds in words. Later this term we will begin to
introduce some letters and sounds from Phase 2 looking at the shape of the letters, the sounds
they make and using actions to help support our learning of the sounds, the letters that we will
be focusing on include; s, a, t, p, i and n.
During Mathematics we will be reinforcing our number recognition, looking at one more and one
less than a given number and also focusing on one to one correspondence when counting. To
support this we be going on number hunts, asking questions to promote thoughts about numbers
that come before and after certain numbers, counting objects set out in groups and matching
the correct quantity to numeral. In shape, space and measure we will be recapping on repeating
patterns, shape names and shape properties and will be beginning to look at 3D solid shapes. To
support this we will be making repeating patterns using a variety of different materials around
our inside and outside classroom. We will also be comparing shapes, describing them to our
friends and learning lots of new facts about 3D shapes.
Throughout Physical Education we will continue to develop our independence in getting changed
and turning clothing the correct way, which we are getting very good at! We will also be
continuing our Sports Day practice, learning a variety of skills including balance, coordination
and moving in a variety of ways. We will also be learning about team spirit, the importance of
taking part in our activities and trying our best. After this we will be focusing on the skills
involved in throwing and catching using beanbags and large balls, progressing to smaller balls.
I would also like to thank you for sharing your childs achievements using the Magic Moment
cards, the children have really enjoyed coming up and sharing their achievements with their
friends.
Thank you for your continued support
Miss Anderson