Reception

This half term we will be finding out all about castles through the book ’The very last castle’. The children will start their research with a visit from a lost knight and his horse. Can we help him find his castle? Who works in a castle? What is a banquet and how can we plan one? Plus many more questions. We will visit Stafford Castle and see if we can name the parts of a castle and in Science find out what materials will be best to make a suit of armour from. Our topic will end with a grand banquet and hopefully the lost Knight will return as guest of honour.

This half term we will be exploring the exciting world of minibeasts! Through our class story we will be learning about the lifecycle of a butterfly. We will discuss the different character’s feelings. We will retell the story to others accompanying with actions. We will be exploring story vocabulary through hatching our own butterflies!

In Maths we will continue to explore the composition of numbers to 20. We will user apparatus to support our recording skills. We will embed our “subitising” skills by recognising number arrangements and playing games. We will explore ways to record our addition and subtraction problems.

Through Science and DT we will be designing and making our own bug hotel from recycled materials. We will be discussing ways to make our school garden more “bug friendly”. We will be recording our caterpillar’s growth through photographs, videos and diaries.

We will be introducing our ‘Fantasyland’ topic this half term through our class text ‘The Night Pirates’ by Peter Harris. Children will use the vocabulary within the story to make wanted posters, write instructions and make treasure maps and will also use non-fiction texts to learn about pirates. In maths we will be continuing to explore the composition of 10 with doubling and halving. We will experiment with capacity and explore length by measuring. We will create flags and pirate pictures using shapes and solve real life problems using money to make sure pirates have not taken any of our treasure. We will be celebrating Easter and learning about the Easter story, making pirate boats and experimenting with floating and sinking.

We will be introducing our “Journeys” topic this half term through our class text “The Train Ride” by June Crebbin. Children will discuss and describe the sights in the story. They will compare to their own experiences. Children will write about their own or imagined journeys by creating story maps and writing sentences.

In maths we will continue to apply our number skills to solve every-day problems. We will practise telling the time so we can begin to read timetables and count out money to buy tickets. We will be experimenting with a variety of materials to create our own vehicles! We will be celebrating the Year of the Ox through our Chinese New Year activities.

This half term’s topic is based around the story of The Gruffalo. Due to last term’s story ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, children will already be familiar with the skills needed to describe characters, settings and events that take place throughout a story and so they will be applying and embedding these skills further this half term. They will be using Talk for Write to create, as a class, a Gruffalo story map which will allow them to retell the story and they will be using actions to help support their memory and understanding. Also, children will continue to focus on their pencil control and pencil grip through fun, interactive activities that will link to The Gruffalo. Each Reception class has a Gruffalo’s Cave (role play area) for the children to immerse themselves within the world of the Gruffalo and friends. In this role play area, they will have the opportunity to explore the characters, their journeys, new vocabulary, fun activities and props such as the ‘log pile house’. Children will continue to develop their love of books through sharing books daily with others at school, at home and on the library boat. Phonic and guided reading sessions continue and will support early reading, spelling skills and new vocabulary which our ‘class wizard: Whizzy’ helps with every morning! Children will be supported to share their ideas to others in a sentence using their phonics knowledge.

In terms of Maths, Children will be exploring number bonds to 10 using numicon and other resources to support their learning and understanding. They will be counting from larger groups, estimating and counting and doubling and halving. Children will explore time, days of the week, length and height as well as looking at capacity, weight and comparisons.

For Science, children will be looking at, and discussing, the season of winter and the changes in the environment. They will be taking part in a water freezing experiment which will allows them to explore the reversible change that happens between water and ice. Children will be able to identify key features of a Wood and they will collect woodland objects such as leaves. Also, children will look at animal footprints and make clay footprints.

Children will be exploring special events such as Diwali and bonfire night. They will learn about why these events are celebrated and they will create beautiful art work to accompany it such as sparklers, Diwali Mehndi hand patterns and Diwali cards. Children will be using playdough for Funky Fingers and creating patterns. Of course, how could we forget Christmas? Children will be creating various festive items such as a chalk snowman, Christmas cards, painting with ice paintings outside and Christmas tree ornaments using wool to name a few!

This half term’s topic is based around the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. Children will be beginning to describe the characters and events that take place. They will retell the story to others using the repetitive story language and accompanying with actions. Children will be strengthening their pencil grips and improving their pencil control through fun, interactive activities. Phonic and guided reading sessions will support early reading and spelling skills. Children will be developing their love of books through sharing books daily with others at school and home. Children will be supported to share their ideas to others in a sentence. Children will be introduced to new topic vocabulary every day with the help of our “Class Wizard”

Children will learn about the lifecycle of a bean. They will grow their own beanstalk and discover what their plant needs to stay healthy. They will record its progress with drawings, labels and simple sentences.

Children will practise counting and number recognition through daily challenges. They will group groups of objects according to their own choices. They will begin to recognise patterns and continue them. They will compare the weight, capacity and height of objects by using equipment such as measuring tapes and weighing scales. Children will identify which group of objects has more/less or the same.

Children will be looking for signs of Autumn on daily walks around the local environment. Autumn objects will be collected, investigated and drawn. Children will be supported to use a variety of questions so they can discover more. Children’s fine motor skills such as cutting, modelling and tearing will be applied to make models for our class story and record autumnal objects.