This year your teacher is Miss Holland and your teaching assistant is Mrs Crompton.

PE will take place every Thursday. 

For PE sessions, please bring the following:

- Black shorts, leggings or jogging bottoms

- White T-shirt or polo shirt

- Black pumps or trainers

It is best to leave your child's PE kit in school for the half-term so that it is always available to use.

Yoga will be every Monday afternoon with Mrs Ash. 

We will be doing Forest School every Wednesday with Mrs Powell. 

For Forest School sessions, please bring the following:

– Wellies 

- Waterproof coat or puddle suit

- A full set of spare clothes (please send in old clothes as the children will get muddy!) 

- Warmer clothes such as joggers and hoodies for the winter months

It is important that your child brings their reading book into school each day as the days on which they will be able to read with an adult may change from time to time. It is also crucial that you listen to your child read each evening and ensure that you sign their reading record highlighting what they have read and how they performed.

Within this class, reading records will be checked and books changed on a Monday. Please make sure your child has their reading folder with them every Monday. 

Homework will be set on a Tuesday through our online learning platform, Tapestry.

Some homework will involve an activity through the app and other homework challenges will be a practical challenge for you to complete with your child. 

Our current topic is: Would we see a dinosaur in Timperley village?

This half-term, we will be learning about dinosaurs. The children will explore different types of dinosaurs, what they ate and where they lived. We will learn about Mary Anning and the fossils she discovered, helping us understand how we find out about dinosaurs today. The children will also create their own salt dough fossils.

Our key text is Gigantosaurus.

Our weekly questions are...

Week 1 – Art & music week

Week 2 – What dinosaurs do I know?

Week 3 – Did all dinosaurs eat the same things?

Week 4 – Which is the best habitat for a dinosaur to live in?

Week 5 – What can we find out about dinosaurs? What did Mary Anning find when digging the rocks?

Our stunning start – Breaking open dinosaur eggs!

Our fantastic finish – Making salt dough fossils

Our Communication and Language focus for this half term will be...

Listening, Attention and Understanding
• Listen attentively in a range of situations and respond with relevant comments and questions
• Engage with stories and non-fiction texts, discussing key events, characters and new vocabulary
• Join in with familiar rhymes, poems and repeated refrains
• Ask questions and make comments to clarify understanding
• Hold conversations with adults and peers, taking turns in back-and-forth exchanges
• Begin to explain ideas, including how things work and what might happen next

Speaking
• Use full sentences to express ideas, feelings and experiences
• Ask questions and use talk to organise thinking and solve problems
• Retell familiar stories using both repetition and their own words
• Use new vocabulary confidently in different contexts
• Describe events in some detail and begin to use connectives to link ideas
• Take part in discussions, offering explanations for why things might happen

Our Physical Development focus for this half term will be...

Gross Motor Skills
• Move confidently and safely, negotiating space and obstacles with awareness of others
• Develop strength, balance and coordination through a range of movements (running, jumping, climbing, etc.)
• Show control when using different parts of the body and describe how their body feels during activity
• Work independently to complete tasks, showing perseverance when challenged
• Begin to explain simple rules of games and understand how to play fairly
• Work cooperatively with others, taking turns and supporting teammates

Fine Motor Skills
• Develop accuracy and care when drawing and forming shapes
• Hold a pencil effectively using a tripod grip for writing
• Use a range of small tools (scissors, paintbrushes, cutlery) safely and with increasing control

Our Personal, Social and Emotional Development focus for this half term will be...

Self-Regulation
• Recognise and talk about their own emotions and those of others, beginning to manage their behaviour appropriately
• Use simple strategies to calm themselves and wait for their turn
• Give attention to instructions and follow tasks involving more than one step
• Begin to understand fairness and talk about what is right and wrong
• Show awareness of others’ feelings and respond with kindness and empathy
• Resolve small conflicts through talking and understanding different perspectives

Managing Self
• Show confidence to try new activities and persevere when things are challenging
• Understand and follow rules, knowing why they are important
• Manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs independently

Building Relationships
• Work and play cooperatively, taking turns and sharing with others
• Build positive relationships with peers and adults
• Show sensitivity to their own and others’ needs and recognise their own value

Our Literacy focus for this half term will be...

Reading
• Read simple words and sentences using known letter-sound correspondences
• Blend sounds to read unfamiliar words and recognise some common exception words
• Re-read books to build confidence, fluency and enjoyment
• Talk about stories, demonstrating understanding and using new vocabulary
• Retell familiar stories in their own words
• Begin to anticipate key events and talk about what might happen next

Writing
• Form most lower-case and capital letters correctly
• Spell simple words by identifying and writing the sounds they hear
• Write short phrases and simple sentences that can be read by others
• Use capital letters, full stops and finger spaces in their writing
• Re-read their writing to check it makes sense

Our Maths focus for this half term will be…

Number & Numerical Pattern
• Build numbers beyond 10 and begin to recognise patterns to 20
• Count confidently to 20 and beyond
• Begin to add and subtract using practical resources
• Explore sharing and grouping, including early understanding of odd and even
• Develop knowledge of doubles and number bonds to 5 and 10
• Subitise and compare numbers within 10, understanding more, less and equal

Shape, Space & Measure
• Explore and use shapes for a purpose, including rotating and combining them
• Recognise, copy and create repeating patterns
• Develop understanding of positional language through play and practical activities
• Build and describe models, scenes and simple maps
• Begin to visualise and talk about positions and directions

Our Understanding the World focus for this half term will be...

Past & Present
• Use simple sequencing language (before, next, after) and begin to understand days, months and seasons
• Talk about their own lives and how things may have been different in the past
• Recognise similarities and differences between past and present
• Talk about stories and characters from the past, including traditional tales
• Begin to understand important events in their own lives and the school year

People, Culture & Communities
• Build positive friendships and play cooperatively, respecting others’ similarities and differences
• Learn about different families, cultures and special places
• Begin to understand different occupations and their importance
• Talk about their local environment and familiar places
• Recognise differences between life in the UK and other countries

The Natural World
• Explore and describe the natural world using their senses
• Observe plants and animals, understanding how to care for living things
• Learn about basic plant growth and what living things need to survive
• Talk about materials and begin to describe their properties
• Observe seasonal changes from spring to summer and describe weather patterns
• Explore how things move and work, including simple forces such as pushes and pulls

Our Expressive Arts & Design focus for this half term will be...

Being Imaginative & Expressive
• Listen and respond to music, sharing their thoughts and feelings
• Sing a range of songs and rhymes, following the melody and rhythm
• Develop storylines through imaginative and pretend play
• Explore music and movement, performing individually and with others
• Watch and talk about dance and performances
• Retell and create simple stories with peers and adults

Creating with Materials
• Explore and use a range of materials to express their ideas and feelings
• Safely use tools and experiment with colour, texture and design
• Build on and refine their ideas over time
• Create collaboratively, sharing ideas and resources
• Use props and materials in role play
• Talk about and explain their creations