Cedar Class Learning
Reception Pupils
Expressive Arts & Design
Reception use hands on experiences to investigate different materials and explore and make what they want.
The children also get an oportunity to use paint on the paint easle, junk modelling and chalk. They also enjoy dancing on our stage using the musical instruments and making up their own songs.
Communication & Language
This term Reception are working hard to use their words to make friends and listen to others.
They have lots of different oportunities throughout every day to make friends and share nicely.
This term they will be answering the following questions:
Why am I special? Who is in my family? How do I keep healthy? What do I want to be when I grow up?
Physical Development
In Reception we use our fine and gross motor skills everyday during continuous provision.
The children have access to funky fingers, writing, art and investiagation areas in the classroom where they will use thier fine motor skills.
We also have PE every week, this term we are learning a dance in PE. The children will learn new dance moves and be able to move to the beat of the music.
The children will also learn how important it is to warm up our bodies before exercise and cool down after exercise.
Personal, Social & Emotional Development
In PSED we learn all about our feelings, rules and school values.
PSED is taught through Dinosaur School in our Reception classes, the puppets are super friendly and we get to meet Wally, Molly and Dina this term.
Literacy
'Marvelous Me' is our topic for this term.
We look at ourselves, our friends and our family. This term we explore fiction and non fiction texts.
We learn stories and new vocabulary using our 'Talk for Writing' Scheme.
This term we will be sharing the following books:
My Brother - Anthony Browne, I love Me - Marvyn Harrison, Autumn - Sian Smith, In Our Community Collection - Amy Allatson, Funny Bones - Allan Ahlberg, I could be a Superhero - Chris Harnsey, Superwrom - Julia Donaldson.
Mathematics
In the Autumn term Reception learn number songs, counting to 10, matching and sorting, using 1:1 correspondence and patterns.
We use different resources for counting and enjoy a daily maths carpet session with our teacher.
We find numbers and maths in every area within our provision.
Understanding the World
This term we learn all about Autumn through our forest school sessions, we go on an Autumn walk too and discuss what has happened to the trees and plants. The children really enjoy our Forest schools.
We also look at differetn celebrations around the world. This term we learn about:
Harvest, Halloween, Diwali, Bonfire NIght, Hannukah and Christmas.
Year 1 Pupils
Maths
We will start the term focusing on place value and numbers to 20. This will involve reading and writing numbers to 20 in numerals and in words as well as counting accurately and representing these numbers in different ways.
We will move on to addition and subtraction within 10. Our learning will involve lots of practical activities and opportunities to develop children's problem solving skills.
Later in the term, our maths learning will focus on shape including reognising and naming 2d and 3d shapes and describing their features using mathematical language.
Science
In science, we will be learning about germs and medical inventions.
Later in the term we will find out about scientists including Galileo Galilei and Mae Jamison. We will think about stereotypes about scientists and 'smash' these as we learn about different scientists and their work.
Over the course of the term, we will also be learning about the seasons and making the most of practical opportunities to observe the changing seasons in our school environment.
English
In English, we will be starting the term reading the story 'The Colour Monster' and writing a diary entry to explain why the Colour Monster feels so mixed up at the beginning of the story. As part of this unit, we will be focusing on writing sentences with capital letters, finger spaces, full stops and correct letter formation.
We will read the story of Beegu, the alien who crash lands far away from home and is desperate to make friends. Children will design and describe their own friend for Beegu to play with.
We will end the half term with a non-fiction piece linked to our whole school Arts Week - exciting details to follow!
All children will continue to access Little Wandle phonics sessions every day and to read frequently with an adult.
We will welcome parents and carers into school for 'Come read with me' sessions from October - dates and details to follow.
Foundation Subjects
Our geography topic for the Autumn term is 'What is it like here?' We will be locating where we live on an aerial photograph and recognising the features of the local area. We will also be creating maps using classroom objects before drawing simple maps of the school grounds. We will follow simple routes around the school grounds and carry out an enquiry as to how our playground could be improved!
In history, we will be learning about famous explorers in our topic 'How have explorers changed the world?' We will create a timeline and investigate which parts of the world Christopher Columbus and Matthew Henson explored before comparing these explorers and discussing ways in which these significant people could be remembered.
Our design technology topic is based on food and nutrition. We will be designing and making a healthy smoothie. We will need to plan, make and evaluate our product as well as designing packaging for it.
Our art and design lessons will develop our skills in this subject including printing, line and mark making and colour mixing. We will explore abstract art and consider how artists use colour to tell stories in their work.
In music, we will be focusing on pulse and rhythm and understanding the difference between the two.