Hawk Class

Hawk Class

Useful information:

Forest learning is each Friday.

PE is each Thursday.

Books are changed on Friday.

The Curriculum:

We hope you have had an enjoyable summer holiday and your children are enjoying ‘Big School’. We have a very busy term with lots ahead of us and a great deal of fun too. If you have any questions regarding your child or the Curriculum please come and see me. We are looking forward to working with you and your children over the forthcoming year. This letter provides a brief curriculum overview of what your child will be covering this term.

This term our topic will be focussed on Up, Up and Beyond. The children will be enjoying lots of activities surrounding the story of the ‘Superpotato’, ‘Whatever Next’, ‘Owl Babies’ and lots more. From all our exploration throughout the term we will be able to answer this question in our own words.

Communication, Language and Literacy

This term we will be working on speaking and listening skills, both independently and as part of a group, talking about home life and family, as well as other significant events. Your children will have a daily phonics session and will begin daily writing activities focussing on fine and gross motor control.  They will start to use some of the sounds they have learnt to write and read simple words.

We will be sequencing stories and describing the characters that appear in them. The children will also have opportunities to act out familiar stories and make up their own.

Later on in the term, we will be writing to Father Christmas and exploring Christmas recipes linking to different countries from around the world.

Maths                              

In Maths we will be covering topics such as counting, recognition of numbers, 1 more, 1 less, addition, subtraction, number patterns, ordinal numbers, length, height, prepositions and will be exploring 2D shapes.

Expressive Arts and Design

The children will be engaging in a range of art and craft activities. The children will complete an ongoing project creating their very own superhero scene, creating a skyline and adding themselves flying through the sky. In music, we will be exploring sounds made by different instruments as well as making our own. We will be learning a range of different traditional songs linked to the harvest festival and Christmas songs. The children will be making crafts for Diwali, Bonfire Night, Remembrance Day and Christmas.

Understanding the World

The children will be learning about the similarities and differences between themselves and others and among families, communities and traditions. These will be linked to the five senses so the children can discover how they may see things differently to others. We will also be celebrating Diwali and will be making Diva lamps out of clay. We will be creating Rangoli patterns and having a Diwali party, tasting traditional Diwali celebration food. We will also be exploring the traditions surrounding Bonfire Night and Christmas.

Personal Social and Emotional Development

This term we will be developing the children’s social skills, confidence, independence and self-esteem. We will be establishing classroom rules, routines and codes of behaviour. We will be exploring how to be healthy and what contributes to a healthy lifestyle. Friends and kindness will be looked at in the second term, the children will learn how to be kind to themselves as well as others.

Physical Development

We will be taking part in regular PE lessons, children will need to come to school dressed in their PE kit every Thursday. Up until October half term we will aim to be outside as much as the weather allows so please dress appropriately. This term the children will be participating in outdoor games and gymnastic sessions, learning balancing and building on co-ordination.

Homework

Once your children are settled they will begin to bring home books to help practise their phonics skills. Books will be changed every Friday. The books will have red and greens words on page one, these need to be practiced daily. Green words can be sounded out using phonic knowledge, red words are tricky words so these need to be read through recall. It is very important your children practice these words in a variety of ways; reading them, hearing them and identifying them and writing them. To begin with, every child will bring home picture books, these are an important part of your child’s reading development and should be looked at daily. Every book had a different story to tell and you should encourage your children to make up these stories using new vocabulary and questioning techniques. Alongside this, each week your child will go to the school library and choose a sharing book to bring home, these can be read to your children and enjoyed throughout the week.

Your children will soon start to learn a phonics sound each day. A letter will be sent home with a timetable of these sounds and a parent information evening will be held to explain our scheme. It is important you practice these at home. This work at home is designed to be fun and will help to consolidate their learning they do at school.