Curriculum News – Upper Foundation Phase Spring Term 2019

Welcome back after the Christmas holidays! The festive season is now over and we are all settling back into our usual classroom routines. Please find below details of some of the topics and activities that will be covered during the coming term. The topic that we will be covering this term is, ‘May the force be with you!’ The children are already very excited as this involves lots of work about Suprheroes! If you feel that you could help in any way with anything, or you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let us know.

Important Information

Fruit MoneyFruit is £1 per week. We would be grateful if this could be paid at the beginning of each half term, in a clearly labelled envelope. We still have a number outstanding from last term.

PEThese are the current PE days for the Upper Foundation Phase classes:

Mrs Reynolds (Year 2) – TuesdayMrs Manning/Evans (Year 1/2) – ThursdayMiss Walstow (Rec/Yr 1) – Monday

Please send in a PE kit for your child, consisting of a plain white t-shirt, plain black shorts and black daps. This will be kept in school and sent home to you before each holiday.

Outdoor LearningA lot of the learning that we do takes place outside of the classroom, and your child will regularly take part in outdoor learning. Therefore, it is essential that your child comes to school in clothing/footwear appropriate for the weather. We ask that during the wet/winter months, you child has wellingtons/wet-weather clothing in school for their outdoor sessions. If you have any questions about this, please speak to your child’s class teacher.

ReadingYour child will soon be allocated a reading day. Please return your child’s reading book to school on this day.

Religious EducationOur values this term are Perseverance and Friendship. The children will have the opportunity to explore these themes using stories, Bible stories, drama and discussion. Our RE focus for the term Salvation and Festivals.

To understand Lent as a preparation for Easter To understand that they can take part in festivals and to understand the active role involved in celebrating festivals

Language, Literacy and CommunicationDuring this term, the children will have the opportunity to write play scripts and newspaper reports. We will also sequence familiar stories linked to our topic. Throughout the term the children will continue to develop their key writing, punctuation and grammar skills. They will be encouraged to check their own work for the use of capital letters, full stops, and finger spaces, and will begin to use a more interesting vocabulary in their writing.

Alongside this, we will cover all aspects literacy including fiction, non-fiction, reading and oracy. We will learn new phonic skills as well as building upon previous learning in our daily phonics sessions. Developing the children’s ability in handwriting and spelling will continue

to be a class focus. Please continue to support your child in their literacy development by listening to them read regularly and making notes about their progress in their reading record.

Ways to help with writing When you go on holiday, encourage children to write postcards to friends or relatives. They could

record things that you do in a holiday diary which they can share with friends or relatives when they get home.

After making a cake or doing a craft activity, challenge children to write the recipe or instructions for someone else to use.

Write an information page or booklet about something they find interestinge.g. pets, sports, dinosaurs, etc. Draw a picture and label it or write a captionto go with it.

Encourage your child to learn weekly spellings. Write the spellings in sentenceswith accurate punctuation and practise high frequency words and handwriting.

Provide your child with a comfortable place to work and exciting writing materials. Talk through their ideas with them before they start to write, for example, prompt them to think about

how they intend to tackle a subject. Encourage them to read through their work, shaping their sentences for clarity and checking their

accuracy.

WelshThe children are encouraged to use as much incidental Welsh throughout the day as possible. During this term, we will continue to build upon the language patterns and vocabulary that the children have previously learned. Each day, the children will take part in Welsh games led by the HelpwrHeddiw. We will be focusing on the weather, clothing, food, colours and hobbies.

Mathematics and Numeracy In mathematics, we will continue to build upon and develop their number knowledge through games and activities. Our focus this term will be money, time and 3D shape. It is important to develop the children’s confidence in mathematics and we will play lots of maths games to help to reinforce what the children have been learning. The children will also have the opportunity to use their maths skills during class activities, reinforcing the methods that they have learned.

Ways to help with Mathematics Let your children know you believe they can be successful. Encourage and support risk taking and celebrate perseverance.

Encourage your child to solve problems with you. Help them identify different methods or strategies to use in finding solutions and resist the temptation

to provide the answer or method. There is usually more than one way to solve a problem, and simpler strategies are often effective.

Provide opportunities for your child to explain and justify their thinking. Connect mathematics to real life experiences. Emphasising the mathematics around us helps to make it

relevant. Encourage children to estimate an answer before working it out.

Health and Well BeingThe children will be talking about things that are right and wrong. They will have the opportunity to think about people who help us and investigate any modern day superheroes we may know who have helped in their local community. They will receive a visit from someone who helps us and havethe opportunity to ask and answer questions. They will explore social issues andmoral dilemmas, how we could live like superheroes and what superheroes may eat,drink and move like to be so strong and healthy.They will play games and watch cartoons. They will watch, learn and practise traditional Welsh dances. The children will also continue to further develop their fine motor skills through classroom activities including cutting, sticking threading and sculpting with dough

HumanitiesDuring our topic ‘May the force be with you!’, the children will learn about historical superheroes such as

Robin Hood, about family/community superheroes. We will look at images of superheroes past and present and compare and contrast how heroesand villains have changed over time.

Science and TechnologyThe children will learn about Forces and Light and Sound. They will have the opportunity to make a light source. They will be using ICT to create images and sounds for superheroes, save and retrieve their work and using the internet to search for superhero images to support their learning.

Expressive ArtsDuring the term we will be looking at the composer John Williams. We will learn how to move like a superhero and participate in a superhero dress up day to fully engage in our new topic.

We hope that you have found this information useful. If you have any questions, ideas or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Mrs Reynolds, Mrs Manning, Mrs Evans and Miss Walstow