Red

Summer 2

Under the sea

This half term we shall be exploring all things seaside related as well as creatures that live in the sea. The topic will cover sand and water play as well as thinking about the things we need to pack for a holiday, exploring shells, starfish, rocks and other sensory objects, making ornaments and pictures using of sand. We shall be going on three trips firstly to an aquarium to see the fish and other creatures that live in water, we shall also be taking the children to Stockwood Discovery Centre who are putting on a couple of session about the seaside and will provide a Punch and Judy show. Lastly we will visit Cassiobury Park water play area to have some fin splashing around the outdoor pools there.

In literacy most of the children will be sharing a sensory story called Sheldon Snail’s Sunbathing Session. You can find the powerpoint presentation and resources for the story by clicking on this link; http://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/inclusion_and_SEN/PDMU_thematic_units/summer_holiday/resources.asp .

We will also be reading Sharing a Shell by Julia Donaldson.

During our science lessons we will be looking at light and dark using the light room, making shadow puppets and looking at out own shadows (when the sun is out!) and looking through a variety of sunglasses to notice the difference in the brightness of the light. We will also be exploring water and sand and the different forms it can take. Lastly we shall be finding pictures of animals that live in and near the sea.

Our song for this half term is Row, row, row the boat and the version we are using can be found below.

Summer 1

This half term we are learning about the different fruit and vegetables we would find at a market. We shall be visiting different shops and markets and shall be exploring fruit and vegetables in a variety of ways in the classroom. This half terms cookery lessons focus on fruit based recipes using fresh, tinned and dried fruit to make fruit salads, cakes and puddings.

Our story this half term is Handa’s Surprise.

We shall be learning to handle books carefully, turn pages and look and point to the pictures. Some of the children will learn the names of the fruit and the animals and a few will be able to recognise some of the words from the story. With some of the children we shall also be listening to the initial sounds of the words and asking the children to repeat those sounds.

Our song this half term is “Tommy Thumb” and the children will be using a finger puppet to place on each finger in order to recognise the difference between their fingers and isolate the movement of their fingers. This will help with hand eye co-ordination, pre-writing skills and pre-counting skills.

In Maths we are focusing mainly on number and being able to make groups of different sizes. Some of the children can count objects and some are able to recognise numbers, but the skill of stopping at a given number is quite tricky and the children need a little help to recognise when they have reached the correct amount. All the children have an understanding of one, so now we are looking to make groups of two and three. We shall also be learning about money and shall use pennies to buy some fruit and vegetables in our role play shop.

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Spring 2

Spring 1

Under your feet

This half term we shall be doing lots of things to do with feet! Starting with 

shoes and wellies, we shall be sorting them, counting them, printing with them, 

making marks in play dough, matching pairs of shoes and trying on lots of 

different shoes. After that we shall be looking at all sorts of socks, making 

patterns for socks, listening to noisy socks, matching pairs of socks and making sock puppets. The last two weeks are dedicated to feet and this is where we get really messy with lots of sensory play and different textures to walk on in our bare feet. We may also have a lovely relaxing afternoon at the spa, soaking our feet and having a foot massage.

Our area of science this term, materials, fits quite nicely with this topic and we 

shall be exploring a variety of man-made and natural materials and using them in 

different ways. This first week is water, followed by paper, sticks and leaves 

(and other man made materials), wood, plastic and metal. 

The sensory story for this term is a home-made one which I am hoping will help the children become engaged in a sensory way. Alex and the King follows the story of a young man who has to go on a quest to find magical items and return them to the King in order to win the Princesses hand in marriage. During these lessons we shall be learning about lists, how we can make all sorts of marks in different mediums and developing fine motor skills with threading and using small tools.

Our song to learn this half term is “Wind the Bobbin up”.

Cookery this half term is focusing on vegetables, each week we shall be digging 

up a root vegetable, washing it, peeling it, chopping it and cooking it. We will 

compare cooked and uncooked, hot and cold and hopefully we will be able to 

encourage some of the children to taste the vegetables.

We would like to say “Welcome” to our two newcomers to Red Class and are 

looking forward to getting to know them a little better.

Thanks 

Chrissie and the Red Class Team.

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Autumn 2

This half term our topic is “Where is Barnaby Bear”.

We have a class “Barnaby” that we shall be taking with us to various lessons around the school to help the children become more familiar with the school environment. Barnaby will be introduced to the children so that they can be involved in taking care of him and we shall be sending him home with a different child each weekend. Please take good care of him when he is with you and take him out to all the places you visit over the weekend. Don’t forget to return him to school on Monday along with news of what he got up to on his “holiday” with you and any photos you may have taken.

As part of the topic we hope to have some visits to some really special places including St Mary’s Church in Luton town centre, a Gurdwara in Bedford, Tring museum and Ashridge forest. We shall be celebrating Barnaby’s birthday and all the other festivals that take place in this half term including Halloween, bonfire night, Hanukkah and Christmas.

In Science we will be looking at animals and their habitats, learning the types of animals that live in the woodland, rivers and the sea, hot and cold places and day and night animals. We shall be thinking about the type of skin or fur that animals have and some children will learn to label parts of an animal.

This half term, as a school, we are looking at Traditional Tales. Key stage one will be reading “The Gingerbread Man”. Red Class have arranged for a sensory version of the story but we will also be introducing puppets or to tell the story o encourage the children to be able to mimic the story or retell it in their own style.

In cookery we are focussing on chopping and shall be making lots of lovely fruit based cakes, pies and puddings.

All our children are more than able to take their own shoes and socks off and hang their coats on a peg now. So thank you for your support at home to assist us achieve this, however, with one target met we are looking to move on to the next stage and want the children to put their own shoes and socks on! This is a more difficult challenge, but one I am sure we can achieve. Your support is greatly appreciated in meeting this challenge.

Thanks

Chrissie and the Red Class Team.

Autumn 1

Hello and welcome to Red Class. I am Chrissie the class teacher and helping me in Red Class are, Margaret (TA2) and Linda, Sharon and Vicki (TA’s).

Each half term I will be keeping you up to date with what we have planned for the children to work so that, if you wish, you can join in with some activities at home.

This terms topic is “People who help us” and we shall be learning all about the jobs people do. We will begin by looking at our families and then move on to the people who help us at school. After that we shall start to look at different jobs such as firemen, policemen, doctors, dentists, postmen, shop keepers and hair dressers.

Look out for some letters to arrive from your children during the postman week as we will be visiting the post office to buy some stamps and sending something that the children can open and recognise from school.

Other trips will include a visit to the local fire station and going to the local shops and Asda.

In Science we are exploring sound, making a variety of noises ourselves and listening to sounds in the environment and sounds made by musical instruments. We shall be recording some of the sounds we hear around school and out and about to use in class to help the children recognise and label different sounds.

Stories this term will be My Amazing Photographs which you can download here. 

Later in the term we will be looking at Hamish the Highland cow.

This half term we are going to be cooking biscuits and tasting them at snack time. We shall be trying to add different things to the biscuits each week like raisins and chocolate drops. Yum!

Last but by no means least, our biggest and possibly trickiest aim for the year is to help the children become more independent when dressing and feeding themselves and using the toilet. We hope that by working together with parents the children will be able to take a greater responsibility for their own needs.

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