Dinosaurs

The children will be learning all about ‘Dinosaurs’. We will be finding out about the different types of dinosaurs, where they lived and what they ate! The children will be reading lots of different stories about dinosaurs and have some exciting cross curricular learning opportunities.

Topic title and summary overview 2nd term

Big Cats!

The children will be learning about the different types of big cats. We will be writing non-fiction texts and incorporating our theme across the curriculum.

This term we will continue revising the set 1, 2 and 3 phonic sounds for 20 minutes a day as well as guided reading. The children will be taught to identify and use some common suffixes (-ed, -ing, -est, -er, -s, es) where the root word does not change and the suffix is simply added to the root word. (e.g. play- playing, play, played). They will be learning which letters are Vowels and which are Consonants.

We have found that ‘Talk for writing’ has been very effective in developing the children’s writing and has provided them with a wide range of vocabulary. They have developed their sentence structure and improved their use of punctuation. We will continue to develop this to further support children’s writing.

We will be using a five part story mountain and teaching these parts of the story explicitly (opening, build-up, problem, resolution, ending). We will continue to develop our understanding of compound and complex sentences and begin using these more to develop our writing.  We will continue to identify nouns, verbs, adjectives and compound words. The children will be using these in their writing to make their sentences interesting for the reader.

Some of our key texts we will cover in the summer term include: ‘The Dinosaur Who Lost His Roar’, ‘Katie And The Dinosaurs’, ‘Dino-Sitting’ & ‘Library Lion’.

Simple sentence: Capital letter, full stop, subject and verb (e.g. The girl ran to the park.)

Compound sentence: Capital letter, conjunction, full stop, subject, verb (e.g. We went to the park and played on the swings. The girl ran to the park because she was meeting her friend.)

Complex sentence: She was a beautiful, young girl with a big, bright smile.

Division

Sharing equally

Finding the number of groups

Time

Telling the time to the hour

Telling the time to the half hour

Counting

Place Value

Comparing, order and pattern

Addition

Subtraction

Money

Getting to know our money

Exchanging money

Work out the amount of money

Adding and subtracting in pence

Adding and subtracting in pounds

Solving word problems

The children will be learning about Mammals and reptiles. They will identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. They will also name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

In the second term we will be having a science week focussing on chemistry experiments.

This term the children will name and locate the four countries of the UK and learn all of the capital cities. They will also learn the four compass directions. They will also learn what a fossil is and what they tell us about the past. The children will also be learning a little about archaeology.

The children will develop their simple programming skills by using SCRATCH software. They will begin to understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs on digital devices; and that programs execute by following precise instructions.

We will be designing and making dinosaur eggs. We will also be doing some artwork around the topic of ‘nature’ ready for Exhibition evening.

Design Technology

The children will also be making dinosaur skeletons when learning about animal structures and designing and making an African shaker.

Children will continue to sing with Ms Vetch, our music specialist. They will be doing some African drumming and singing African songs.

The children will be taught PE once a week with Mr Browning. In the first term they will be learning Tennis specifically focussing on racket skills. In the second term they will be learning dance.

Class teachers will continue teaching PE once a week with gymnastics/dance points and patches in the first term and athletics in the second term.

Mademoiselle Roberts, will continue to deliver weekly French lessons. Class teachers will reinforce this learning throughout the week. The topic the children will learn is ca pousse- growing things. They will learn the names of some vegetables grown in the garden and how to say which they like and don’t like. They will learn how to describe the life cycle of a plant in French and they will do some work on Jack and the beanstalk. They will also learn how to order in a restaurant.

Once they have finished that unit of work they will start the topic mon corps- my body. They will learn different body parts and learn how to visit the doctor in french!

The children will be learning about religious beliefs through whole school assemblies. They will also be reading different creation stories from Africa. For example; How Zebras Got Their Stripes, How The Rhino Got His Skin and The Leopard And The Sky God.

Our values during the Summer term include: Equality, Fairness, Enthusiasm, Responsibility.

We will be talking to the children about these values during assemblies and we will ensure they are at the centre of all of our learning throughout the term.

During the summer term, we are planning some special days. We hope to have a life size dinosaur visit and an archaeological dig to find dinosaur bones and fossils.

We will also be taking part in a ‘big cats’ dance themed project.

Daily reading

Revising set 1, 2 and 3 phonic sounds

Fine motor activities to develop handwriting

Helping the children to learn their 2’s, 5s and 10 times tables (chanting)

Practise spelling key words using look, say, cover, write, check strategy