Kingfishers Planning Letter: Spring Term 3/4 2024 - Mrs Ford & Miss Black
Dear Parents and Carers,
Happy New Year! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break and managed to get lots of rest ready for 2024.
This is our Term 3 and 4 newsletter, giving you another brief summary of what your child will be learning in each subject this spring term, as well as reminders of key information about our class in general. We will be continuing to focus on routines, expectations and developing independence which the children were making good progress with last term.
Our spring topic for Terms 3 and 4 is ‘Rainforests’ which we hope the children will find to be an exciting focus for our learning. It is also exciting that Miss Wilby is still with us until March and will be teaching the class for much more of their learning during this time.
English
In Controlled Reading for Term 3, Year 1 will be reading ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ by Anna Milbourne and Year 2 will be reading ‘The Chocolate Monster’ by Pip Jones as our year group texts; answering comprehension questions and developing our reading with these high quality texts. In Term 4, Year 1 will read ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit’ by Beatrix Potter and Year 2 will read some of the ‘Just So Stories’ by Rudyard Kipling for the same purposes.
For our writing, we will be using ‘The Great Kapok Tree’ by Lynne Cherry in Term 3 and ‘Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth’ by Eric Carle in Term 4. In Term 3 we will be informers, instructors and story tellers producing a letter, set of instructions and an animal story. In Term 4, we will be writing a story in a repetitive style and creating rainforest poems.
We will continue with our strong focus on handwriting and spelling to continue building on the progress made in the autumn term.
Geography
In Term 3, we will be starting off our Geography by looking at what it is like in Winter with regards to the signs, weather and things that happen in winter. As we had a similar focus on Autumn in Term 1, we will be looking at our prior learning to compare these two seasons. We will then move onto our rainforest learning, locating these in different continents and in relation to the equator. We will look at the type of climate rainforests have and how the tropical rainforests compare to forests we have in the UK.
In Term 4, we will continue building on our rainforest knowledge but also recap our learning of compass points and directional language to locate the world’s rainforests in atlases, on maps and globes. We will be following and giving instructions using this language in order to locate different rainforests.
Maths
In Term 3, we will be finishing our addition and subtraction learning. The children have surely mentioned how much fun they had using the online platform, Numbots, last term and continuing to use this for additional practice will really support and embed their addition and subtraction learning.
Once we have finished this, we will move onto multiplication and division with Year 1 mainly focusing on making equal groups and sharing whilst Year 2 will be transitioning from this to using the multiplication and division symbols to solve calculations within the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Year 2 will also start counting in 3s. Towards the end of the term, Year 1 will be extending their place value knowledge up to 100 and Year 2 will be doing a short statistics unit.
Computing
Children did so well with their Computing work last term and managed to create some really great pieces of art using the paintz.app website! This term, we will be moving on to look at Data and Information. In Term 3, we will be grouping data and in Term 4, we will be interpreting, using and creating Pictograms.
PE
For PE for Terms 3 and 4, we will continue to have Wayne working with us on Monday mornings and our other lesson will continue on a Friday afternoon. We will be working on our gymnastic skills. May we remind you that from this term, children are to come to school already wearing their PE kits to allow us to really get the most out of our learning time. As it is cold and we will have lessons outside when possible, please ensure children come to school in warm PE kits, especially as they will be wearing this all day, including at break times.
Homework
Compulsory
New spellings will be given out to the children every Monday on a look, cover write worksheet but will no longer be quizzed on them at school. Please continue to support your child in completing the sheet with the different activities specified to support the learning with phonics, spelling and writing.
Maths homework will be given out every Friday to be returned on the following Thursday. There will be times when this includes an English based task as well.
Encouraged
We would love to see the children using Spelling Shed, Mathletics and Numbots regularly to support their learning. Activities will be set each week and achievements will be recognised in our Friday celebration assemblies.
We are also very keen for children to have a go at an activity from the home learning menu which is linked to their topic for the term. We will provide an opportunity for the children to show and tell the class about their home learning and it will be put on display in the classroom for viewing by children, staff and visitors to the school throughout the term.
Science
In the Spring Terms, our science lessons will be focusing on plants for Term 3 and then Living Things and Their Habitats for Term 4. In Term 3, we will be doing investigations into the conditions that plants need in order to grow into mature plants. We will link this to some statistics so we can use tables (Year 1) and block Diagrams (Year 2) to record our observations and results. It’ll be great if there are any opportunities for children to help with planting and taking care of the plants in your homes and gardens to support their learning.
In Term 4, we will be comparing and describing things that are living, dead or have never been alive before moving onto finding out how animals, plants and their habitats are well suited for survival.
Art & DT
In Term 3, we will be sculpting with clay in art. After looking at the sculptures by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, children will choose an animal from the rainforest that they would like to sculpt with clay. They will be using the pinching method in order to create their animal which they will practice making with playdough before their final clay version. Any opportunities to have a go at modelling with playdough at home will support children with building the skills they will need to create an effective animal.
RE
In RE for Term 3 we will be looking at the Jewish faith with the enquiry question: ‘Who is Jewish and how do they live?’. We will begin our learning by looking at what special objects may be found in a Jewish home, before learning about the importance of a mezuzah and Shabbat. In Term 4, we will be enquiring ‘How should we care for others and the world, and why does it matter?’
PSHE
Our Term 3 unit is called ‘dreams and Goals’. This unit of work will see children thinking carefully about their personal goals, how to challenge themselves and overcome obstacles. We hope that this will help children focus on how it feels to succeed and therefore want to challenge themselves further throughout their time at school and their lives.
In Term 4, our unit will be ‘Healthy Me’ which will encourage children to recall their science learning from the autumn term as they think about how to keep themselves healthy, hygienic and safe.
Music
In music this term we will be creating rainforest-styles pieces of music. In Term 3, this will be based on a rainstorm which will require children to use their bodies to create the sounds of a rainstorm before later enhancing this with the introduction of instruments to represent some of the sounds. Children will have a go at creating their own rainstorm pieces in small groups which they will also have a go at writing down using signs and symbols of their choice.
In Term 4, we will have a go at composing an electronic piece of rainforest music that will centre around a rainforest animal of the children's’ choice. Their may even be the opportunity to link this to the stories and poems we write in English to enhance them when read aloud.
Important Information and Reminders
The children’s PE days will be on Mondays and Friday so please ensure children come to school in weather-appropriate PE kit on these days.
Children will need a water bottle every day (please ensure this only has water in it!). They will also need a warm, waterproof coat for rainy days with the addition of hats, scarves and gloves as we move into the winter. Please note that children who do not have appropriate additional clothing for playtimes will not be allowed to go outside. As we get closer to Easter, sun cream on any hotter days will also be necessary. This should be applied at home and it is also helpful for children to know how to do this successfully themselves if it needs to be topped up at school.
Please could we remind you of our request that additional bags, such as rucksacks, are not brought into school as there is not enough space on the children’s pegs. We use our cloakroom area as a second learning space so it is important that we are able to keep it tidy and clutter free to allow the children to focus on their learning when working out there. Rucksacks are of course welcome when we go on school trips!
This year, we are asking that children do not bring things in for show and tell unless it is directly linked to our learning. If they have something that is very special that they would like to show the teachers then that will be lovely but we will not be able to show it to the class.
Thank you for all of those who have already welcomed Gerald into their families so far this year. He has been having a wonderful time meeting you all and can’t wait to join some more of you this term. Please remember that you do not need to do anything extra when Gerald joins you—he is interested and excited by your normal weekend activities! If the children could stick in/draw pictures or write into his book, that will be lovely as we will share Gerald’s weekend each Monday and keep a record of his adventures.
