Our artist for the first half term is  

L.S. Lowry

Lowry was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Greater Manchester (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity.

Lowry painted scenes of life in the industrial districts of North West England in the mid-20th century. He developed a distinctive style of painting and is best known for his urban landscapes peopled with human figures, often referred to as "matchstick men".

After half term we will look at the work of

Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who is sometimes called ‘the princess of polka dots'. Although she makes lots of different types of art – paintings, sculptures, performances and installations – she has become known for the one thing they have in common, DOTS!

We will be listening to 

After half term we will be listening to

Children will also learn about the music from a range of cultural and religious celebrations, including Diwali, Hanukkah, Kwankzaa and Christmas.

Understanding the world

The children will gain knowledge and remember the names of seasonal plants and animals, understand the changes on the natural world between Summer and Autumn and describe what they see, hear and feel whilst outside.

The children will gain knowledge and remember similarities and differences between now and the past and recognise changes within their own lives, ordering events and sorting items into past and present.

They will gain knowledge about how there are many different families, talking about members of their own families and the local community.

In R.E the children will gain knowledge and remember stories that are special to Christians.

After half term:

The children will gain knowledge and remember the names of seasonal plants and nocturnal animals, understand the changes on the natural world during Autumn and describe what they see, hear and feel whilst outside.

The children will gain knowledge and remember similarities and differences between now and the past and recognise that things happened before they were born e.g what school is like now compared with in the past, The World Wars. 

In R.E the children will gain knowledge and remember people who are special and why and explore why Christians perform Nativity plays at Christmas. The children will also gain knowledge and remember the importance of celebrations such as Diwali.

Our inspirational scientists are: 

Support at home...

Here are some useful websites if you would like to practise any skills at home.

www.phonicsplay.co.uk

www.topmarks.co.uk

www.ictgames.com

Literacy

Phonics

We use the Twinkl scheme to teach phonics.

This term we will start Level 2 which aims to introduce children to a number of different grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and five tricky words.  

During this level, children will learn how words can be broken down into individual sounds called phonemes, which can be represented in written English using letters or groups of letters called graphemes. Children will also practise orally segmenting different words into phonemes and orally blending them back together.

Reading

We share books on a daily basis, discussing new vocabulary, the main events and characters. 

Children will bring home their phonics book and listening book. Please support your child with reading as often as you can. 

Writing

We will learn to form letters using correct orientation. Please see the document below showing the phrases we use to support letter formation.

We will work on tracing, copying and writing our names. 

We will begin to identify initial sounds in words and move on to segmenting words. Segmenting words involves breaking them down into their constituent sounds, which are called ‘phonemes’. These sounds can then written down as graphemes and blended together to form the word. The children are taught to say the word out loud, then say it slowly, then try to identify each sound individually.

Here are some great links to support your child with their phonics skills at home:

First Phonics (doorwayonline.org.uk) There are options to make it easier/more difficult. 

PhonicsPlay - Resources

Mathematics

The children will gain knowledge and remember how to match, sort and compare amounts (equal to, more, less, greater, fewer.)

 We will work on counting by rote, counting out loud, learning counting rhymes and songs.

Children will learn that objects can be compared and ordered by size, mass and capacity.  

They will explore different patterns. 

After half term we will learn to count, compare and represent numbers up to 5. Children will explore the composition of numbers and how to represent one more and one less. 

Physical development

In our P.E sessions we will be working on:

Footwork: Coordination

The children will develop and apply their footwork through focused thematic stories, songs and games.

After half term:

Dance

The children will learn and develop shapes and circles and create sequences of movement with these through partnering and artistry.

Our amazing outdoor area gives us lots of opportunities to develop our gross motor skills.

We will develop our scissor skills and handwriting skills. Please support your child by encouraging them to write at home. Tracing, colouring and cutting activities are all great ways to improve fine motor skills.

Our inspirational sportspeople are:

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