Curriculum News

Curriculum News  November 2009

 

Foundation Stage 1      Whatever Next!

 

 

Autumn! A wonderful time of year with all its colours, festivals and changes. Building work at College Town is at last complete and we have moved into our new Nursery setting. There have been a lot of changes for Foundation Stage children since September, but they have coped admirably!

 

Our theme of Whatever Next! is very exciting and we will be using the book, the characters and story setting on which to base a wide range of learning this half term. The moon, stars, day and night are some themes within Whatever Next!

 

In Nursery we will be preparing for Christmas as the term progresses, culminating with a small performance towards the end of term.  We will also help lots of our children prepare for big changes in January, when many Caterpillars will become Butterflies, Ladybirds or Dragonflies!

 

 

Communication, Language and Literacy

 

 

Daily stories around the themes involved in Whatever Next. Opportunity for reading fact and fiction in groups, independently, and adult led.

 

Children will be encouraged to talk about stories they have read and to find an alternative ending to the book they are reading.

 

Daily rhymes and songs to support a range of learning which will be thematic. There will be lots of songs to learn for our performance!

 

Role play areas to develop skills in speaking and listening, reading and writing will be a space station and the moon.

 

A writing table is always available for children to use independently alongside adult led activities to develop writing skills, handwriting and letter formation.

 

Caterpillars have daily Letters and Sounds activities to develop phonic knowledge, alliteration, rhyming and to hear sounds in context.

 

Knowledge and Understanding of the World

 

 

Opportunities for exploratory play indoors and outdoors

 

Talking, learning and activities linked to Whatever Next.

 

 Caterpillars will think about and discuss time capsules. They will have to decide what might go in them and how long they would last.

 

Children will make observations on changes to the weather as the season’s progress. We will look carefully at the trees in winter and how they change through the seasons.

 

Creative activities are always a favourite with the children in Caterpillars and they are encouraged to paint, collage and make models independently, planning and thinking about what they will do.  We also have more focused artwork where children learn skills involved in painting, drawing and model making.

 

Children have opportunity to hear stories, songs and rhymes using the listening station.

 

We have some wonderful new Notebooks in school for children to use. This half term Caterpillars will create a themed picture using First Paint and print it out when they have finished. They will make the insert for their Christmas card, choosing the border and typing their name. ICT also supports other areas of the curriculum with programs suited to their age, ability and topic of learning.

 

 

 

           

 

 

Year 1 Curriculum News September 2009

 

  

Me and My Family

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to another new and exciting year at College Town Infant and Nursery School. You will see lots of changes to our environment and changes to where classes are situated! Thank you for your patience and co-operation in dealing with the disruption and new arrangements at the start of this year – it will all be worthwhile!

 

Curriculum News aims to keep you informed of learning taking place for this topic and enable you to support your child’s learning at home. There are lots of new and inspiring activities planned for ‘Me and My Family’ and it will be a fun topic on which to base our learning.

 

 

 

 

Communication, Language and Literacy

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children will have opportunity to read a range of books including poetry, fact and fiction about families.

 

Year 1 will make character studies of family members.

 

 

We will be starting report writing about a family member’s talents such as dad’s cooking skills and mum’s car maintenance skills.

 

Role play will feature in childrens’ development of all areas of literacy; examples of this will be learning how to look after a baby and maybe a visit from a baby or a health visitor.

 

Role play areas will include a garden centre, a baby clinic and we will even set up a ‘home corner’ as a home! Children will be encouraged to provide the resources for the role play areas such as labels, posters and lists.

 

 

Children in Year 1 will make ‘All about me’ books, take part in a range of story writing, share their news, and write about their families.

 

Literacy will be linked to all areas of the curriculum such as following up from science investigations.

 

 

Children will take part in regular and focused group reading and daily phonics learning (Letters and Sounds)

 

 

 

 

 

Knowledge and Understanding of the World

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children will learn more about the similarities and differences in themselves and their families.

 

Looking After Myself. Children will learn more about staying healthy, eating well and exercising and the importance of hygiene.

 

Role play will play an important part of childrens’ investigation of the world around them. Indoor and outdoor play, including sand, water and construction helps to develop knowledge and understanding of the world.

 

The children will be encouraged to make comparisons by looking at how they have changed since they were a babies and toddlers.

 

Children will observe the stages of development from childhood to adult.

 

 

 

 

Mathematical Development

 

Alongside all the creative and exciting learning taking place children will continue to develop skills in addition and subtraction and increase their strategies to solve challenging problems. Mathematical understanding will be developed through stories, songs, games and imaginative play.

 

‘Mental maths’ is a vital part of everyday learning and children take part in lots of fun, interactive and practical activities to improve their agility to solve problems in their head, use their fingers and other resources to help them and to improve their thinking skills.

 

Problem solving is an integral part of maths and children will learn the skills involved as part of their everyday learning sessions. Children are encouraged to explore problems, to make patterns and to count and match together.

 

Shape, space and measures, which includes weighing, measuring, symmetry as well as 2D and 3D shape, is included each half term as part of the revised Numeracy Strategy.

 

 

 

Creative Development

 

Art will include painting, drawing, collage and modelling. They will continue to learn and improve their skills in handling tools correctly and using them to best advantage.

 

Children will create portraits and drawings of themselves and members of their family. They will use pastels, paint and pencil to create portraits and make frames for them using natural materials.

 

The children will be using digital cameras to make imagery and take photographs as part of an art project.

 

Music, dance and drama will focus on families and children will learn about instrument families.

 

Children will have the opportunity to design, create and review their work in all areas.

 

 

Personal and Social Development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children will learn more about the concept of belonging; belonging to a community and feeling safe and content in class. They have been sharing ideas on how to make someone feel welcome.

 

Managing my feelings is an important part of PSD and children will be thinking about ways to stay calm when  feeling scared or upset and understanding others people’s feelings

 

Children will learn more about choices they can make and consider ways to solve problems. They will think about how to make the classroom and school a safe and fair place for everyone.

 

I can help to make the class a safe and fair place.

 

I can help to make my class a good place to learn

 

Weekly assemblies are based on S.E.A.L. (social and emotional aspects of learning) and the theme is followed through for PSHE and circle time. The theme this half term will be

 

New Beginnings

 

 

 

Physical Development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children will explore basic skills, actions, ideas to develop their skills and understanding of gymnastics. They will be encouraged to remember and repeat simple actions and skills with increasing control and co-ordination

 

 

Year 1 will explore how to choose and apply skills and actions in sequence and combinations and apply rules and conventions of different activities. Children will be asked to describe what they have done and observe, describe and copy others. They will u se what they have learned to improve the quality of their work.

 

Children will learn the importance of being active and describe how their bodies feel during different activities

 

 

  

 

Year 2 Curriculum News September 2009

 ‘Space’

Welcome to another new and exciting year at College Town Infant and Nursery School. You will see lots of changes to our environment and changes to where classes are situated! Year 2 are very pleased with their new and spacious classrooms and it is a fabulous environment in which to learn. Curriculum News aims to keep you informed of the learning taking place for this topic and enable you to support your child’s learning at home. There are lots of exciting things happening in ‘Space’ and it will be a particularly fun topic on which to base our learning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Literacy

  

Children will read a range of books, poetry, fact and fiction about Space, Planets, the Moon and the Stars.

 

Stories and facts about ‘Astronauts and Space’

 

Speaking and listening will include drama and role play. Children will imagine what aliens look like and go on a ‘space journey’.

 

We will write a diary for a day in space and think about what items to take on the journey.

 

Children will use ICT to support all aspects of learning including research 

  

Knowledge and Understanding of the World

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

History – children will find out more about astronauts such as Neil Armstrong and Yuri Gagarin and their role in space travel. They will be looking up space pictures on the internet and using telescopes.

 

 

Science - we will be learning about materials and their properties, investigating how materials are changed and how to make a fair test. We will be cooking and looking at changes from cold and hot 

 

 

Mathematical Development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mental maths’ is a vital part of everyday learning and children take part in lots of fun, interactive and practical activities to improve their ability to solve problems in their head, use their fingers and other resources to help them and to improve their thinking skills.

 

 

Children will learn more about solving 

problems involving counting, adding, subtracting, doubling or halving numbers and money. They will answer questions using equipment, sort information and display results using tables and pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each half term we improve our knowledge of shape, space and measures, including weighing, measuring and  symmetry as well as 2D and 3D shape.

 

 

Creative Development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Art will include painting, drawing, collage and modelling.

 

 

 

Children will create Space and Alien paintings and drawings.

 

Music, dance and drama will focus on

 

A Space Odyssey and composing and recording music.

 

Design technology

 

Children will be designing, making and reviewing 3D planets and spacecrafts.

 

We will be cooking alien shaped biscuits.

 

 

P.S.H.E. and R.E

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our SEAL (social and emotional aspects of learning) theme for this half term will be

 

New Beginnings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This will include:

 

Belonging and how to feel welcome and make others feel welcome too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Understanding their own and other’s feelings and how to manage their emotions.

 

Monday assemblies and weekly PSHE learning slots will also support this theme.

 

 

In RE children will learn more about the sun, moon and stars and their significance to different beliefs and faiths.

 

Physical Development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  DanceChildren will learn more about moving imaginatively, responding to music and performing basic skills i.e. travelling, being still, making a shape and jumping to create and perform simple dances.

GamesChildren will improve their skills and ability to travel with, send and receive a ball and other equipment in different ways, also games which include striking and fielding and invasion type games

 

Gymnastics

 

Children will take part in performing basic skills in travelling, being still, finding space and using it safely, both on the floor and using apparatus to develop the range of their skills and actions such as balancing, taking off and landing, turning and rolling.

 

 

 

 

 

 FS1 Curriculum News

  

Autumn! A wonderful time of year with all its colours, festivals and changes. In this autumn half term we begin our learning journey towards Christmas and have the opportunity to bring this exciting festival into teaching and learning

 

 

Personal, social and emotional development   Show a strong sense of self in the classroom setting by deciding what they would like to learn about and helping set up areas of the classroom now we have so much space!   Be confident to try new activities, initiate ideas and speak in a familiar group.                                   Have an awareness and pride in themselves and their abilities and using this to help us think about what we want to be when we grow up.   Have an awareness of their own needs by learning about how to protect themselves including road safety, stranger danger and fire safety.      Express needs and feelings in appropriate ways including learning how to sort out small disputes and ask an adult for help.	Communication, language and literacy   Encourage self confidence to speak to others   Initiate conversations & extend vocabulary   Use talk to pretend imaginary situations (e.g. In role as postal workers in the sorting and post office, as firefighters in the outdoor area)   Be aware of rhyme & continue a rhyming string   Begin to hear and say sounds in words including segmenting and blending CVC words e.g dog, fan etc.   Use their phonic knowledge to write simple words and sentences including a police incident report or doctor’s prescription in role play.   Enjoy an increasing range of books and begin to use their phonic knowledge to read.   Begin to form recognisable letters.	Mathematical development   Sing counting rhymes e.g 5 Brave firefighters   Counting objects e.g use pennies to buy a stamp at the post office.   Match then compare the number of objects e.g how many cars in each traffic jam.   Recognise numerals 1-9 and beyond.   Say the number that is one more and one less than a given number e.g jumping up and   down the fireman’s ladder.   Order two items by weight and length     when helping Bob the Builder with his   sand bags and wood.   Begin to spot and make patterns.   Begin to relate addition to combining   two groups so we can see how many presents Father Christmas has in total!
	Half-termly grid for Reception   Autumn 2: Occupations   What will Butterflies learn this term? …
Creative development Make constructions, collages, paintings and drawings fire engines, policeman display.   Choose particular colours for a purpose   Work creatively on a large and small scale     Sing a few simple familiar songs, including weekly singing with Mrs Hiron in the hall e.g Bob the Builder, Postman Pat, Doctor Foster.   Tap out simple repeated rhythms and   make some up   Explore and learn how sounds can be changed   Imitate and create movement in response to music e.g. creating a postman dance to ‘Madness’ songs!   Engage in imaginative and role play e.g. in the baby clinic, hospital, post office, fire station.		Knowledge and understanding of the world   Talk about what is seen and what is happening on the investigation table.   Use programmable toys e.g give the bee bot robots directions around the route of a letter.   Show interest in different occupations and ways of life including meeting postal workers, a police officer, fire fighters and of course Chefs at Pizza Express!   Describe significant events and understand about the seasons of the year by learning about Christmas and Father Christmas’s job!       Gain an awareness of the cultures and beliefs of themselves and other through the Christmas Nativity Story.
	Physical development   Show control over clothing & fastenings and be able to dress themselves   Experiment with different ways of moving   Negotiate space successfully e.g on the bikes and scooters as police officers   Observe the effects of activity on their bodies   Construct with large materials (e.g. construct with Bob the Builder)   Demonstrate increasing control and skill in the use of mark making implements and small world activities.     Manipulate materials to create a planned effect when self selecting in the art area.