Summer2 2024
Food
Our topic this half term has an Understanding the World focus. We will be learning where food comes from; is it grown in the ground or does it come from an animal? We'd love to see any photos of your allotments if you have one? The children will also be learning some food basics. We will look at a food staple each week - potatoes, bread, eggs and pasta and explore the different things we can make with each of them. We will make our own pasta, cook it and eat it. Hopefully this topic will encourage the children to try different foods. As part of our 'bread' week we will plan a picnic, make sandwiches and eat them outside (weather permitting!), learning that food can be eaten in different places. Why not utilise the gorgeous coastline on our doorstep and plan a picnic of your own?
Have a look at the word mat below and chat with your child about the foods they like and dislike and where they come from.
Literacy
For the older Seahorses we will continue to introduce a new sound each week, preparing them for Monster Phonics in Reception. We will encourage the children to listen for the sounds they can hear at the start of words. The younger Seahorses will play games and do activities to develop their Listening and Attention skills. All children will play sorting games and do cut and stick sorting activities to build phonological awareness. We will model writing to the children, encouraging them to have a go at their own emergent writing. When reading books, we will ask questions which require inference and prediction, getting the less obvious answers from the pictures. We will continue to work on rhyming words, playing games and listening for rhyming words in books.
Physical Development
This half term the children will continue to develop a comfortable pencil grip and to use scissors more confidently. They will continue to practice using a knife and fork in the playdough area and in the role play area, trying to cut things independently in preparation for Reception. They will also learn to be increasingly independent as they get dressed, ie putting coats on and doing up zips, putting on wellies etc. As part of our 'Food' topic we will be thinking about how to make healthy choices related to food as well as drink, activity and toothbrushing, developing more awareness of how to keep themselves healthy.
Have a look at the link below. It has some further links to follow;
Personal and Social Development
The children will continue to develop their sense of responsibility by helping with setting up the outside areas, tidying up where they have been playing and after milk and snack time. The children will play with one another, extending each other's ideas. They will begin to understand how other people may be feeling and respond to those feelings, especially when disagreements arise over sharing toys or resources.
Maths
In maths, we will build on the learning from the start of the year, counting, matching and recognising numbers to 10. We will focus more on number recognition for the last half term, supporting any children who still find this difficult. Why not have a number hunt on your way to and from school? Ask your child to look for different numbers and tell you when they spot them!