This term in Chestnut class, the children will be exploring the theme “Dinosaurs” and will be learning about different types of dinosaurs, how long ago dinosaurs lived and learn about people who study dinosaurs. We will be closely linking our theme of dinosaurs to our literacy core text “Harry and his Bucketful of Dinosaurs”. 

In Literacy this term the children will be exploring our core text, “Harry and his Bucketful of Dinosaurs”. The children will be learning to identify the characters and use different voices to represent the characters.  They will also start to use character props, story maps, repeated phrases and key parts of the story to help them retell the story. The children will also be learning new vocabulary and the definitions for these words to enhance their language development. We will be writing sentences about the story; the children will be using the sounds they are learning to support their sentence writing. 

Throughout the Spring term, we will be learning 2 core rhymes – “5 Enormous Dinosaurs” and “A Dinosaur Went Stomping”. These rhymes are closely linked to our theme “Dinosaurs”. A copy of these rhymes can be found on rhymes tab to the right hand side of this page.

In our Phonics sessions we will be continuing to develop our knowledge of the sounds included in the initial code. Throughout our sessions, the children will be learning to identify and recognise sounds and learning the correct formation of these. We will also be learning to segment and blend CVC words as we both read and write, using the sounds we know. The children will be learning the following sounds, applying these to both their reading and writing:

Unit 4 – d, e, f, v

Unit 5 – k, l, r, u 

Unit 6 – j, w, z 

Unit 7 – y, x, ff, ll, zz, ss

In Maths, the children will be continuing to develop their subitising, comparison and compositions skills to enhance their mathematical thinking. First, the children will be deepening their understanding of subitising and recognising amounts without counting, using die arrangements. We will be learning about counting and deepening our learning about numbers to 5. We will focus on staircase patterns to 5. Next, the children will be learning about composing numbers 5, 6, and 7, representing these as 5 and a bit. The children will then move on to comparing amounts using key mathematical language “more” and “fewer”. Finally, the children will revisit counting and stopping at different numbers, learning that the position of the numbers do not change. 

In our numerical patterns’ sessions, the children will be exploring length, height and time and comparing objects in these categories. We will also be learning about mass and capacity of different objects and using key vocabulary to describe these. 

In Understanding of the World, the children will be learning about the different types of dinosaurs that there were and where they used to live. We will be learning that dinosaurs lived a long time ago and that palaeontologists are people who study dinosaurs. We will also be learning about fossils and how the fossils tell us about how things were in the past. Finally, the children will find out how we can learn about dinosaurs using different sources, including books, television programmes, websites and from museums.

You will see on the Knowledge Organiser some of the key facts and vocabulary that the children will be learning.

In RE, our key question is “How can we help others when they need it?”. The children will be learning about who helps us at home and school. We will also be thinking about how and what we do to help people. We will be exploring who heroes are and what do they do to help and why. The children will be learning about what prayers are and we will be sharing prayers as a class. Lastly, we will be learning about what a good Samaritan is and how God helps us. 

In Art this term the children will be learning how to create different effects, using a range of media and tools including paint, powder paints, string, pegs, brushes and tooth The children will be using their knowledge of the splatter effect to recreate their final pieces, based on the piece “Number 8” by the artist Jackson Pollock. 

In Design Technology this term we are going to be sewing. This term the children will be designing and creating their own dinosaurs. The children will be designing and creating their own embellishments and sewing these onto their dinosaurs. We will research the different materials and techniques used and investigate how we can make our dinosaurs. The children will then design their dinosaurs, carefully thinking about the types of materials they would like to use. Next the children will use their designs and follow these to make their dinosaurs. Finally, the children will be evaluating their designing and end products, identifying ways that they could improve their products next time. 

Home Learning

Each Friday, the children will be visiting the library. The children will be choosing a new library book to borrow for a week. You will find ideas on how to support your child’s storytelling and comprehension skills in your child’s reading packets. 

To help support the children’s maths learning at home, the children will be sent home with a maths bag every Thursday. The maths bags provide your children with opportunities to develop their counting, sorting, matching and making. Please could you return your maths bag the following Thursday. 

Your child has a homework book, which includes a range of challenges linked to our class learning. You can complete these challenges in any order you wish and can add photos and comments in to here or onto your child’s Tapestry learning journal. Please can homework books be returned every Monday.