English Plan – Reception Spring B – Topic: Toys Non-fiction: Labels, captions, lists, descriptions ~ Weeks 1-3
Week 1 / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / FridayYou will need to organise a ‘granny’ or ‘granddad’ to visit the class on Tuesday morning in the second week. They need to talk about the toys they had.
On the rug / Show I Love you Blue Kangaroo by Emma Chichester- Clark. What might the story may be about? Encourage chn to give predictions. Read the story up to the point where Blue Kangaroo falls out of bed and leaves the room. What do chn think will happen now? Take some suggestions & note these on f/c. Then read on to the end. Compare chn’s predictions with real ending. Discuss the story – do any chn have a favourite soft toy that they would not want to give away? / Re-read I Love You Blue Kangaroo. List the toys that Lily gets, making a list complete with the describing words for each toy, e.g. yellow cotton rabbit. Choose a child. Ask them about their favourite soft toy. What words would they use to describe it? Model writing the name of the toy & 2 describing words, e.g. muddy-brown squidgy teddy. Choose another child and brainstorm some descriptive words for their favourite soft toy. Again model writing this, using phonic clues to help us. / Look back at Blue Kangaroo. Look at the list we made yesterday of the toys that Lily was given. Read all the toys on the list, starting with ‘blue kangaroo’. Identify and underline the colour words in each description, e.g. blue, brown, yellow, etc. Discuss how we write each of these colour words. Model writing these and others, asking chn to copy you, writing some of the words on individual w/bs. Look at other descriptive words, e.g. wild, furry, etc. / Introduce old fashioned soft toys such as their grannies or granddads would have had. Look at some very old soft toys. Just by looking, how would chn describe the appearance of these old toys? Listen to chn’s ideas. Then ask chn to listen to the words you use to describe a toy. Chn work in pairs on w/b to record their responses to your descriptions - a tick if they agree on the description or a cross if they don’t. Give chn a variety of old & new descriptions introducing new vocabulary, i.e. bare, faded, thinning, loose, missing, rough, ripped, torn, old, new, clean, dirty. Compare ticks & crosses. / Show chn some pictures of old new toys (see resources)& the words discussed in previous session that describe old and new toys. Discuss the pictures & read the descriptive words together. Divide the f/c across the middle – write the headings ‘Old’ and ‘New’. Ask chn to choose either a picture or a word. Ask chn to read the word or describe the toy in the picture. Chn should then place it in either the old or new section. Ask chn why they made this choice. Explain how some toys from the past are still used in playgrounds or as toys today (marbles, skipping ropes, hoops, balls, trains, dolls) but often the design & materials have changed.
Guided task with teacher / Easy As Medium, chn choose a favourite toy and write a description. Encourage them to write one or two simple sentences: ‘Green crocodile is big with a spiky tail. He is a bit battered.’ Help with spellings. / Medium Chn choose a favourite toy and write a description of it. They write its name, and then a 2/3 sentence description. Explain that we will display descriptions alongside our beautiful pictures (see EAD below). So chn need to write legibly with carefully formed letters and spaces between the words. Use phonic clues to write unfamiliar words. Link to close observation drawing of a toy in CD. / Hard As Medium, but expect chn to write a paragraph. They can include where their toy came from, e.g. who gave it to them and how long they have had it. Remind chn to use full stops /capital letters.
Guided task with Teaching Assistant / EasyAs Medium: Write the headings on f/c. Show chn the details of the picnic that you have written out prior to lesson. Read the details together and ask chn to place it under the correct heading. Chn should copy this information onto own invitation. / Medium Tell chn they will invite their teddies on a picnic. They need to write an invitation for teddy. Who’s getting an invitation? What information will it need? Write headings on f/c ask chn to write with you as you add details of picnic (see resources). / Hard As Medium: Write the headings on f/c. Discuss the details of the picnic and what information will go under each heading. Ask chn to complete their invite using the template or word process their invitation.
Daily Code-Breakers session
Associated play contexts / Role-play:Recreate a child’s bedroom with toys that come to life just like in Toy Story. Give chn diff scenarios to act out with their toys (toys go to school, zoo…). / ICT:Play dress teddy at OR dress Teddy in My World. / Sand Play:Use plastic trees to create forests for plastic bears to play hide and seek. / Sewing:Weave a blanket for their toy. Use strips of paper or material. Chn make a choice from 3 diff sizes that would best fit their teddy(see resources). / Outside play:Chn take their teddy on a tour of the classroom, playground, school or school grounds (adult may be required).
Relevant stories or poems to read / Read My Friend Bear by Jez Alborough. Do chn have a special teddy bear or other soft toy? / Read Where are you Blue Kangaroo? by Emma Chichester-Clark? Have chn ever left their favourite toy behind somewhere and had to find it again? / Watch/sing along with Teddy Bear’s Picnic (download from iTunes in advance of lesson or if possible use / Read Kipper’s Toybox by Mick Inkpen and help Kipper with his toy trouble. Why does the number of toys keep changing? / Learn skipping songs for PD activities in Week 3(see resources).
Every day there is a period of 5-10 minutes quiet reading when children share books and teacher reads individually.
You will need to organise a ‘granny’ or ‘granddad’ to visit the class on Tuesday morning this week. They need to talk about the toys they had.
On the rug / Read Granpa by John Burningham. Discuss what has happened at the end. (Be sensitive to any chn who have had a grandparent die.) Talk about how we play and have fun with our grandparents or with other older people. Talk about what toys they might have had to play with when they were little. Look at the pages where Granpa is skipping or playing with a wooden hoop. Would they have had computer games? Or electronic toys? Or little plastic toys? Or Lego™? Talk a bit about what toys would have been around when the chn’s grandparents were little. / Welcome the visitor – encourage chn to explain that we want to find out about the toys that the visitor played with when they were young. We want to find out about ‘olden days’ toys.
Start by discussing soft toys with the visitor & then broaden to other toys. With the visitor discuss which toys were their favourites. Encourage chn to find out whether the visitor wishes they had had any of today’s toys when they were little. If so, which ones do they wish they had had? / Talk about what a fact is… It is saying something which is true and also real – that is, it is not pretend or imagined or made up. Give chn a statement (see resources) and ask them to say if it is a factual or a fictional (made-up) statement. Use several statements to help chn to distinguish between factual and fictional statements. Ask chn to brainstorm some factual statements oftheir own. / Go to Read the passage about the history of Albert, the Rod Bear. Do chn think this info is fact or fiction (made up)? It is fact. Read the passage again asking chn to listen carefully as you want them to recall some facts about this special bear. Display a picture of the bear on the f/c (see resources). Ask chn to suggest a heading for the picture. Write facts about the bear that chn have recalled under the picture. Model using full stops to demarcate sentences. / Read the information about Albert, the Rod Bear (see resources). Fact or fiction? Ask chn to find words/ phrases in text that describe the special features of the bear (wax nose, five claws on his paws and feet, head seam from ear to ear, long and curved arms, gold mohair plush/fur, rod jointed, stuffed with woodwool and kapok). Use the words underlined to help label the bear. Finish by showing the aerial view of the bear (see resources). Read the 4 captions asking the chn which best suits the picture of this bear?
Guided task with teacher / EasyAs Medium but chn work together to write one long list of toys they like to play with. Each child contributes to the list writing a few words very carefully. / Medium Chn make a list of toys that they like playing with nowadays. They then make a list of toys that their grandparents liked playing with. Challenge chn to write a really long list. They need to spell new words using phonics, and to line up the words, one under the other. Each word in the list begins with a capital letter. / Hard As Medium, but chn use the two lists they have created to write a list of the toys that are on both the lists. How long is this third list?
Guided task with Teaching Assistant / Easy Use a large teddy bear as a model. What do chn notice about the bear? (It has blue eyes) Extend their answers by asking a question - How many blue eyes does he have? He has soft fur. What colour is his fur? Write the descriptive words on tags & help chn to pin them correctly on the bear. Re-read labels. / Medium Chn show their bears and talk about its features & why they like it.Draw a picture of their bear. Encourage chn to pay close attention to detail in their drawing. Write some descriptive labels - Include colour words from Week 1. / Hard As Medium – Encourage chn to extend their descriptive vocabulary to help them describe their bear (soft, rough, smooth, hard, two hard eyes, one stitched nose).
Daily Code-Breakers session
Associated play contexts / Cutting and sticking:
Make a paper plate bear (see resources). Chn sponge painttheir bears in favourite bear colours. / ICT:Go to Sort the toy words & pictures. / Ink Painting:Make a teddy bear mask (see resources). Use brown ink to colour the face. Colour the nose black or stick on felt. Cut out the bear face & two eye holes. Add elastic to fit around your head. / Junk Modelling: Make a vehicle for teddy. It should comfortably fit teddy & have at least one moving part. / Wet Play: Give a doll/action man a bath. Wash their hair & bodies. Dry and dress them.
Relevant stories or poems / Read Threadbear by Mick Inkpen. Do you think that this is about an old bear or one that is well-loved? / Look at Toys (What was it like in the past?) by Kamini Khanduri. Follow the timeline of how toys have changed over the years. / Read The Bestest Bear Song by Wes Magee (Read Me First, p100). / Read Lost in the Toy Museum: An Adventure by David Lucas. See how Bunting the toy cat tries to keep track of the other museum toys. / Continue to learn/practice skipping songs for PD activities in Week 3 (see resources).
Every day there is a period of 5-10 minutes quiet reading when children share books and teacher reads individually.
Week 3 / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / FridayYou will need to set up your toy museum in the classroom this week. Make sure you have a good selection of DIFFERENT toys, some old and some new. Each toy needs to be displayed.
On the rug / Show chn pictures of teddy, doll, engine from a toy museum (see resources). Read each caption. Is it fact or fiction? Descriptions in a museum are factual. They tell us true things (FACTS). Rehearse what a ‘fact’ is. It is something which is true and real. Look at captions from a toy museum (see resources).These start by giving its name & then give several facts. Read captions together. Show the 4 images of toys these captions belong to (see resources). Read the captions again and match them to the pictures. Explain that chn will be writing their own similar captions for the toys in our toy museum. / Show chn the picture of a young boy playing with his spinning top (see resources). Do chn recognise this toy? Read the caption beside the picture. Show real examples of spinning tops if you have any. Ask chn to describe what these toys do? Explain that today ‘tops’ come in many different shapes, sizes & materials. What modern toy spins around like this that chn might play with today? (Beyblade) Read the information on tops(see resources). Ask chn to help you use this information and their own ideas to write a short caption for the image. / Show chn a selection of real toys – old and new – This toy collection will be displayed in the class toy museum. Give chn some information about an old toy and a new toy. Can chn identify which toy you are describing? Ask chn to write one fact about one of these toys on their w/b. (It is old/new. It is made of wood. It spins.) Invite chn to read out their caption. Which toy is being talked about (old or new)? Put all the details together modelling how to write a caption for the toy to display in the toy museum. / Visit Look at all the different toys this toy museum has on show for the public to see. Click on Peter Rabbit. This toy was made by the same maker as Albert the Rod Bear – Margaret Steiff. She was a dress maker from Germany. Explain to chn that chn all across the world play with toys and some would be very different from the toys they play with. Visit and look at toys from around the world. / Remind chn of previous session when they looked at toys from around the world. Show chn these pictures again (see resources) and remind chn what each toy was called. Ask chn to recall facts about the different toys. Divide chn into small groups, giving each group a large sheet of paper, a set of pictures & descriptions. Each group should cut & stick the matching description & picture together. Display each poster & compare.
Guided task with teacher / Easy Chn work together to write a list of the ten best toys in the museum. They will put a small photo of each toy beside its name to create their own catalogue. Each child should write the names of 2 or 3 toys in their best handwriting! / Medium Remind chn that we are setting up our museum. We will need to write facts about each toy for the information caption that goes beside it. Encourage each child to choose a different toy – it may be an old or a new toy – they then write the name of the toy and a careful factual description. / Hard Chn work together to produce a catalogue for the museum. They need to list the toys and write a two or three word description for each one. What order will they write them in? They should write an approximate age beside each toy.
Guided task with Teaching Assistant / EasyAs Med – keep the toys uncovered so chn can see the toys. Stop after each clue to see if chn can guess. After three clues one final guess the child reveals which toy they have described. / Medium Show chn some old and new toys from the museum. Give three descriptive words/phrases about one of the toys. Can chn guess which one you are talking about? Which clue gave it away? Repeat the activity covering up the toys so only you can see. Ask chn to take over the role of describing. / Hard As Med – Chn play in pairs writing their three clues on a w/b. Encourage chn to make the first clue hard and getting easier by the third clue. Chn then take turns giving clues one at a time. Chn should swap rotate around toys and partners.
Daily Code-Breakers session
Associated play contexts / Role-play: Set up a toy shop.Provide money/till, paper & pens for chn to write own price tags, some toys, bags for purchases, name badges for staff & customers. / ICT:Toy activities. Go to Match the toy to the sound. Match the materials. Then who owns me? / Play Dough: Give chn bear cutters and rolling pins. Chn make the three bears – Daddy (large), Mummy, (med- sized) and Baby (small). / Painting:Chn sponge paint their paper plate bear from week 2. Provide shades of brown, yellow, orange & a little black paint. Show how to carefully place the sponge in the paint & dab on to the bear. / Outside play:Play hide &-seek with dolls teddies. Chn play in pairs or 3s take turns to hide the toys in a designated area. Chn can give clues like warmer, hottercolder.
Relevant stories or poems to read / Find out about the toys chn played with in days gone by in Toys (Popcorn In the Past) by Dereen Taylor. / Read Patchy Bear by Joan Poulson (Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar, p94) about an old bear looking for someone to take care of him. / Read Toy Story 2 (or another Toy Story adventure) about when Woody gets kidnapped. / Read The Land of Counterpane by Robert Louis Stevenson (Read Me, p467) about a child playing with their toys while ill in bed. / Read Curious George Visits a Toy Shop by Margaret Rey to find out what happens tothe cheeky monkey when he visits a closed toy shop.
Every day there is a period of 5-10 minutes quiet reading when children share books and teacher reads individually.