English Plan Reception Summer B - Topic: Buildings Weeks 1-3 Fiction: Stories About Homes

English Plan – Reception Summer B - Topic: Buildings Weeks 1-3 Fiction: Stories about homes and houses

Week 1 / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
On the rug / Show/read Home by Alex T Smith. Read it slowly, allowing chn to comment at crucial stages. Which of the characters do chn most sympathise with? Would they like to dance at the city parties or yodel on mountain tops? Read to the end and ask chn what the story is telling them. Look at back cover, read the couplet. What makes a home special? Discuss what chn like to do in their homes. What is their favourite pastime? Discuss this. / Show chn Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French. Ask them what a diary is. Read it slowly, encourage chn to look at the pictures. Chn will enjoy seeing Wombat’s actions – what do they think the family living in the house thought about Wombat? Look at the mother’s expression when Wombat is in the car. Is having a wombat in your garden a good or a bad thing? Would chn like to share their home with a wombat? Discuss which animals chn share their home with – pets or others! / Read Slow Loris by Alexis Deacon. Point out that this is not exactly a diary but it is the story of an animal’s daily life. Where does Slow Loris live? His home is in a zoo. What is his favourite pastime at home? He likes to boogie! He dances and sings and plays music all night! Ask each child to work with a partner. What do they each most like to do at home? Encourage them to talk about their favourite game to play at home. / Write the couplet from the back cover of Home on the f/c. A house is made of boards and beams, A home is made of love and dreams. Point at each word in turn and read it with the chn, matching words said and read. Re-read several times. Then talk about what this little poem really tells us. Talk about some of the things that make a home more than a building. What things do chn particularly like about their homes? / Read some of chn’s diaries of pets or other animals living in their houses. Which animals have they chosen? How are the diaries suitable for the animal? What does the owl do at night? Or the dog do in the day when the family are out? Re-read Diary of a Wombat with the chn. Encourage them to read the words together with you. Match words said and read.
Guided task with teacher / Easy/Medium/Hard (Easy group should only start this activity after Wednesday’s teaching.)
Look again at Home, and at Slow Loris if Wednesday or later. Chn will write about what they like doing at home, their favourite occupation/pastimes. They should describe where they like to play, what with, with whom and then what the game is (see resources). Encourage chn to talk about their favourite playing when they are at home. Support them in describing their favourite play, helping them to say orally what they will then write down. Use phonic clues to help with spelling.
Guided task with Teaching Assistant / Easy/Medium/Hard - After Tuesday’s teaching input as the children’s writing is used in Friday’s teaching input.
Chn write a diary of 2/3 days for an animal living in their house. It can be a pet (cat, dog, hamster…) or an animal that is hidden from the family like a mouse or a rat or a squirrel or an owl…. Chn can use their imaginations to pretend that an animal is living with them! Their diary should be appropriate to the animal, e.g. an owl or a mouse would talk about what they do at night whilst the family are asleep; a dog might talk about what happens in the day or when the family are out…
Daily Code-Breakers session
Associated play contexts / Small construction: Make a pet using Lego™. Now build a home big enough for your pet to live in (like a kennel for a dog or a basket for a cat). / ICT: Wordprocess a sentence about something they do throughout the week – print and illustrate their work. On Monday I go to ballet. / Play dough: Roll out play dough and use shape cutters to create a 2D house with a garden, garage, windows and trees. / Cooking: Make some simple roll-out biscuit dough (see resources). Chn use letter cutters to spell out their favourite day of the week. / Role play: Set up the role play area as a Vets Surgery including a collection of animal toys and bandages. Discuss the importance of caring for our pets (see PSED).
Relevant stories or poems to read / Read Harry’s Home by Catherine and Laurence Anholt. Have any of the chn ever been to stay with family/friends? What did they think? / Read the rhyme The Three Little Pigs by Marian Swinger (The Works, p59). Chn add some actions to the rhyme. / Read Diary of a Baby Wombat by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley. Wombat has a baby so it’s time to build a new home. What is special about their new home? / Read A New Home For a Pirate by Ronda Armitage and Holly Swain. What in particular does Pirate Jed want from his new home? To be on dry land! / Read Dogs by Frances Cornford (Read Me First, p147) and Big Fat Budgie by Michaela Morgan (Read Me First, p175). What do you think these animals would write in their diaries?

Every day there is a period of 5-10 minutes quiet reading when children share books and teacher reads individually.

English Plan – Reception Summer B - Topic: Buildings Weeks 1-3 Fiction: Stories about homes and houses

Week 2 / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
On the rug / Read The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse by Helen Ward. Read the story slowly, pausing so chn can see the things in the country that Country Mouse likes and the things in the town that Town Mouse likes. When the story is over, talk to chn about whether they would most like to live in the town or the country when they are grown up. Encourage them to give good reasons – take opinions on both sides of the argument. Point out that both have their advantages. / Look again at The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse and remind chn what it is about. Re-read Home by Alex Smith. Remind chn what this is about. Characters decide that it is more important to have a home with people you love than to be in exactly the place you want to be. Discuss which place – cave, sea, mountain top or city – chn would most like to live, Which appeals most? Ask each child to try writing their favourite place on their w/b. They sound out unfamiliar words. At a count of 3, they hold these up. Point out that everyone has different opinions but we all need a HOME. / Read The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch by R and D Armitage. Where does the Lighthouse Keeper live? Does this look like a place chn want to live? What are the advantages (close to his work, beautiful, at the seaside) & disadvantages (not near shops, lonely, wild weather)? Re-visit Town Mouse/Country Mouse and also Home. In all these books, characters think about which PLACES are good for a home. / Re-read Slow Loris. Talk about what animals chn see in the zoo. Has anyone been to a zoo? What animals did they see? Were any asleep? Discuss how they might have been dancing & playing at night so they were sleepy in the day! Write ‘Slow Loris was fast!’ on f/c. Read sentence together, matching words said & read. Ask chn to think of another animal & pair of opposites, e.g. Brave lion was scared. or Tall giraffe was little. Brainstorm other ideas and write them on the f/c. / Look again at back cover of Home. Peg the couplet words on a washing line (see resources). A house is made of boards and beams, A home is made of love and dreams. Point at each word; ask chn to read it so that you read the whole sentence together. Remove one word; ask chn to read the couplet with a partner and to whisper to each other the missing word. Give them a minute to do this, then take suggestions. Rpt, removing other words. Now take off ‘beams’ & discuss other words you could use, e.g. planks. Then discuss what word could be substituted for ‘dreams’ to rhyme with ‘planks’ (‘thanks’).
Guided task with teacher / Easy/Medium/Hard - Easy grp should not start this activity until after Wednesday’s teaching input. Use all 3 books: Home, Lighthouse Keeper & Town/Country Mouse
Chn will be writing about their very favourite location for a home. They should think where they would really like their home to be when they are grown-up. Would they like it in the mountains? At the seaside? In a cave? On the river plains? Discuss each type of location with the group, helping chn to choose their own favourite. Then each child writes a list of the advantages of their chosen location, i.e. the nice things about it, e.g. the mountains are beautiful, the air is clean, there are not many people, there is snow… etc. On the back of this list, they should write a similar list of the disadvantages, the not-so-good things. Teacher scribes parts for some chn as necessary.
Guided task with Teaching Assistant / Easy/Medium/Hard You will need What’s in a Witch’s Kitchen? by Nick Sharratt.
Read What’s in the Witch’s Kitchen? with the chn, letting them open the flaps in both directions. Point out the rhyming words on each page. Re-read the book, encouraging chn to read some words themselves, using the rhyming patterns to help. Then each child draws an item in the witch’s kitchen and writes both a nice and a nasty thing to be under the flap (see resources for how to create flaps – two versions given).
Daily Code-Breakers session
Associated play contexts / Sand Play: Hide some zoo/farm animals in the sand. Can chn find an animal identify it without looking? Build sand shelters for animals. / Paper Craft: Cut out a mask template (see resource/print on card). Paint it orange. Roll yellow strips of paper around a pencil to make a curly mane for a lion. Stick the strips to back of the mask with tape. Adult ties elastic on either side to fit child’s head. / Cutting and sticking: Cut out all the shapes & arrange them to make a picture of a house (see resources). Discuss how the same shape can be used for diff parts of the house, so each house will look different. / Role-play: Make zoo animal finger puppets. Draw an animal the size of your palm (on card). Colour & cut it out. Wrap a small strip of card around your pointy finger and stick it with tape so it stays comfortably on your finger. Stick on your zoo animal and join your friends in the zoo! / Outdoor adventure:
Build some zoo animal enclosures using large building blocks or use jumbo chalks to draw diff areas.
Relevant stories or poems to read / Read The Mouse, the Frog and the Little Red Hen (The Works, Key Stage 1, p61). Little Red Hen finds out that sharing a house with your friends can be hard. / Read A House in the Woods by Inga Moore. Find out what happens when two Little Pigs, Moose and Bear all build a house together in the woods. /

Read The Lighthouse Keeper’s Catastrophe by Ronda and David Armitage. Working in a lighthouse is not fun all of the time!

/ Read Leap Like a Leopard by John Foster (The Works, p23). Chn add the actions as you read the rhyme. How does Slow Loris move? Add a new line to the poem for Slow Loris. / Read A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle. Follow Hermit Crab on his search for a new and interesting home.

Every day there is a period of 5-10 minutes quiet reading when children share books and teacher reads individually.

English Plan – Reception Summer B - Topic: Buildings Weeks 1-3 Fiction: Stories about homes and houses

Week 3 / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
On the rug / Look again at Home and Town and Country Mouse. Remind chn that we all have different opinions about where we might like to have our home. Explain that this week chn will write their own version of Town and Country Mouse - they will think of two diff places to contrast. They will have a mouse living in one place, e.g. on top of a mountain or beside the sea, & a diff mouse living in another place, e.g. down a cave or on top of a city skyscraper. Put chn in pairs & ask them to discuss what two diff places they will choose for their two mice. Take feedback and note suggestions on the f/c. / Remind chn that they are re-writing the story of Town and Country Mouse. Discuss where their two mice will live – the sea, the mountains, desert, skyscrapers in the city, caves… Chn must decide on two contrary locations & think about advantages of each. Put chn in pairs & ask them to think about the advantages of one of the places where they will have their mouse live. Take feedback & make notes on f/c. Then ask chn to think of disadvantages of the location. Note these. / Return to The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch. Did Mr Grinling live in the lighthouse? No, he only went across to make sure the glass was clean & polished and the light was working. What else did he do there? Ate his lunch. Look at the last page where Mr Grinling is having his lunch in the peace & quiet surrounded by a calm & beautiful sea. Seems perfect but what about when a storm comes? What would Mr Grinling do then? Row over to the lighthouse? Look at clip of lighthouse in a storm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIED3K4dVgg. Would this be a good place to be in a storm? Ask chn to place themselves in the lighthouse in the storm. Think of words /short phrases to describe the storm & how they feel. Note these on f/c. / Remind chn of the lighthouse in the storm from prev. session. Discuss how lighthouses must be strong to withstand the storms & winds. Discuss how Mr Grinling lives on the cliff across from the lighthouse so if there was ever a storm he would be safe, warm & dry! However, some people, like fishermen & sailors, live on ships & experience such storms. Watch another clip of a storm at sea asking chn to imagine that they are a sailor aboard the ship http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-HaTWIznGE. How would they be feeling? Divide class into small crews. Ask each crew to orally describe through conversation just how they are feeling. Will they beat the storm? Are they feeling sick? How will they keep safe? What orders will the captain give? Encourage all chn to contribute to the conversation. / Return to The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch. Ask some chn to give you a synopsis: how the story began, what the problem was & how it was solved! Discuss how Mrs Grinling’s sandwiches were so delicious the seagulls loved them until she made them disgusting. Show chn instructions for making a sandwich (see resources). Chn read list of ingredients. Tell chn they will each make a sandwich and share it with a friend. They will each choose three fillings for their sandwich – they should try & choose a combination of fillings that would keep the seagulls away!