North Town Primary School

A guide to the curriculum for Parents/Carers of children in Pippins

Spring term 1 2017

/ We hope you have a lovely Christmas and a great new year. We will look forward to seeing you all back in January with lots of stories to share.
During the first week we will be sharing Me and My World books so don’t forget to add in photos or get your child to draw a picture of something lovely they have done in the holidays. We will use this as part of their literacy writing.
Understanding of the World / Each term the school will have an overarching theme/ area of learning for our topic.
This term the whole school topic is History, our Pippins focus is knights and castles. We will look at features of a castle and explore medieval times.

Literacy / For our topic we are going to create a dragon and have a go at writing instructions of how to look after a dragon, what they eat and how much sleep they need. The children will create their own stories with a setting, characters, a beginning, middle and end for our medieval theme. We will be looking at a variety of non fiction and fiction books for our theme. If your child has any books at home linked to our topic they are more than welcome to bring them in to share.
Phonics
We are recapping on phase 2 sounds every day and learning phase 3 sounds. All of these can be found in the middle of your child’s reading record to practice at home. The more practice they do at home this will support their learning in class with reading and writing.
Reading
As part of our phonics the children are taught the skills for reading every day at school they also complete reading activities throughout the week to help them to develop these skills. It is important to look at your child’s book with them at home and begin finding sounds, discussing the story and finding tricky words. As your child progresses they will begin reading more words as they segment and blend the sounds they have learnt so far.
Please make sure you bring your child’s home learning pack to school every day. Each time you look or read your child’s book with them please write in the reading log so we know when their book needs changing.
Book Changing:
Books will now be changed on a Monday so your child has a new book for the week and Friday so they have a new book for the weekend.
Word Lists
Your child will have a word list in their bag; practicing these words will support your child’s reading. The more often they read at home the quicker they progress in their reading. On these lists there are tricky words which your child needs to learn to recognize, as they cannot be sounded out. It is also important to be able to spell these words.
Bug Club
This is a fantastic online resource where you can access additional reading books and activities to engage in with your child at home. Please use this site with your child and write a comment in your child’s reading record if they choose to read one of these books. When you receive a reading record your child’s log in details will be inside.

Mathematics / Next term we will continue to work with numbers, recognition and ordering numbers to 20. We will be recapping 2D shapes and exploring 3D shape names and properties, using the shapes to build a castle. The children will have a go at making symmetrical patterns on a knight’s shield.

Creative Development / As part of our medieval knights and castles topic we are going to create a dragon using various tools and materials. The children will engage in imaginative role play dressing up as knights, a princess or a dragon. They will act our stories using the stage we will create outside or the theatre inside.
If you have any resources at home that we could use for junk modeling that would be fantastic eg. boxes, plastic bottles and any cardboard tubes.
We will use instruments to create sounds to tame a dragon, using various instruments and we will use this as part of our PE session with Miss Clarke and Miss Dymond.
Technology / This term we are using the ipads to look at pictures of different castles to inspire their creations and gain an understanding of where people lived in medieval times.
In the classroom the children have access to the interactive white board and computers which they can use on a daily basis. These are for educational games for phonics and maths. The children will be shown how to use Bug Club so they can access online books for reading.
Spanish / In Español- We will be learning how to describe animals with actions and a song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thzadGzMmcs . We will continue to learn our colours, animals and numbers with the apps on our ipads which are all free!.
A reminder that we have access for the whole School to use Languagenut online and the free app with 22 languages including Spanish. You need to look at section 4.2 for colours and 5 and 11for animals. If you need to be reminded of your logon access or password for this do not hesitate to contact me or the class teacher.

Physical Development / This half term the focus in Physical Education sessions will be physical skills and cognitive skills. We will be working through the themes of ‘Tilly the Train’ and ‘Thembi Walks the Tightrope’.
Physically, the two main areas for our fundamental movement skills development will be dynamic balance (FUNS card 5) and static balance: small base (FUNS card 4). Cognitive skills such as understanding and following simple rules will be developed.
For more information about FUNS please visit our blog at:
http://northtownpeandsport.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/what-funs-are-and-how-they-can-help.html#!/2015/11/what-funs-are-and-how-they-can-help.html
Personal, Social and Emotional Development / Every week we share our ‘Me and My World’ books please continue to put all the lovely things your child is doing with you at the weekend. The children love to share the things they have done at home. This is a great opportunity to boost your child’s confidence talking in a group and share their interests and family life. All children will get the opportunity to share with Miss Clarke and Miss Dymond.
You can put in photos, drawings, tickets, objects, posters, cards or anything that supports your child to talk about their experience or interest.
Communication and Language
Me and My World’

/ Routines
When your child receives a home learning pack this will need to be brought to school every day.
Every day your child needs a named snack of fruit or vegetables and a named water bottle. Unfortunately we do have enough snacks to give your child extra in the morning. We only provide snack during the afternoon with milk.
The weather is getting colder please make sure your child has their jumper and coat every day. Hats, gloves and scarfs are also a great idea we will support your child to put these on. Please make sure they are named so they can be returned.
Children’s Rights / Article 28
You have the right to an education
Article 3
All adults in our school promise to do what is best for you.
Article 17
You have the right to get information that is important to your well being. Adults should make sure that the information you are getting is not harmful.

Homework / Each half term the children will receive one piece of topic based homework. This half term we would like the children to create a dragon, princess, knight or a castle.
Homework due- Tuesday 31st January
Dates for the Diary / Back to school Wednesday 4th January
Homework due-Tuesday 31st January
Disco – Friday 3rd February
Parent share – Wednesday 8th February at 8.30-8.55am
/ Now we have all photo permission forms back you can keep up to date with all our learning by following us on Twitter @NTPippins

We look forward to building a productive partnership with you and thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions please pop in to see us.

Many thanks

Miss Amy Dymond and Miss Charlotte Clarke (Class Teachers) and

Mrs Tracey Russell, Miss Steph Clifton, Mrs Paula McMahon and Mrs Ruth Emery (Teaching Assistants)