1. Summer 1 2015 Reception Mini-Beasts

2. During our topic on Mini-Beasts the children will explore and investigate their local environment and begin to be aware of the similarities and differences between mini-beasts. Where do mini-beasts live? What type of habitat do they need? The children will learn to take care of their environment and living creatures. The children will discuss rules for taking care of pets and mini-beasts and these will be displayed in the classroom. We hope you enjoy this topic as much as we do! If you have any books or artefacts relating to our topic please share them with us. Thank you for your support!

3. Communication & Language This term we will be listening to the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle. We will retell the story using actions to help us. Please share lots of stories at home with your child, especially those by the authors Eric Carle and Julia Donaldson. Ask your child lots of questions, highlight new vocabulary and think of ways they could change the story to make it their own i.e. what other healthy foods could the caterpillar eat? We will also learn the Disney song ‘The Ugly Bug Ball’. Please click on the links below to hear both the story and the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHd KEhFM7mY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4H I7q38VmQ Personal, Social and Emotional During the term we will be learning how to look after mini-beasts and pets. We will make posters to remind us how to handle mini-beasts carefully. We will sing the nursery rhyme Little Miss Muffet. We will discuss her fear of spiders and other insects and think of ways we could overcome them.

4. Literacy This term we will be concentrating on writing in full sentences making sure that we use capital letters, finger spaces and full stops in the correct places. It would be great if you could encourage your child to use these skills at home. Challenge your child to write a sentence about what they may have been doing over the weekend i.e. On Saturday I went swimming. Please continue to share the Reception high frequency words with your child at home. Click on the link below for the list. http://www.familylearning.org.uk/reading_pr intables.html We will also be learning how to match lowercase letters to uppercase letters to help when using capital letters in our writing. Click the link below for a fun game. http://www.abcya.com/uppercase_lowercase _letter_matching.htm Maths This term we will continue with our work on shape, space and measures. We will sort, count and make a graph about mini-beasts. We will begin to explore aspects of measures and capacity. We will continue our work on 2D and 3D shapes using mathematical language to describe their properties. We will further develop our understanding of addition and subtraction. How many legs are there on two ladybirds? Which has the most legs, a spider or a ladybird? How many more legs are there? We will also continue writing our teen numbers and counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. Click on the link below for a fun letter posting game to help recognise numbers to 100. http://www.ictgames.com/postletter.h tml

5. Expressive Arts & Design As part of our topic we will learn a range of animal and insect songs. We may even write our own version of ‘We’re going on a mini- beast hunt!’ We will use musical instruments to represent how mini-beasts move e.g. scurrying ants, buzzing bees, slow snails, swooping butterflies. We will make our own ugly bug ball dance using ribbons and scarves. We will do observational drawings of mini-beasts and use junk modelling techniques to make our own mini-beasts. Egg cartons and cardboard boxes gratefully received! Understanding the World The children love being outside so as part of our topic we will go on a mini-beast hunt. We will closely observe and collect mini-beasts following instructions on how to handle them carefully. We will find out about life cycles, mini-beast habitats, food that they eat and special features by looking at books and videos. We will draw and label the life cycle of a butterfly and label the parts of a mini-beast.

6. Computing The children will use digital cameras and iPads to explore the objects, materials and living things they find around them and discuss and share what they see. RE During our RE sessions we talk about the importance of looking after every living thing on the planet from trees to animals to insects. We will discuss how Jesus helped the sick and dying and what a good Samaritan does.