Welcome to Term 2 at Aycliffe Community Primary School! Our theme this term is ‘Superheroes! Let’s celebrate!’ and all areas of learning will be closely linked to this theme. We will be looking at superheroes, real-life superheroes and different celebrations. We have outlined the main areas of learning we will be developing with your child through Term 2; we hope you find this useful.
PE will continue to take place every Thursday; please ensure your child’s PE kit is in school and all items are labelled including plimsolls and that earrings are removed. We will be continuing to develop your child’s gross and fine motor control and will have a focus on gymnastics this term. We have a ‘Funky Fingers’ area in our classroom where your child can develop their finger strength to help them hold a pencil effectively and improve their mark making.
How you can help: It would be really handy if you could provide your child with lots of opportunities to practise getting dressed by themselves at home, in particular with buttons; this will help them with their confidence in getting ready for PE.
Personal, Social and Emotional
This term we will be continuing to embed a resilient attitude towards their learning, with a focus on setting challenges and trying out new types of learning. Children will be encouraged to welcome challenges and to never give up, even when they are finding things difficult. We will also be helping the children to work collaboratively, and as part of team by taking into account each other’s ideas, knowledge and opinions by undertaking lots of group based activities where the children have to plan and then achieve an end outcome together.
How you can help: Providing your child with lots of opportunities to explain their thoughts and ideas will help build your child’s confidence and develop their social skills.
Communication and Language
There will be a variety of ‘New Language’ your child will be taught this term and we look forward to seeing the children’s use of this in our Home Language Book. New language being taught this term include: magnets, magnetic, attract, repel, morning, celebrate, celebration, villain, hero, brave, evil, rescue, resilient, 2D shapes, square, circle, triangle, rectangle, hexagon, flat, sides, corners, long, short, longer, shorter, round, tall, curved, straight, sequence, first, second, third, characters, order, strong, weak, sink, float, heavy, light, why, question. We understand that some mums and dads aren’t able to do the school run so please feel free to leave a note in your child’s homework folder, or add an observation to your child’s Tapestry journal and we will put it in the home language book for you.
This term we will be developing your child’s knowledge of numbers 5 – 10, including what they look like, counting with these amounts, and what is one more/less. As part of the ‘Shape, Space and Measure’ aspect of your child’s development we will be looking closely at 2D shapes, including, shape names, spotting shapes in the environment, using shapes appropriately for tasks and describing shapes using mathematical language.
How you can help: Please continue to practise numeral recognition with your child at home and provide them with lots of opportunities to count objects. You could count as you climb the stairs or as you lay the table. Talk about the shapes of everyday items they use. What shapes can you see when you look at your house?
Expressive Art and Design
To promote imaginative play, we have various role-play areas within our learning environment. Inside the classroom, we have a ‘Superhero Headquarters,’ whilst outside, we have a construction area, where the children will be encouraged to work collaboratively to build traps and Superhero bases. In addition, we have a ‘home corner’ to provide your child with opportunities to make links between learning and home life and a mud kitchen to promote imaginative thinking. The children will be encouraged to work together to act out superhero scenarios, and use a variety of resources made available to the children to create their own stories and props to support their play.
How you can help: Encourage your child to have their own ideas and to explore the form and function of different materials. Encourage your child to use their imagination to think of their own stories. You could all get involved with acting out their stories at home.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
We will be developing your child’s knowledge and understanding of the world through our theme. We will be looking at different occupations with a particular focus on what the children want to be when they grow up. Children will be exploring how BeeBots work and introduced to the concept of programming. Through our learning environment we will be investigating magnets, including exploring what materials and objects are magnetic. We will also be visiting and exploring our ‘woodland area’ on a weekly basis. We have some wellies in school that the children may borrow, however due to limited sizes, it would be handy if children bring their own wellies into school.
How you can help: Talk to your child about the world we live in. Encourage children to give explanations as to why things happen and how things work along with developing their confidence to offer suggestions and make predictions.
This term we will be looking mainly at the story of ‘Ten Little Superheroes.’ We will be learning about the characters from the story and talking about the key events that take place. Additionally, we are beginning to teach the children how to segment and blend words using their phonic knowledge to help with their reading and spelling of words.
How you can help: Please give your child opportunities to read their new home reading books and make a note of your observations in their reading log book. Provide your child with lots of opportunities to write using cursive letter formations. Make sure children are encouraged to use their phonics knowledge to help them spell words. They could help you write a shopping list, a menu for dinner or make signs for their toys.
• Please ensure you have spare change of clothes in your child’s bag just in case an accident happens.
• Please could you ensure your child’s home learning folders, including reading books are brought into school everyday.
• The children will have access to the outside area during their Child Initiated time all year round, rain or shine. Please ensure your child has a waterproof coat, jumper and if possible wellies at school.
• Please could you make sure all your child’s school uniform is clearly named, including shoes and PE kits.
• We have Golden Time every Friday afternoon for 30 minutes as a reward for good behaviour. Class 1 are able to bring in a toy from home that they are allowed to play with in this time, however no toy guns are allowed.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to working with you over the year. Should you have any concerns or questions please do not hesitate to come and see me after school and I will be happy to help.