Turtles Spring 2 2020 Newsletter

Blast Off
This half term our learning will be focussed on the theme of Space. We will be using texts including 'Whatever Next' by Jill Murphy, 'How to Catch a Star' by Oliver Jeffers and 'Here come the Aliens' by Colin McNaughton as a stimulus to lead our learning. Through these texts as well as a range of non fiction books we will be thinking about Space and how we know so much about somewhere which very few people have visited. We will be learning about the solar system and the name of the planet we live on as well as some of the others. Why not watch the clip below to learn our solar system song. 
 
We will be using our work on stories to act as a stimulus for our writing and will complete activities such as sending postcards from the moon, drawing and labelling plans to create or very own star catchers, and writing descriptions of some very funny looking aliens.
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We will find out about how people travel to Space and will even create our own Space Centre in the classroom. We will try to answer the question who is Neil armstrong and how do we know about him? 
 
Here is some of the key vocabulary we will learn:
  • space
  • planet
  • moon
  • Sun
  • star
  • Earth
  • travel
  • journey
  • rocket
Read Write Inc 
We will be continuing to develop our blending and segmenting skills to support our reading and writing. We have already started to introduce Set 2 sounds and are using these alongside the Set 1 sounds in our reading and writing, we are becoming more confident doing this. Look at the photo below to see the order which we will be introducing the Set 2 sounds in. All  of the children are now working on Ditties (red books) and Green books. We will be working really hard to develop our writing and encouraging the children to hold a sentence. We will also be continuing to practise reading red words from sight. Letter formation continues to be a big focus and we are always reminding the children to say the rhymes to reinforce the correct formation- Don't forget to do this too when you are writing at home. 
Maths
As well as our daily maths sessions, through our topic work we will be focussing on positional language and using Beebots and Aliens to explore the different language we use to describe where things are. Why not click on the link below to complete the Lecky Alien activity where you can create your own alien. talk t your child about where they are going to position the different body parts and encourage them to use language such as next to, behind, infront, on top of, under. We will also be creating models using a range of junk modelling materials and 3d shapes. 
Reading and World Book Day 
We are really impressed by how much reading the children have been doing at home recently and it has been lovely to see them all growing in confidence with their reading. Tommy the Turtle has loved visiting the children at home for the weekends! Keep it up Turtles! Don't forget we will be celebrating World Book Day in school on Friday 6th March. We are inviting the children to come into school dressed as a character from their favourite book as well as bringing the book into school with them to share with their friends. We can't wait to see the children's outfits and to read some of their favourite stories. 
Towards the end of this half term we will be learning about the Christian festival of Easter and trying to answer the question 'What is Easter and why do children enjoy celebrating it?"
Key vocabulary linked to Easter:
  • Christian
  • festival
  • celebration
  • Jesus
  • cross