Ladybird Class

Welcome to Ladybird Class

 

The adults that work in Ladybird Class are:

Mrs Milly Mickleburgh          Mrs Geraty                                 Mrs Heather Brooks

Class Teacher                        Learning Support Assistants 

           

Our Curriculum overview

 

Our Curriculum overview

 

Communication and language	The children will build up vocabulary to describe a pretend object in play based situations, e.g. when role playing a coronation a child might use props for their orb and sceptre. We will focus on using questions to understand why things happen e.g. who, what, when, how e.g. when a visitor comes in to talk to the class, to extend children’s ability to ask questions rather than just sharing information they know. We will also practise responding to questions using full sentences, e.g. I think… because… this will be consistently modelled by adults in all curriculum areas. The children will apply the use of intonation and rhythm when joining in with stories and rhymes.
Physical development	In everyday activities, we will continue to focus on the gross motor skills developing coordination and balance – this half term, the children will practice team games, including relay races, using racquets and balls, throwing and catching, as well as  running, jumping, hopping, skipping, jumping over obstacles and skipping with a rope. The children will further develop their fine motor skills and build their ability to use a wide variety of small tools – cutlery, tweezers, pipettes, scissors to cut shapes, i.e. spirals, modelling tools for clay and play dough. We will continue to secure children’s pencil grip through writing, drawing and painting.
Personal, Social and emotional development	Children will learn about independence and build their awareness of the growing number of things they can do for themselves. We will also explore the different choices children can make if they are worried and ways of helping others. In our weekly PSHE lessons, the children will explore ways of staying safe. They will identify trusted adults who children could talk to and ask for help; we’ll learn to plan ahead to keep safer and understand and apply safety rules in different contexts e.g. sun, water, fire, railways; the children will develop a strategy to keep safer when lost. We will learn to identify common harmful substances and understand how to be safe with medicines and who the trusted people are who help them to take medicine when they need it. We will also learn to understand basic road safety skills. This half term, we will continue our learning to be able to identify and distinguish between different touches and to be able to identify how and when to tell, as well as the importance of privacy and the PANTS rules
Literacy	Children will learn to annotate pictures of monarchs with speech bubbles and thought bubbles and begin to use descriptive sentence writing for creating instructions – we will practice writing simple instructions for a familiar process in a numbered list. Children will build their ability to apply verbal sequencing using temporal connectives, i.e. First, I climbed on the climbing frame and then I slid down the big slide! The children will access a variety of high quality fiction and non-fiction texts about the monarchy and selected historical events history. We will create fact books about leaders and notice the difference between writing stories and writing information. Children will have opportunities to role play using newly acquired vocabulary e.g. role play a coronation. In Phonics, we will continue to secure all of the Set 1 diagraphs most of the Set 2 sounds. The children will continue to practise blending sounds into words at speed through reading a wide selection of ‘green words’ and ‘alien words’, as well as increase their ability to read a range of words which contain spelling patterns that cannot be sounded – ‘red words’. Children will write simple phrases and sentences with phonetically plausible attempts at unknown spellings and apply familiar ‘red words’ in their writing using their correct spellings. Our Talk for Writing texts this half term will be Somebody swallowed Stanley by Sarah Roberts and a non-fiction text How to attack a castle.
Mathematics	The children will start the half term by learning to count on and count back. This unit focuses on counting forwards and backwards from a given number in order to add and subtract. Counting on and counting back are far more efficient than some of the other methods of addition and subtraction, therefore children need to become familiar and confident with this strategy recognise, represent and manipulate numbers to 10. In the next unit of learning, we will focus on numbers beyond 10, exploring numbers from 10 to 20. Children will count to 20 and back to 0, identify one more and one less, and compare and represent numbers. This will be many children’s first encounter with two-digit numbers so it is important they understand that teens numbers are formed with a ten and some ones. The understanding of tens and ones is key to understanding the structure of numbers. At the end of the half term, the children will develop their understanding of numerical patterns. This unit introduces the mathematical patterns of doubling, halving and odd and even numbers. At this stage, children will explore the patterns and practise using the new vocabulary. Children will continue to build on this early understanding as they move through KS1 and KS2.
Understanding the world	This unit of learning introduces children to some fundamental ideas about monarchy, leadership and power. Children will learn about leaders of the world, starting from the Emperors of China; Mansa Musa, the ruler of the Kingdom of Mali; then moving onto King Charles III. They will become familiar with some key features of our monarchy including people in the Royal Family, special places and traditions. Children will begin to understand that the title of King or Queen is passed down through the Royal Family. Children will recognise the Union Jack and will understand that on special occasions the King wears a crown and sits on a throne. Children will then learn about royal building such as castles and palaces, the Royal Standard flag and coronations, and will learn vocabulary such as orb and sceptre, recognising these important parts of the coronation ceremony, especially the coronation of King Charles III. Finally, children will learn about the work of historians and explore different ways of learning about the past
Expressive arts and design	The children will study animal depictions in art, taking close look at Rousseau’s Surprised (Tiger in a Tropical Storm). The children will expand their knowledge of different art techniques and will have a go at painting real fish with ink and wax resist. In music, we will explore the work of different composers and listen to Zadok the Priest by Handel, a famous piece of music composed for the coronation of King George II. The children will enjoy instrumental activities and music and dance sessions inspired by the work of Louis Armstrong and linked to the Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals and Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas.

 

Weekly Newsflash

 

Week beginning 15^th May

We had a week filled with new ideas – in PKC we thought about how historians come up with knowledge of the past. We taught about artefacts, how they are discovered and what they tell us about life in the past. The children enjoyed looking at old objects and coming up with ideas about their possible owners and their life. In art, we listened to Carnival of the animas by Camille Saint-Saëns, tried to predict which animal might each part be inspired by and we came up with dance movements to express the music we were listening to. The children enjoyed playing the listening game, trying to work out the correct animal and using reasoning to explain their idea, i.e. “I think this piece is about hens and roosters because it reminds me of pecking and moving fast around the farm” or “this music makes me think of wavy lines so it might be the fish in the water (aquarium).” You can have a go at playing the game together with your child.

In maths, we started working on numerical patterns, this week focusing on doubling. The children learnt that a double consists of two equal numbers and enjoyed finding doubles up to 5 and beyond. Children practised recognising and representing doubles in a range of different contexts. You can support this learning at home by playing dominoes or dice games, i.e. each partner throws 2 dice and collects a dice if they roll and say a double. You can also take turns to group a small number of objects (up to 5), for example, a line of counters, a tower of blocks or row of cars – the other partner partner then replicates the objects to double them.

In phonics, we are securing the sounds we learnt this half-term and looking forward to reassessing the children next week so we can re-group again and continue to work at level and pace best suited to each child. Please continue to read with your child this week and return all phonics and book bag books on Thursday next week.

Lastly, the students are looking forward to the Hedingham Castle trip next week and are getting excited about visiting a real castle and meeting a historian.

Have a great weekend!

Week beginning 8th May 2023

In our second shortened week, the children continued to explore different rulers from around the world; this week learning about Mansa Musa, 14th century ruler of the African kingdom of Mali. The children learnt how he was the richest man in the world and how he valued education by setting up schools.

Maths has continued to secure ordering and counting with numbers 11-20. We have focused on understanding how the numbers are made up of one 10 and then an additional 1, 2, 3… etc. This helps children to understand why the numbers are written the way they are e.g. with 11 being one 10 and one 1. We used Numicon, number tracks and 10s frames which we combined with our learning about Mansa Musa by counting his ‘treasure’.

If you’re able, please continue to practise reading to and with your children. They will continue to bring home phonics materials each Friday so you can see which words and sounds your child has been learning and securing in the week.

Week beginning 1^st May 2023

In this shorter week, we managed to fit lots of learning into our timetable. The children learnt about the British Royal Family and our monarch, King Charles III. We explored some key features of our monarchy including people in the Royal Family, special places and traditions. Children have built an understanding that the title of King or Queen is passed down through the Royal Family. Children have also learnt to recognise the Union Jack and the Royal Standard, as well as understand that on special occasions the King wears a crown and sits on a throne. The pupils have been exposed to new vocabulary such as orb and sceptre, recognising these important parts of the coronation ceremony. We listened to Zadok the Priest by Handel, a famous piece of music composed for the coronation of King George II. We have also discussed and celebrated the coronation of King Charles III to support children’s understanding of this rare historical occasion. It was fun to take part in whole school assembly, picnic and a coronation themed workshop.

In phonics, most children have been working on Set 1 and 2 diagraphs, as well as fluent blending and reading words at speed. Some of the children have found the red words confusing, please focus on reading the red words when listening to your child reading their phonics books, especially on words that look similar, i.e. you/your, no/on.

In maths, we focused on counting forwards and backwards to and from 20. Children explored one more and one less than numbers to 20, as well as comparing numbers. During this unit, children will also had the opportunity to represent numbers within 20. You can help your child build fluency when counting to and from 20 by playing games that incorporate counting out loud, i.e. hide and seek, what’s the time Mr. Wolf or 20 passes – pass and catch the ball with your child, counting each time either of you catches the ball: can you get to 20? Can you count down all the way to 0 (from 20) or how many times will you catch the ball without dropping.

As part of our PSHE learning, we discussed strategies a child could use if they are lost. We recommend discussing these scenarios with your child and agreeing on clear strategies. The story If I Get Lost: Stay Put, Remain Calm, and Ask for Help by Dagmar Geisler https://video.link/w/0pLo4cpd4sQ# offers good strategies to teach your child.  

Have a lovely bank holiday weekend, we look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday, 9^th May.

Week beginning 24^th April 2023

This week, we enjoyed learning about Qin Shi Hunag, the first emperor of China. The students were fascinated to learn about his quest for immortality and some were inspired to make their own potions, just like the magicians and alchemists making elixirs of life for the Emperor. We enjoyed writing recipes for the potions and fact files about the ancient Chinese ruler.

In maths, we practiced moving on a number track as we count. This time we used counting backwards to solve subtraction problems. Children have learnt how to count back from a given number in order to subtract, using the first, then, now structure in order to identify what number they are counting back from, and how many they are counting back.

In phonics, we continued working in our groups and practised new red words. Please remember to bring your child’s phonics folder every Friday and return last week’s books. Thank you for continuing to read together at home.

We look forward to welcoming pupils back on Tuesday and wish you a fun bank holiday weekend!

Week beginning 17th April 2023

We have had an excellent first week back: we have reconnected as classes with our friends and teachers after the Easter break and even welcomed new children into the year group; we’ve been working hard in phonics groups – many of which were a little different after all the progress the children had made; and of course, on Wednesday we had a fantastic day at Church Farm consolidating last half term’s learning on Growing and Changing. Thank you to the parents who came to support – it was a great day out and we are looking forward to starting our new topic on Kings, Queens and Rulers next week.